Leave Daisy Buchanan Alone!

  

Yeah, I’m a survivor. I’ve had to suffer through a few socratic seminars about The Great Gatsby in my lifetime and I have a terrible gut feeling that there’s another one waiting for me somewhere in the future. So, it’s time we talked about it.

Stop attacking Daisy Buchanan! Let’s use some critical thinking here. She’s trapped in an abusive marriage with a racist man who sucks. Do you think she can just up and leave to be with Gatsby? Do y’all have any understanding of how abusive relationships can trap women?

And before you say “Oh, she lead him on-” No! She’s a woman who is not entirely happy with the choices that she’s made in life. She feels stuck in a loveless marriage and obviously she’d rather be with someone like Gatsby. So, she allows herself to indulge in this fantasy with Gatsby for a while. But in reality, she can’t destroy the marriage that she’s built. As a woman in the 1920’s, she has zero ownership over any assets in her life. She’s managed to build herself a home and a life and it would be a huge risk to throw it all away over an old fling.

I’ll be honest with you, dear reader. I haven’t read Fitzgerald’s (aka man who stole a shit ton of his wife’s writings and claimed them as his own) novel in many years. So I apologize if any of my information is a little factually incorrect. But I do not want to read this novel again! I don’t think it’s that great. It’s only really effective for teaching high schoolers how symbolism works. For my English teachers, please consider teaching your students about the nuances of Daisy’s social status if you make your students read this tired old plot. And for everyone else, consider Daisy’s point of view for just one minute. Y’all are really going to side with the rich man who’s chasing after this woman he doesn’t even know anymore? And when he clearly should be with Nick?

But wait, there’s more! You can use this style of analysis, called a “feminist lens,” for other old novels too! So please, I’m begging you, look at just one classic novel through this lens. You might gain a new perspective on an old favorite.