Critics Flashcards
“The imagery of decay, death and corruption infects the story and its hero too” by Casie E. Herman
Agree
Whilst the valley of ashes is meant to be separate it doesn’t fail to bleed into the lives of the upper class
“Daisy is dressed in white and associated with light and sunshine… it is impossible for Gatsby to catch this light and fix it in one place.” by Casie E. Herman
She is a natural force that cannot control and he doesn’t like it
“Ownership of women is invoked as the index of power: he who possesses Daisy Fay is the most powerful boy” by Fetterly
Agree
Daisy and Tom arguing in chapter 7
“Nick is self-isolating” by Tony Tanner
Agree
Wallflower throughout story
And becomes lonely and stuck in past when Gatsby passes
“Their idiotic pursuit of sensation, their almost incredible stupidity and triviality, their glittering swinishness” by H.L. Menchen
Disagree
It is not idiotic not stupid, they search for distraction from the horrors of the newly ended war, their lives and search for pleasure
“Gatsby’s fate and the fate of the nation” is intwined by Barbara Will
The instability of overconsumption and the American dream
“Nick is considered to be quite reliable, basically honest and ultimately changed by his contact with Gatsby” by David O’Rourke
Disagree
Unreliable
Mainly due to the change Gatsby created.
“Vulgar and inhuman”
Alfred Kazin on Daisy Buchanan
Disagree
Very human
She like most women strives for survival
She doesn’t have the privilege to love whoever she pleases like men do
She doesn’t have the liberty to risk everything
She is a woman in a patriarchal society and a married woman with a child she is unable to move
“She does feel, she has suffered, and her desire for her daughter to be a ‘fool’ is actually a desire to shelter her from experiencing the pain that Daisy herself has known”
Sarah Beede Fryer on Daisy a suffering victim
She is villainised due to her intelligence and sexuality
“The weight that Gatsby’s Dream brings to bear on Daisy is unbearable”
Judith Fitterlet on Gatsby’s dream weighing down on Daisy
She is nothing but a pawn in his dream for wealth and power
She is burdened because she cannot be the woman he has created in his head
Daisy has a “vicious emptiness” and “monstrous moral indifference”
Bewley on Daisy’s Vascuousness and Immortality
Disagree
This is a simple critique that lacks evidence
Daisy is a woman
She fights for survival, nothing more, to survive in a world like ours woman must be brutal, relentless and realistic
