| F. Scott Fitzgerald is the spokesman of "Jazz Age" whose representative work is The Great Gatsby. Many feminist scholars home or abroad have done a good deal of research on the novel. Most of the research neglects the fact that the novel is based on the patriarchy which "subordinates the female to the male or treats the female as inferior male...";(Selden,2004:132) and the women characters are partially treated and Daisy is a prejudiced character as the cause of Gatsby’s tragedy. Few have tried to explore the relationship between Daisy and Gatsby’s American Dream.With the development of feminism, it is necessary to re-interpret Daisy’s role in lens of feminism. The author attempts to analyze five of the novel’s components including setting, narration, plot, imagery and characterization in the feminist perspective in which objectification theory, Otherness theory are applied in argumentation. Both textual and statistical methods are used to prove that Daisy is the victim rather than victimizer. This thesis rectifies some misreading of the novel and moves toward a deepened understanding of The Great Gatsby.The misreading of the novel is closely related to Fitzgerald’s patriarchal ideology. First of all, the setting analysis suggests The Great Gatsby is set by Fitzgerald historically in the1920s and geographically in the Middle West and New York. The1920s saw the emergence of "New Women" who were rebuked by patriarchal ideology because of their resistance to male dominance."Flapper" is the term applied to a "new breed" of young Western women in the1920s; and the Middle West and New York are places in accordance with Fitzgerald’s life experience. The Great Gatsby is in effect the semi-autobiographic novel of Fitzgerald. It mirrors Fitzgerald’s story to the extent that even Daisy is modeled after his wife, Zelda who is blamed for ruining Fitzgerald’s literary career. So the Zelda-typed character of Daisy lays the ground for her accusation. Secondly, the narration analysis suggests it is Fitzgerald’s intentional act to blind the fact that Daisy is in effect innocently involved in Gatsby’s American Dream. For Fitzgerald chooses a male narrator. The first-person narrative mode evokes sympathy in Nick’s exposure of his feelings, desires, affections, speculations as well as fears. As noted by feminist researcher Gao Mei,"by’walking in Nick’s shoes’ readers are unconsciously invited to sympathize Gatsby and criticize Daisy as if forming a male alliance."(Gao Mei,2007:56) Nick indeed takes up the role of spokesman for Gatsby besides acting as a narrator and observer. He also functions as the moral center. And he takes stance obviously. By claiming his reservation in judgments, he strategically gains narratees’confidence and then presents Daisy as a careless, selfish and intolerably amoral woman. But when the story is related by Jordan, a woman narrator, Daisy is presented as a feeble woman who is persistent in love, unaffected and struggling desperately against the oppression of the arranged marriage. The analysis of setting and narration articulates Fitzgerald’s patriarchal ideology which leads to the misreading of Daisy.The textual and statistical analyses of the novel in terms of imagery, plot and characterization also reveal Daisy’s role as victim of Gatsby’s American Dream.Firstly, in respect of the imagery, the images concerning Daisy are closely related to objectification. She is compared with the image of rose more than14times. Even Daisy herself self-objectifies as a rose for4times. Gatsby, who follows the typical American Dream pursuer, Franklin Benjamin, regards Daisy as a "ladder." But unlike Franklin’s "ladder," Gatsby’s "ladders" are Daisy and illegal business.Secondly, as to the plot, Daisy is objectified in3ways including instrumentality, denial of subjectivity and denial of self-determination in accordance with philosopher Martha Nussbaum’s categorization. Gatsby loves Daisy not for what she is but for her instrumentality to him. He insists on cheating Daisy with his old tricks, but he is never aware of her subjectivities. Daisy in fact is the Otherness to verify his success, to confirm his victory and to feed his strong need of self-recognition. Daisy is denied of self-determination by Gatsby for4times according to statistics. He over-expects Daisy to say "I never loved you" to Tom. He represents Daisy to hurt her husband without any permission of Daisy. Gatsby also wishfully involves Daisy into his majestic cause of repeating the past. In addition, he gives a knightly but redundant vigil to protect Daisy. His imprudent behavior constantly triggers Daisy’s disaster in family and reputation.Thirdly, as to the characterization, Daisy is a commodity for men’s grab. Her miserable destiny will not be changed whoever’s possession she belongs to. Daisy is sincere, loyal, and submissive. It is those characteristics that make Daisy vulnerable to Gatsby’s extra-marital seduction and interference. But Nick describes Daisy disdainfully as if she is destructive to Gatsby. Nevertheless, Nick can never perceive the beauty of her language usage when he is wearing tinted glasses. The characterization of Daisy in Nick’s description is ideologically based negative; for a statistic chart reveals the great proportional disparity in derogative and prerogative words extracted from the novel. In the description of Daisy, there are totally14prerogative words concerning her character while there are37derogative words in total. In the description of Gatsby, there are59positive words while there are only7negative words in total.The analysis of the five components of the novel uncovers Daisy’s role in Gatsby’s American Dream. She suffers oppression of the patriarchal ideology; she is the prejudiced character. As a matter of fact, Gatsby’s American Dream is interwoven with money and women. His materialism-corrupted American Dream is destined to be a disillusion. It is his American Dream that involves Daisy in the accusation for betrayal of Gatsby and possibly conspiring with Tom to mislead Wilson into murdering him. In effect her role as a wife and a mother defined by patriarchy leaves her no choice but to give up Gatsby; and it is not appropriate to blame one character for her/his coldness out of the specific historical context. But she unfortunately is merely the vehicle of Gatsby’s dream, the decoration of his success and a token of his self-fulfillment. Her family life and feminine reputation are spotted by Gatsby’s obsession and interference. She is the victim rather than victimizer... |
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