SIGNIFICANT CONNECTIONS

The Golden Girl and the Illusion of Love, that you do not love this person, but are rather in love with the illusion or idea of the person.

Introduction

Throughout the novel of The Great Gatsby, the short stories of Winter Dreams and Babes in the Woods and the movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button inspired by Fitzgerald’s original short story, the concept of the golden girl is meticulously weaved within the narrative to convey the idea of the golden girl. The idea that society invests so much time and energy into creating these ideals that make us believe that we will never be happy unless we attain them and push forwards the idea of illusion versus reality and how things are not always what they seem. In reality nobody can ever fit these perfect molds set out by society in regards to love. That love itself is not necessarily at fault but rather the way that we present it in society. That the men that pursue the golden girl are not in love with her personality but rather the idea of her that they corruptly constructed with their minds to escape the feeling of loneliness. The illusion of the golden girl makes them believe in this perfect love, that we will only be able to escape loneliness unless we attain the golden girl. The composition of the golden girl’s character is a crucial aspect within the narrative that Fitzgerald writes as it reveals the reality of the golden girl, that she is simply a figment of the imagination constructed in an attempt to escape the feeling of loneliness.

P1: The Great Gatsby

F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby introduces the roaring twenties as a decade of golden prosperity and riches beyond belief. Among his characters, the Golden Girl is introduced in the form of Daisy Buchanan. Always dressed in white and speaking with an alluring voice filled with money, Daisy is the golden girl of Louisville at the young age of 18. “high in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl” The idea that Daisy exists “high in a white palace” as the “king’s daughter” is immensely telling in the composition of her as a character. In any other case your value is predicted from your past experiences, individuality and how you differ from those around you, however, in the case of the Golden Girl, namely Daisy, your value is built from primarily the materialized goods that you posses and the position that you hold within society. “He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again…at his lips’ touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete.” Beautiful and rich, with social status Daisy serves as the incarnation of not only Gatsby’s elaborate fantasies but also of the men around her. She is a muse against her own free will, immortalized, without consent by the love of the men that aspire to be with her, victimized by her own image. Daisy has no real substance, through her life becoming nothing more than a gesture forever detached from the monotonousness of human reality, committed to nothing more real than the illusion of her character. Because of this she will never truly be loved, but rather will forever remain a representation of desire, an inflated image of what every women of her generation should be. Daisy, a construction of societies deepest desires and the unattainable side of life, does not actually exist. Her image constructed by the minds of the men that attempt to pursue her, makes them believe that they love her. “shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is.” However, in reality, they are in love with the idea of the Golden Girl, not the person that resides beneath the image. Beneath the exterior lies a person that these men do not truly know, they believe that when they get closer to the golden girl, she will be as they always expected, the ideal woman. But Daisy’s image is a figment of their imagination, a corrupt desire for the perfect woman. When they try to get closer, these men expect perfection as that is what they have been accustomed to believing the golden girl capable of when pursuing her. However, this image of perfection acts as a mask to hide the “grotesque” corruption which lies beneath her image of beauty. In reality Daisy, beneath her illusion is a manipulative, vain and deceitful individual so used to being put on a pedestal for her looks that she too is corrupt, just like that of her image created by the men that pursue her. The illusion that she both portrays and has been given is a figment of corruption in the imagination of human beings, created to avoid emotions such as loneliness and depression from creeping in. “I wasn’t actually in love but I felt a sort of tender curiosity..there I was way off my ambitions.” They finally realize only once they have gotten closer, that they have spent their whole lives in pursuit of a goal that does not truly exist. While some realize they have pursued a goal that was simply a creation of their minds, some like Gatsby do not realize until it too late.

P2: Winter Dreams – The Great Gatsby

Judy Jones is publicized as an untouchable feat, something that cannot be attained, alluring the men that attempt to pursue her in further. “The helpless ecstasy of losing himself in her charm was a powerful opiate rather than a tonic.” Dexter lost a part of himself in pursuit of Judy Jones, once she loses her one asset in life, he realizes the reality of her situation. That she is simply an illusion, a figment of his own corrupt imagination, that convinced him over the years that love could only be grasped through attaining her. He left behind his dreams and aspirations all in pursuit of a common goal, shared by the men who also pursued Judy. Surrounded his desires and dream in regards to love, simply around Judy. His loneliness and desire for companionship dominated his ideas around love as he held on to his past view of Judy. Because of this he managed to fixate on her without registering the person that she had become. But once he sees that her illusion is gone, he then realizes that the love he once felt for her was too fake. Judy Jones was a common goal in the past, Dexter just another of her pursuers who never actually loved her as a person but rather her image constructed by his imagination, just like that of every other man that pursued Judy in the past. They were in love with the idea of her, but once the image is gone she is nothing but a common girl, a figment of imagination. Once the illusion is lost, so is the thought of loving her. Because the illusion of her being the perfect woman, the ‘love’ that these men that pursue her feels, is also fake, as it is directed towards something that does not truly exist

Just like Daisy, Judy serves as a muse against her own will, characterized by the imagination of the men that pursue her, an ideal that does not exist. Neither Judy nor Daisy, created their image, they were rather trapped by the minds of the men that pursued them. “She was entertained only by the gratification of her desires and by the direct exercise of her own charm.” However, they realize that their images are inescapable and begin to embrace their image, using it to their own benefit, a form of psychological manipulation directed towards the men that aspire to be with them. The alluring of men is not just at the fault of their illusions, they too are also at fault, using their images to attract more attention then they would have otherwise not received. They lead them on throughout life, making them believe that they will one day be loved, if they only try to get even closer, loneliness blinding them from the flaws of the golden girl.

P3: Babes in the Woods – Winter Dreams + The Great Gatsby

Babes in the Woods, one of Fitzgerald’s many short stories, gives us a glimpse into the mind of the golden girl, with the narrative being set in Isabelle’s perspective. “The half dozen she renewed acquaintance with that morning were all rather impressed – and as much by her personality as by her reputation” Envied by the women in her town for her appearance and desired by the men for her reputation, Isabelle the golden girl of her town is accustomed to being the fixation of those around her. As a young girl, Isabelle’s beauty was recognized by those around her and expectations were thrust at her. However, her past decisions in the way that she used this reputation to benefit herself have just as much characterized the way that people think of her, as a “speed.” When Isabelle tries to let go of her image, she is trapped and finds herself unable to escape the persona that suffocates her. When hearing that Steven knows that she is beautiful she shivers, a feeling of dread in knowing that yet another man knows of her alluring beauty. The boys that strive to achieve Isabelle know that she is in high demand and has been loved before, this being their main reason for pursuing her. They are stuck on this fixation of achieving the golden girl, simply based on her reputation and beauty, without knowing or even wondering what lies beneath her image. Achieving Isabelle is what can only be described as an accomplishment to her pursuers. Isabelle acknowledges her reputation, knows that it exists, but dislikes it. All that she wants in life is to be loved by someone so she looks towards Steven for companionship as she thinks that he is “nice.” However, she recognises that this serves as an advantage in the town that she lives in and she can use it to her own benefit. She has been used to this being her reputation for such a long time, however, whenever she hears a statement such as “I guess he knows you’ve been kissed” it never fails to “arouse her in the same feeling of resentment” meaning that even after such a long time of being known as a girl who has been loved before she always reacts the same way as she resents the way that people think of her, as the golden girl. When she tries to escape her image she finds that she cannot, as her past decisions and reputation have characterized her image and outcome in life. Isabelle is not the one at fault here, but rather the men that pursue her for creating a corrupt illusion of how she should be as a women in society.

However, unlike the other golden girls, Daisy and Judy, Isabelle feels suffocated by her image, wanting so desperately to escape it without knowing how to. While Daisy and Judy use their reputations for their own interest through the psychological manipulation of others, Isabelle attempts to escape the reputation that others created for her. However, all three of these golden girls including Isabelle are muses against their own free will, they have not chosen to create this persona, it was rather given to them at birth when people registered their beauty, social status and material possessions as a desirable goal. They cannot help what resides beneath the exterior, it is who they are as a person. The way that they use it differentiates Isabelle from the other two. The loneliness and corrupt imagination of their pursuers as well as their ideals around love created the golden girls illusion. Loneliness, blinding them from looking past the exterior. The three girls are not at fault, but rather their pursuers, and their fixation on their golden girl’s past, of being loved before. Fixating on the golden girl provides an opportunity for Stephen, Dexter and Gatsby to ease the pain of their loneliness, their growing desire for companionship that they believe can only be matched with achieving their respective golden girls.

P4: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Babes in the Woods

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

“My name is Benjamin Button, and I was born under unusual circumstances. While everyone else was agin’, I was gettin’ younger… all alone” After he was born an old man, Benjamin was told that he would only live for a few more years, not realizing that he would end up aging backwards. He felt as if his time was running out, and thus in a desperate attempt at having companionship he turned to Daisy as means of fulfilling this desire. His fear of loneliness in life constructing an image for her. Just like that of other golden girls pursuers, Benjamin cannot ever attain the Daisy that his imagination dreamt up, her 6 year old image is desire from the past that cannot be reenacted in the present as Daisy now has a corrupt reputation that characterizes her character. She has changed as a person and so when he does attain her, Benjamin realizes that she is not the person that he originally strived to be with, who she really is does not fit the image he dreamt up in his senile condition in the past. It was a figment of his corrupt imagination and the loneliness and desire for companionship that he felt.

While Daisy Fuller nor Isabelle are not necessarily bad people, they have both been given a reputation of being loved before, and their pursuers, Benjamin and Stephen register this when trying to pursue them. Both men attempt to pursue their respective golden girl based on her past image, Benjamin in the image he dreamt up for Daisy when she was 6 and Stephen on Isabelle’s reputation created by her past pursuers. Their minds have constructed an image of what the golden girl should be like based on the views of others that have had affairs with her in the past or their past experiences with her. They know that she is in high demand and wanted by other men and feel that attaining her is an accomplishment that is vital to falling in love. Both Daisy and Isabelle want to lead a normal life, but have reputations of being loved before that make the men that they love or do not love want to pursue them. Daisy as well Isabelle do not psychologically manipulate the men that pursue them, unlike that of Daisy Buchanan and Judy. They want to lead normal lives and pursue their dreams, however, have reputations of being loved before, of alluring beauty and being wanted that tie them down. Whilst Isabelle remains tied down by her reputation, her dream being to be actually loved by a man not focused on her reputation and what he will gain through her, Daisy manages to achieve her dreams of becoming a ballerina only for her dreams removed from her after being caught in a car crash that made her unable to dance again, showing how the golden girl will always be tied down by matters out of her control.

Conclusion

Love is complex, not because it has been created by some deity or incarnation, but rather because it has been created by our minds, which our complex mechanisms, that like love we don’t understand, nor will we ever begin to understand. It is in our nature to want to be loved, cared for. We want people to attend to is, compliment and treat us with kindness. While from time to time, like Benjamin we appreciate the solidarity of our own independence, living on our own with the world in our hands, it isn’t until we feel truly alone that we seek the companionship of others, someone to experience life with, in all of its beauty and sorrow. We don’t always want to be alone, much of the time it is not simply our choice. Loneliness can be a brutal and vicious emotion, that not only affects the way we feel but also the way we act as a human being. As complex as the mind can be, it’s often fragile, in need of attention, in need of companionship. Sometimes we just want someone in our lives even if they aren’t the right fit. People change, for better or for worse, and these changes are out of our control entirely, but sometimes we get stuck on the idea of someones past self without registering or accepting the way that they have changed. Some, like Gatsby, Benjamin and Dexter refuse to believe this, however, it’s the way beings were created, not just the human species, but all species that we know, we can never stay the same for too long. These changes are not always at the fault of the person changing, sometimes they are thrust upon us in the form of expectations and reputations, namely Daisy Buchanan, Judy, Daisy Fuller and Isabelle. Sometimes the circumstances that led them to make the choices they did are at fault, but either way pinpointing the blame is pointless as humans are complex beings and much of the time, this change is caused by a variety of factors, some of which are out of the control of the person changing and you. The problem with the golden girl, is that when it comes to love, those that pursue her are not always willing to see her for what she has become or who she truly is. They remember, just as Gatsby, Dexter and Benjamin have done, how great things once were in hope that they can become just as great once again. The men that pursue the golden girl tend to fixate on the way that they remember her, getting lost in the past, never able to move on to the future, or accept her for who or what she truly is, a figment of the imagination. Sadly these men only see what they want to see in the Golden Girl, she is a figment of their dreams and desires constructed from the corruptness of the mind. The Golden Girl is a timeless construction of the mind, an ideal that transcends decades. While our ideals change over time, they always remain imbedded within our minds, characterizing what we deem beautiful and what we do not. These ideals in regards to women can be traced back to the Greeks, who had a mathematical formula called the golden ratio, claiming that symmetrical faces are the most beautiful. Even now with the rise of social media and plastic surgery these ideals of beauty are more prominent than ever, women are expected to look a certain way and alter their appearances to fit these ideals. Just like that of the 1920s, these ideals are as pre-eminent as ever, however, just like that of Gatsby, Stephen, Dexter and Benjamin, humanity will continue to be lonely as long as they are imbedded in our minds.