Abstract: The Great Gatsby is a masterpiece written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the most outstanding American writers in the 20th century. Daisy is the major female character in this novel, and lots of critics consider her as an indifferent, selfish and mammonish woman. The author of this thesis thinks that Daisy was born in a rich family. She is accustomed to abundant material life and she may also be selfish and practical, but she does not lose her good nature at first. And she does have faith in love. However, she lives in a commercial society, in which money talks and women are treated as commodities. Under that circumstance, love without solid material as the basis cannot beat reality. Daisy cannot just count on love to live. Standing between the choice of love and life, she chooses life and meanwhile she undergoes an ethic metamorphosis. There is some evidence showing she is a victim of her age, and the writer of this thesis will analyze her character and ethic metamorphosis from the perspective of American Consumption culture. At the beginning of this essay, a brief introduction of the social background and some basic ideas about American consumption culture will be given. In the next part, the author of this thesis will analyze the character of the “original” Daisy according to her words and behaviors to prove that, at first, she is a girl who has faith in love, and she is not that indifferent and the next part will focus on how Daisy behaves now and then this Daisy will be compared with the original one to demonstrate that this one has undergone an ethic metamorphosis. The following part is to use the theory of consumption culture to analyze the reasons for Daisy’s ethic metamorphosis. The last part is the conclusion of this paper. |
