Ignorance Is Bliss In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

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Many people live by the phrase “knowledge is power” while others comfortably believe in the saying “ignorance is bliss”. According to Juan D. Carrillo and Thomas Mariotti, some people would rather be ignorant because “voluntary ignorance [can] be used as a self-control device preventing the individual from embarking in a hazardous activity which he [or she] could later regret,” (Carillo and Mariotti 1). These people believe that ignorance is truly blissful because knowing an abundant amount of information about a topic, or even a person, can be severely detrimental on the state of mind. One of these fervent believers is Daisy Buchanan, a major character in the novel The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald. In the novel, Daisy is a beautiful rich …show more content…
Daisy mentioned to her cousin, Nick Carraway, at the beginning of the novel that the best thing a girl could be in this world is a beautiful fool, and her actions throughout the entire novel reflect her desire to be one of these beautiful fools. The day before their wedding, Tom gave Daisy a string of expensive pearls to wear. A few hours later, she received a letter from Gatsby. In Jordan Baker’s recollection of the event, she said Daisy was extremely drunk when she found her with the letter. She tore the pearls from around her neck, saying “Take ‘em downstairs and give ’em back to whoever they belong to. Tell ‘em all Daisy’s change’ her mine.” Jordan then said, “an hour later when we walked out of the room the pearls were around her neck and the incident was over. Next day she married …show more content…
Gatsby started off the explanation of the affair by saying that Daisy never loved Tom, which he quickly negated. After asking Daisy to tell Tom herself, she responded, “Even alone I can’t say I never loved Tom…It wouldn’t be true.” Tom agreed with her, but then she retorted “as if it mattered to you,” (Fitzgerald 140). Daisy fell in love with Tom after Gatsby left for war and never returned, and for Daisy it would be difficult to refrain from loving a man who provides her every need and showers her with luxurious items. However, she felt her love never accounted for anything in Tom’s heart. Daisy felt that if her love mattered at all, Tom would not have cheated on her. Since he has cheated on her a numerous amount of times, it makes her love seem useless. If Daisy would have been remained the fool she was the night before her wedding, she would not have married Tom. Gatsby would have come back for her and, in Gatsby’s eyes, they would have had a happy life together. Daisy wishes that she was a fool in this situation because she would have easily been able to deny that she ever loved Tom. If she were a fool, she could easily run off with Gatsby; however she was well aware that she had a life, child, and benefits that revolved around

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