Significant connections essay

In today’s world there’s always something you dream of, something you aspire to have in your life forever. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s stories it is always the idea of the golden girl. In the stories The Great Gatsby, The Curious Cases of Benjamin Button, Winter Dreams and The Ice Palace there is a consistent ideal character with the ‘perfect’ life. They represent the idea of ‘the golden girl’. The characters Daisy Buchanan (TGG), Daisy Fuller (TCCOBB), Judy Jones (WD) and Sally Carol (TIP) all perceive this character. Everyone seems to think they have the most righteous life, but as revealed at the end of the stories we start to realize that this amazing perception we think about the character is actually false. This shows how people can trick others into thinking things about themselves that are completely false. It is so easy to trick and manipulate people these days into thinking you are someone you’re not and Fitzgerald shows this idea of illusion vs reality through most of his novels.

Fitzgerald uses the novel The Great Gatsby to show the idea of the golden girl though Daisy Buchanan. Other characters think of her as the golden girl because she is beautiful, rich, well known and has the ‘golden’ life. This is completely false as in reality she is self-centered and lonely. No one really actually cares about her, they just care about the idea of her. It is revealed part way through the story that she doesn’t have the amazing life everyone thinks she does. The quote “Her voice is full of money” is said by Gatsby after Nick questions him about why people fantasise over Daisy’s voice so much. Gatsby really liked the idea in his mind of their future together and how it would make his american dream come true and reach its full potential. The male characters in the Great Gatsby seemed to feel like they had to ‘win’ Daisy over and this started to affect her after a while. “I hope she’ll be a fool that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” This quote shows that not even Daisy believes in herself. She knows deep down that the only reason she is rich and successful is because of her family and husband’s wealth. Daisy on her own is nothing and is only known as the golden girl by others around her. Everyone else thinks of her as an object rather than a person and that mustn’t be nice to know about yourself. This relates back to our world and how alot of things we see are not as straightforward and easy as they seem. People read stories or hear of other people’s achievements and think wow that’s perfect but in reality it never really is.

Another golden girl that Fitzgerald wrote about is Daisy Fuller. She is a professional ballet dancer from the story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Daisy has lived at this standard her whole life but isn’t exactly like the golden girls from the Great Gatsby. She isn’t obnoxious and snobby but she is still put on a pedestal and looked up on by the people around her. Daisy Fuller was Benjamin’s golden girl. Even though Benjamin aged backwards his goal was always for Daisy to fall in love with him. “And i think right there and then, she realized none of us is perfect forever.” This quote shows that everything that seems ideal never really is. Daisy finally realizes that her and Benjamin will never have the life they dreamed of. All along they both knew it was never really going to last. Daisy and him weren’t around the same age for very long and this separated their connection even more as their age gap got bigger throughout time. Another quote that shows this is “Will you still love me when i’m old and saggy?” They both consistently need each other’s assurance that they’ll still be in love when they grow apart because deep down they know it won’t work. People say age doesn’t define love but when you get to being 60 years apart it really does. Fitzgerald shows similarities in The Great Gatsby and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button through this golden girl character. Both Daisy Buchanan and Daisy Fuller are looked up to by their peers and treated too well. This is because everyone thinks they deserve this as they are ‘perfect’. The truth of their real lives are covered by this label put on them. In Daisy Fuller’s sake it’s that even though she is the so-called golden girl, there will always be something stopping her from getting to Benjamin. In reality this would never actually happen in the real world but it represents the idea of illusion vs reality and that the truth can easily be shadowed by the false and dream perception.

The third text where Fitzgerald shows the golden girl is Winter Dreams. Judy Jones and Dexter Green meet many times throughout their young years and then reconnect later on in life. At first Dexter is chasing Judy round, trying so hard for her to fall for him. The rolls end up switching once Dexter is engaged to another woman but he refuses to let Judy back into his life. This resembles the relationship of Benjamin and Daisy. Benjamin started off falling for Daisy but at the end of the story when he is young she’s the one that would never leave his side. Judy is bratty and stubborn but men still look up to her as this ‘golden girl’ because of her looks and reputation in the community.”She always looks as if she wanted to be kissed!” Daisy knows she is considered a golden girl, so it seems like she puts on an act to draw even more people in. Other characters consider her their ‘ideal’ and she gets obsessed with gaining this title, then leaving the man for another. The quote shows how people put on false acts to fill others expectations. “It did not take him many hours to decide that he had wanted Judy Jones ever since he was a proud, desirous little boy.” Dexter was certain straight away that he wanted Judy and this was pushed by the fact that all her past high class men would have done anything to be with her. Winter Dreams also relates back to The Great Gatsby and the act that Daisy puts on to fill the citizens of New York’s ideas of her. They both want to fulfill the standards people have given them, this standard is the golden girl. This happens in our day to day lives today, people feel they need to impress others and live to un-true standards. Judy Jones shows how people will do anything for others to like or ‘want’ them.

The final text that shows the golden girl is The Ice Palace. Sally Carrol is a southern born woman who falls for a northern born man. She has to make the decision whether she wants to leave her warm home town in the south for her fiance Harry Bellamy of the cold north. She is like Daisy Fuller in the way that she is still kind but is yet again put on this pedestal of the golden girl. Sally has a good heart but this can be covered to others around her by her reputation. “Don’t marry a Yankee, Sally Carrol. We need you round here.” Clark says this to Sally intending that they ‘need’ her down south. Though he may have not been meaning this about her personality but more about her looks that he wanted in the south. The people of the south didn’t want Sally to leave as they enjoy having a golden girl in their community. “The things that will make you fail i’ll love always the living in the past, the lazy days and nights you have and all your carelessness and generosity.” This quote said by Sally to Clark resembles Judy Jones in the way that both characters will be in love with one man but say stuff to another to fulfill the reputation they have. The Ice Palace is similar to Winter Dreams as both Sally Carol and Judy Jones like to lead others on to make them think they have a chance. This again represents the illusion vs reality not just in Fitzgerald’s writing but in our world today. Sally shows how people who are more popular or well known will always have the most valid and respected opinion.

Through these four texts Fitzgerald shows that the term golden girl is a myth and is untrue. All the golden girls reveal that they truly aren’t happy underneath the persona they put on. This idea is shown through Daisy from The Great Gatsby, Daisy from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Sally Carol from Winter Dreams and Judy Jones from The Ice Palace. Daisy Buchanan shows that underneath her ‘perfect’ life no one really actually loves her; they all just love the idea of her. Daisy Fuller’s ideal life is cut short because of the difficulty with her and Benjamin’s age. Judy Jones’s plan of leading Dexter on ends up back firing on her when he doesn’t let her back into her life. Lastly Sally Carol has a hard time deciding between North and South and this shows how the false perception of perfection can sit on someone and no one else will notice. Overall this proves that none of the golden girls are truly happy, this perfection and reputation that is put on them is a myth and they all turn out to be truly unhappy on the inside. People put others above themselves or even think of themselves as up above others and this is where illusion starts to take over reality. This idea connects to us in the real world and how illusion vs reality can fool us in many ways.