Significant connections

The golden girl is a constant character type in all of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels and short stories. The Great Gatsby, Benjamin Button, Winter Dreams and Babes in the Woods are all pieces by, or based on work by Fitzgerald and all have the golden girl throughout them. The character is generally the lead, or one of the lead, female characters. They are a person that lots of men will want to be with because of their beauty, their money and she is high up in terms of social class. They are also envied by other woman who could only wish to be her. The golden girl in Fitzgerald’s work seem to have one of two set personalities. They are either corrupt and will use their perfectness to get what they want, or they are innocent and nice to everyone. However, they are always intelligent.

The Great Gatsby is Fitzgerald’s most famous novel. In this novel it is very obvious who the golden girl is, she is rich, attractive and is high up the social ladder. Daisy is seen as perfect, better in every way then everyone else “High in the white palace, the king’s daughter, the golden girl”. Fitzgerald used small hints like this to show that Daisy was more perfect, and that she was socially in a higher class than all of the other characters. Daisy, however, was not as she seemed. She was corrupt and fake. She used her looks to get what she wanted. “‘Oh, you want to much!’ she cried to Gatsby. ‘I love you now – isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.’ She began to sob hopelessly. ‘I did love him once – but I loved you too.'” She led Gatsby on to think that they loved each other, and that she wanted to stay with him. However she didn’t want this as she was already married and loved her husband, Tom, much more than Gatsby. She used Gatsby for a few weeks but she never wanted to stay with him, she just wanted a side man. This is an example of the golden girl using what she had to get what she wanted. Daisy seemed like she was a nice person on the outside, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts.

Winter Dreams is a short story by Fitzgerald that also has the idea of the golden girl. In this story Judy Jones is the golden girl and she was the main character, Dexter’s, first love. She could get away with things easily and, like Daisy, men would wish to be with her. When she played golf all of the men would stop and watch, envying her. Much like Daisy she would use her looks to get what she wanted from people. “Vitality is born early in such woman. It was utterly in evidence now, shining through her thing from in a sort of glow”, she seemed like she was perfect to everyone but she truly wasn’t, she was immoral. She didn’t feel the same emotions towards the men she was with then they did for her. She would tell men that she loved them and would get what she wanted, but after a short time she would leave them and move on to the next one. Later on in the story, once Dexter is married, she tries to come back to him as she is lonely, “Are you poor?”, she only wants a man who can provide her with money. It was at this point that Dexter realised that she wasn’t as perfect as it seemed, that she wasn’t someone that he wanted to be with. Again, like Daisy, Judy was not as she seemed on the outside. Se had a nasty inside that was well hidden and once it showed no one wanted to be with her, she wasn’t the golden girl anymore.

The curious case of Benjamin Button is a movie that is based of a short story written by Fitzgerald. Like the other two stories it has a golden girl idea through it, however in this film it is different. The golden girl is also called Daisy which gives us a direct link to the Great Gatsby and allows us to understand that she is the golden girl. Daisy in this film is unlike the other Daisy as this one is innocent and nice to everyone. She is the person that everyone envies, but she doesn’t use this to her advantage. She loves Benjamin who is aging in reverse “And I think, right there and then, she realised none of us is perfect forever”, once she gets old and Benjamin is young she realises that no one is perfect forever, hinting to us that the golden girl idea is all in our heads, that someone might be great at one stage but eventually they won’t be that great anymore. Daisy doesn’t use Benjamin, she loves him for who he is “Would you still love me if I were old and saggy”, she wants to spend the rest of her life with him. The Daisy in this film is much different to Fitzgerald’s usual golden girl as she is exactly what she seems to be, no nastiness is hidden behind her perfectness.

Babes in the woods is another short story written by Gatsby. This story is also different to the others as it is written from the golden girls point of view. Isabella is the Golden Girl and the protagonist. She is innocent and nice like Daisy from Benjamin button. “Don’t think so? She said suddenly turning to him innocent eyes”, because she is so young she is still innocent and doesn’t realise that lots of men want to be with her. She doesn’t use her looks to get what she wants as she is young and doesn’t know how. “He knows you’re good looking and all that”, once she gets to the party she starts to realise that everyone has kept their eye on her for a while and they all think she is very attractive. Isabella, showing her intelligence, doesn’t want to be the golden girl however as she knows that she will most likely be corrupted by this and will use her looks to get what she wants, a reoccuring theme in Fitzgerald’s work. At the end of this story, however, she is still honest and keeps to her truths, which is a good thing.

The illusion of the Golden Girl was very common in Fitzgerald’s work. The characters that are the golden girl will always seem like they are nice people but truly they aren’t at all. As readers, once we knew who this character was we could interpret what was going to eventually happen with this character as they are always very similar. Benjamin Button and Babes in the woods are both examples of the golden girl keeping to their truths and being a nice person. The Great Gatsby and Winter Dreams are both examples of the golden girl being immoral and having a nasty inside. Overall it is important to know that it’s what’s on the inside that counts, no matter how amazing someone may seem there’s no point wasting your time on them if they aren’t actually a nice person. This is what happened to Gatsby and it didn’t turn out well for him.