(Sophie Brown) Gatsby Podcast

During the Roaring Twenties, women experienced a surge of empowerment and activism. Flappers, female dancers, pushed boundaries for women's freedom of expression. Daisy Buchanan, a character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby," attempted to challenge traditional gender roles but fell short of what flappers represented. Daisy's carelessness and reliance on male figures like Gatsby and Tom set her apart from the bold, independent flappers who fought for women's rights. Daisy's view of women being beautiful fools contrasted with the flappers' pursuit of equality. Although progress has been made, the fight for women's rights continues. And welcome back to the Roaring Twenties Rewind. Today we'll be talking about the women of the 1920s, and let me tell you, they were crazy. I mean, that's the most female empowerment we saw for a long time. Ten years of fighting to break through traditional female role in society and then we got bored? Like, anyways. Today we're discussing the flourishing women's activism during the 1920s. From flappers to Daisy Buchanan, you will hear it here. What are flappers, you might ask? These female dancers played a crucial role in pushing the barriers to freedom of expression for women. In Daisy Buchanan, only S. Scott Fitzgerald's Queen of the Great Gatsby married to Tom Buchanan with a side of Jay Gatsby, a woman of her time who certainly attempted to push the traditional half-wife role. But did Daisy fall short of what flappers embody? Most definitely. So today we will analyze the differences between flappers and Daisy Buchanan while keeping in mind that, although different, both parties are defying societal standards for women in the 1920s. I'm Sophie Brown and I'm today's host on Roaring Twenties Rewind. I mean, what even is the Great Gatsby? An S. Scott Fitzgerald novel about a self-made millionaire named Jay Gatsby whose life's mission is to rekindle the young love he had with Daisy Buchanan. She's married to Tom, cousins with Nick, and involved with Gatsby. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention a mother, too. In Gatsby's quest to win back Daisy, we see her develop into a character who does as she pleases. She's not a stay-at-home, clean-the-kitchen, look-after-her-kid type of woman, but she's also not a flapper, like, go-out-and-empower woman, and push-back-against-gender norms type of woman, either. Daisy's more of a do-whatever-she-wants, careless type of woman, and the best part of it all, the Daisy Buchanan will be joining us in just a minute to answer some burning questions. Welcome back. Daisy, hello. Hi. We don't have much time, so let's get to it. Okay. So, tell me a little about your daughter, Pammy. Well, I'm glad it's a girl, and I hope she'll be a fool, and that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. Okay, then, um, and I know you introduced Nick to Pammy. Is it important that she meets your friends? Oh, that's because I wanted to show Pammy off. Sorry, I have to go meet Jay. Well, um, all right. Okay. Um, we're back. That was certainly an interview. I mean, let's talk about it. To start it all off, Daisy referred to her child as it, and then continued to talk about her desire for Pammy to be a beautiful little fool, suggesting that Daisy hopes her child will be naive and ignorant of the world's complexities. To Daisy, being a fool is the most desirable quality for a girl, implying women will just have an easier time in life if they're unaware of the injustices in society. Oh, Daisy, flappers like Anita Luce, Dorothy Parker, and Josephine Baker would not be impressed. I mean, according to Linda Simon in her The Original It Girl, although flappers were known for their frivolous personas, they were also seen as new women who fought for independence, equality in marriage, and equal pay. I mean, I guess marriage equality resonated with Daisy, because to her, if Tom can have a side piece, she can too. I actually talked to her cousin Nick the other day because I reached out to see if he could do an interview, but he was too busy kissing Gatsby's ass, although he did provide me with an interesting story. He told me when he was at the Buchanan's house the other night, Tom left the room and Daisy got up, went over to Gatsby, pulled his face down, and kissed him on the mouth, and then murmured, you know I love you. Like, hello? Tom was in the other room. I mean, even model for students from Gale eBooks agrees with me, saying Daisy flirts with Gatsby and entertains his obsessive interests until she commits murder and he takes the rap. Then she hides behind the protection of her husband. Her whole careless world revolves around these illusions of being able to do anything as a beautiful fool of a woman. Daisy uses everyone around her to benefit herself. Damn, that was a lot of talking. All right, let's wrap it up. After all that, I can say with confidence that Daisy most definitely defied your typical woman in the 1920s, but was not necessarily what I would call a radical feminist. She did everything because of her notion that as a woman, she could do as she pleases and hide behind male figures like Gatsby and Tom. But as for flappers of the time, they were out in society fighting for women's rights and empowering their female counterparts, creating a spot next to men, not behind them like Daisy. I mean, shit, we're still fighting today. Like, all right, anyways, that's about it. Thank you so much for joining me today. Hope to see you soon and have a gorgeous, gorgeous day.