Comparison Of Zelda In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald's view of Zelda’s failings as a parent was bound up in his idea of what a woman's role should be. In the first chapter of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald instills traits of Zelda in Daisy. Like Zelda, Daisy is portrayed as having little interest in the upbringing of her children. When Nick first asks about her daughter, Daisy answers with an unrelated observation on her relationship with Nick. In her tangent, Daisy says, “I’ve had a terrible time, Nick, and I’m pretty cynical about everything” (16). Unsure how to reply, Nick mentions her daughter again, saying, “I suppose she talks, and—eats, and everything” (16). Daisy then asks Nick if he would like to hear her initial reaction to her daughter’s birth, which, it becomes clear, is

Daisy’s line about her wishing her daughter was a “beautiful fool,” was actually first said by Zelda during Scottie’s birth years before the writing of The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald wrote it down at the time and never asked permission to use it. He even reframes the quote to make it seem like Daisy— or in this case, Zelda—is plagiarizing the thoughts of her husband. Zelda accused Fitzgerald of such plagiarism in his other novels as well. In her review of Fitzgerald’s second Novel, The Beautiful and Damned, Zelda had noticed that a good portion of the writing came directly from her diary and wrote: “In fact, Mr. Fitzgerald … seems to believe that plagiarism begins at home" (Keats). Fitzgerald’s incorporation of Zelda’s material was more than a common occurrence. But, Zelda never received any acknowledgment from Fitzgerald for co-writing. Zelda is the unsung hero held back by Fitzgerald’s jealousy and authority as a male in the unjust patriarchal society. Ring Lardner, Jr. said, “Scott is a novelist and Zelda is a novelty” (Keats). As the novelist, Fitzgerald depicts what he wants about Zelda because she has no power over him. In the same way, the men in The Great Gatsby can do what they want and Daisy has to face the consequences. As Person argues “Daisy, in fact, is more victim than victimizer: she is victim first of Tom Buchanan's ‘cruel’ power, but then of Gatsby's increasingly depersonalized vision of her. She becomes the unwitting ‘grail’ (p. I49) in Gatsby's adolescent quest” (Person,