Chrysalis

Chapter 5 - Cool Girl

Chapter 5 - Cool Girl

"There's a wild difference between characters like Lady Macbeth and Daisy Buchanan. How can we at all call Daisy a strong female character, what, just because she's a main character? Gatsby doesn't even pass the Bechdel Test. All Daisy does is let the plot happen to her. Ever realize how she makes almost zero decisions for herself? There's just as much proof that she wants to run away with Gatsby as there is proof she wants to stay with Tom. But Lady Macbeth, she was the plot. She controlled Macbeth's decisions and actions, leading him along the road to royalty. Of course she was mislead in her plan, but at least she had one. She wasn't going to sit back and put her faith in her idiot husband to get to the top. She wanted it and she killed for it."

"And in the end she was driven to madness," Asshole interrupted. "She killed herself because she was having hallucinations of blood on her hands. She couldn't kill the kind herself because—"

"— because she saw her own father in him. Of course she's a human, too. She has emotions that she made sensible decisions around in order to fulfill her plan. IT would have been different if the king looking like her father had stoped her from killing him all together. Was Macbeth not driven to the same madness, though? He saw plenty of visions of ghosts, floating knives. And he had trouble committing the murders as well. In the end, he became so blinded with power that he was unable to save himself. He thought of himself more as a god than a social climber."

"Well speaking of God," Mr. Lechno began. "I want to talk about the god-like symbolism in The Great Gatsby. We see the mention of Owl Eyes, the billboard near George Wilson's home. How does he, or the billboard, act as the eyes of God?"

"Well, isn't it mentioned when Daisy runs over Myrtle with Gatsby's car? And a couple of times in passing when they are making there way back and forth between the city?" Asshole said.

"Yeah, I think he's there to make the readers kinda get into the minds of the characters and feel some sort of guilt along with them," it became the kiss-ass' turn to speak. "With all of the adultery going on, all of the immoral behaviour, I think Owl Eyes is there to remind the readers that it's not all glitz and glam, and that there will eventually be consequences for the actions of the characters." This was in the note Mr. Lechno handed out the night before. She had recited it almost word for word. I had read it briefly, but I had a theory of my own.

Mr. Lechno beamed. "Yes, good. I'm glad you caught on to that! I actually want to look at a few quotes from the—"

"Wait, what about Gatsby?" I interjected.

"What about Gatsby?" Mr. Lechno questioned.

"Well Owl Eyes just looks apon the chaos? Gatsby, though? He's the heart of it all."

"Are you now stating that God is a creator of chaos?" Mr. Lechno laughed.

"No, but he is a creator. Just listen, blindly. A figure, mysterious in all his ways, uses his power to create something beautiful; An eden, a getaway. And so the people flock to worship him, to thank him, all awhile taking advantage of the things he blessed them with. No one knows why he does it, people try to make sense of it by passing down stories they've heard, and interpretations. And he knows they do this. But he doesn't act upon anything. Instead, he sits back and watches, waiting for someone to understand his true plans and motivations. Once in a while, he acquires the help of a humbler man, someone trust worthy and simple, to pass on his message and help play out his plan. And who is that? Who is God's prophet? Nick, Gatsby's right hand man. He throws parties, creates his eden, and watches as the people worship him. All the while, they have no clue that it's all for Daisy. They think it's for them, but they are so very wrong. Gatsby, the man of many names, a god amongst men."