Comparing Women by Henry James and Charlotte Perkins Gilman Essay

Daisy’s superficiality and ephemeral qualities are achieved largely by Fitzgerald’s use of diction in Daisy’s conversations and descriptions of her physical characteristics. Much of Daisy’s dialogue is utterly devoid of substance, is often repetitive and its sole purpose for inclusion in the text is to demonstrate her, and indeed the upper classes’ lack of direction and purpose in life, and the resultant restlessness that originates from a life of inactivity and ease that; qualities that are perfectly encapsulated in the line on page 17; “‘Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.’”. Fitzgerald constantly undermines the character of Daisy to demonstrate that she is the unworthy object of Gatsby’s dream, as is the social class that she symbolises. Her immorality is subtly on display through much of the novel; she treats her own daughter with indifference, objectifying her as yet another material accessory; “‘That’s because your mother wanted to show you off.’”, she remarks in Chapter VII, displaying an apparent lack of emotional connection one would expect a mother to hold with her child. Additionally after betraying Gatsby at a crucial moment and

Charlotte Perkins Gilman is known as the first American writer who has feminist approach. Gilman criticises inequality between male and female during her life, hence it is mostly possible to see the traces of feminist approach in her works. She deals with the struggles and obstacles which women face in patriarchal society. Moreover, Gilman argues that marriages cause the subordination of women, because male is active, whereas female plays a domestic role in the marriage. Gilman also argues that the situation should change; therefore women are only able to accomplish full development of their identities. At this point, The Yellow Wallpaper is a crucial example that shows repressed woman’s awakening. It is a story of a woman who

We do also see Daisy portrayed as very boring character “Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it etc” (p.17). This also implies that Daisy might not be as bright as Tom and Nick and that she doesn’t shape her destiny or takes control of her life. E.g. she attempted to plan something with Nick. she said, “What'll we plan? What do people plan?” meaning she has never had to make decisions nor has she had much responsibility. Again unlike Tom who is very much in control and has got firm charge over his future (That he thinks). Daisy however does not have much loving feelings for Tom as when Jordan mentions to Nick that she knows Gatsby, it raises Daisy's interest momentarily “Gatsby? demanded Daisy. What Gatsby?”, but the conversation is quickly diverted by the announcement of dinner.

Daisy knows that she is marginalized. When her daughter was born, she claimed that, “the best thing a girl can be in this world [is] a beautiful little fool” (17). It can be argued that this statement is actively perpetuating the substandard roles of women in the 1920s. However, Daisy is limited in her power, and she knows this. She wants her daughter to be protected. Daisy is not happy in her marriage. She is surrounded by wealth and affluence, but her husband is cheating on her and she does not want to be in the marriage. But, she has to act the fool. She cannot cause a

Traditionally, men have held the power in society. Women have been treated as a second class of citizens with neither the legal rights nor the respect of their male counterparts. Culture has contributed to these gender roles by conditioning women to accept their subordinate status while encouraging young men to lead and control. Feminist criticism contends that literature either supports society’s patriarchal structure or provides social criticism in order to change this hierarchy. “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, depicts one women’s struggle against the traditional female role into which society attempts to force her and the societal reaction

Fitting with the common theme between the two novels of the judgment of others, each heroine falls victim to a horrible misjudgment of the character of another. After discovering that the engagement between her brother and her friend Isabella has been broken, Catherine finds she has grossly misjudged her friend’s character, and thinks, “She was ashamed of Isabella, ashamed of ever having loved her” (Northanger 150). Elizabeth, on the other hand, finds her attachment the Wickham wholly inappropriate after receiving her letter from Mr. Darcy. After digesting the shocking contents of the letter, Elizabeth “grew absolutely ashamed of herself.—Of neither Darcy nor Wickham could she think, without feeling that she had been blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd” (Pride 156). And indeed, as suggested by Elizabeth’s mention of Darcy, this misjudgment goes on to affect each girl’s attachment to her future husband.

James depicts the subversion of gender roles through Daisy’s purposeful violation of cultural women expectations, reinforces gender stereotypes by portrayal of the consequences stemmed from Daisy’s own mistakes and rash choices of defiance viewed as a punishment for her appropriation of masculine liberty, and makes the reader aware of gender politics through pointing out the vast differences between the behaviors of Daisy and Winterbourne. Through this representation, the novella implicitly develops the unjust difference of gender norms.

In Henry James’s “Daisy Miller” and Edith Wharton’s “The Other Two,” the narrators each disclose the complications of their party’s social formalities during circumstances within their own society. In both short stories, Winterbourne and Waythorn try to figure out their adored ones character and motives but for different reasons. In “Daisy Miller,” it’s noticeable that Mr. Winterbourne ends up longing for Daisy Miller as he tries to fully categorize the character she’s carelessly ruining. While in “The Other Two,” the narrator examines a society of how a married couple, Waythorn and Alice, adjust to an awkward

Daisy, like her husband, is a girl of material and class at heart, and Gatsby being her escape from a hierarchist world. Daisy has just grown up knowing wealth, so in her greedy pursuit of happiness and the “American Dream” Myrtle Wilson died, Gatsby's heart and life were compromised, without claiming responsibility on her part. Daisy was “by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville...” (116) Jordan says, describing early affections between Daisy and Gatsby. She goes on to say, “...all day long the telephone rang in her house and excited young officers from Camp Taylor demanded the privilege of monopolizing her that night.” (116) . Daisy was a fancied girl who has Gatsby tied around her finger, Jordan explains that he was looking at Daisy “...in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at some time...” (117). Daisy, abusing Gatsby’s love for her uses it to create security and protection, greedily and selfishly allowing him to take the fault. While Daisy’s beautiful, alluring traits turn her into an innocent, naive flower, she plays the ultimate villain.

Her actions are viewed as foolish, creating the stigma around women, and though Daisy does not see herself as a fool, surprisingly she expresses that “the best thing a girl can be in this world [is] a beautiful little fool (Fitzgerald, pg 17).” Yet, Daisy is not a fool; she is merely a victim of her environment which is influenced by gender, money, and status. This leads to Daisy having no power or control over her own life and feeling as though women can only be “beautiful fools” as stated earlier.

Daisy confides in Nick that she believes “the best thing a girl can be” is a “beautiful fool” which shows us that Daisy is unhappy with the shallow society of the 1920’s. This comment shows the reader’s that Daisy isn’t shallow and empty; she dislikes the impersonal nature of the people around her and wants her daughter to be a “fool” so she doesn’t notice it. This shows that Daisy does have morals and feels strongly for the people close to her. An aspect of Daisy’s character that could suggest that she is immoral is the possible promiscuity associated with her voice. Nick refers to an excitement in her voice that “men found difficult to forget” which

For centuries women in literature have been depicted as weak, subservient, and unthinking characters. Before the 19th century, they usually were not given interesting personalities and were always the proper, perfect and supportive character to the main manly characters. However, one person, in order to defy and mock the norm of woman characterization and the demeaning mindsets about women, Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper." This story, through well crafted symbolisms, brought to surface the troubles that real women face. Her character deals with the feeling of being trapped by the expectations of her husband, with the need to do something creative or constructive, and to have a mind and will of her own. These feelings

James attempts to explain this lack of inhibition by constructing for her a simplistic vernacular and almost oblivious approach to life that would prove her innocence. Without knowledge, any faux pas are assumed inexperience, not immorality. This inexperience with more cultured society is also apparent in her vernacular. Daisy says things like "ever so" (56) that give her away as an "uncultivated person" (121). Her name, and the fact that it is her chosen, not given one, is also very significant. Miller suggests her family's humble history and Daisy, a "common flower...is also simple and unpretentious. The fact that it opens up in the sun also suggests [Daisy's] life-loving qualities" (121). That she chose this name also supports a view that Daisy had no qualms about living the way she does as a simple, life-loving creature. James also provides some subtle symbolism to support once again Daisy's innocence. In one scene, Daisy sits alone with Giovanelli and a painting of "Innocence X by Velazquez" (105) hangs above them to remind the

by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a story of a woman, her psychological difficulties and her

Daisy is a young woman depicted as “a pretty American Flirt” (17). Particularly, her innocence would