The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald reiterates many of the thematic concepts created in the historical fiction A Tale of Two Cities written by acclaimed English author Charles Dickens. Some of these similarities are between Daisy Buchanan and Lucy Manette. Both of these girls are admired by the men in the novels for their specific physical characteristics—Lucy’s favored feature being her “forehead”, which is “strikingly expressive” (Dickens 75), and Daisy’s “thrilling voice” and “charming little laugh” (Fitzgerald 9). Along with these components of their physicality, they each are described as having a golden tint of some sort; Daisy is called “the golden girl” by Nick Carraway (Fitzgerald 120), and Lucy has “golden hair which she [wears] in long curls” (Dickens 52). Likewise, Lucy and Daisy have luminescent characteristics in their stature. Lucy’s “radiant hair” appears to be the “light of Freedom” (Dickens 54), which dignifies her bright personality much like the “sunshine” that falls “with romantic affection upon [Daisy’s] glowing face” (Fitzgerald 14). The light and happy diction used to describe the two women demonstrates the authors’ ingenious illustration of the inspiration for the heroes in the novels. Dickens and Fitzgerald establish these characters as ingénues, stereotypically innocent and powerless characters that are important to literature because they create a scenario for the romantic leads (Sydney Carton and Jay Gatsby) to assist them in any way that could possibly lead the men to their own demise. Both Gatsby and Carton, unsurprisingly, die to defend the fates of their loved ones.
The connection between Daisy and Lucy is very accurate. Both of them do seem to be the stereotypical air-headed women whose main purpose is to find love. The glaring similarities between the two makes it easier to understand the reason why Fitzgerald and Dickens included such characters, although I did not notice it (as I thought those two characters contributed nothing important). Now, however, it is apparent that without these characters, the main men (Gatsby and Carton) would have no objectives; their purpose would be unclear without having these women alter their mindset just a bit. By putting Daisy and Lucy in the book, the authors intend to show that love is an ongoing theme in humanity that takes precedence over all other human emotions.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Aimee: the connections are quite accurate. However, I feel that Lucy played a larger part of her novel that Daisy played in hers. In "Gatsby," it seemed like Daisy was just conveniently placed where she needed to be for Fitzgerald to move the plot along. With Lucy, I felt as if she played a significant part of her book. She provided the spiritual "backbone" and almost the soul of her group, keeping spirits high and always giving warm insight when it was asked for. Another thing: I believe that Lucy would be sensible enough not to cheat on a loved one. She seems to be more ethical than Daisy (i.e. she did not commit a hit-and-run...). I must admit however, I may be a tiny bit biased towards "A Tale of Two Cities" (as you may have noticed), so feel free to disregard or otherwise challenge this assertion.
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