Significant Connections

The Golden Girl is a title given to one who is sought after. The term Golden Girl exists only in the eyes of others, the ones who seek out this special woman. Status, money, power, the concepts that the roaring 20’s society drilled into the men of that time to be the core components of life. These ideals were poured into the idea of The Golden Girl to create a material form of perfection. Those who seek this physical form of perfection are brainwashed, manipulated and controlled by the ideals and are consumed by the illusion of perfection. Human perfection is a figment of imagination which has disastrous effects on both parties when realised. “The Scandal Detectives”, “Babes in the Woods”, “The Great Gatsby” and “Winter Dreams” are used by Fitzgerald to portray the concept of The Golden Girl and the maturing of the concept. These texts use male and female characters to display the meaning and effects of The Golden Girl. The texts illustrate the creation, development, an extreme case, as well as the end of The Golden Girl cycle respectively. Each text illustrates to the reader Fitzgerald’s idea of how The Golden Girl is simply a lie.

Egocentricity is a defining aspect of a child. Before the brain has expanded to recognise themselves and the people around them as being apart of a shared world, not just one that revolves around them, is the perfect conditions for the ideals of The Golden Girl to be breathed into existence. The Scandal Detectives by Fitzgerald depicts a story of children protagonists and antagonists. Through the thoughts and actions of the twelve-year-old protagonist Basil, Fitzgerald shows how the ideals, which are later developed and displayed by older protagonists in the following texts, are born.  “Basil was granted an insight into the future, and the spell of her vitality crept over him suddenly.” The thoughts of Basil as he interacts with Imogene, an old friend who evolves into something more, plainly show the creation of the ideals which would bloom with age into an attention-grabbing rose. Basil is said to be granted an insight into the future almost as if by a higher power but this is obviously not the case. Whilst talking to Imogene he has his first taste of attraction which activates a tool in his brain that someone his age uses faithfully, the imagination. From just a simple conversation it is made evident that his imagination quickly takes the reigns. He begins to imagine Imogene in the future, subconsciously beginning to paint a picture of illusion in his brain which would be cemented and grown over time. The future cannot be viewed and Basil is beginning to view Imogene as something she is not. The Golden Girl is someone who is viewed as perfect by people but this woman of perfection is an illusion made by the imagination of the viewer and fueled by listening to the imagination of others, never the legitimate aspects of the person in question. We can see Basil starting this cycle here. “For the first time in his life he realized a girl completely as something opposite and complementary to him, and he was subject to a warm chill of mingled pleasure and pain.” As Basil’s imagination takes over, Fitzgerald uses his sensory feelings as foreshadowing what is to come with age which we see in his other pieces of writing, the pleasure and ultimately the pain which is conveniently blocked off by the brain before it is too late. Fitzgerald used this text to convey to the reader how our imagination works, telling our brain fictional stories which we believe without a second thought as we tend to trust ourselves more than anyone. He asks the reader through his literature to question themselves and to make sure of what’s actually real in their world.

With fuel and oxygen, a spark will light. When the ideals of The Golden Girl is sparked deep in the brains of an individual, not much is needed for the spark to grow into a bonfire, slowly getting out of hand with no one noticing. “Babes in the Woods” is used by Fitzgerald to show what happens when fuel is added to the spark created in “The Scandal Detectives” as people age and mature into their teenage and early adult years. “Babes in the Woods” differs from Fitzgerald’s other texts displaying The Golden Girl as it is written from the perspective of The Golden Girl but the effect and meaning remain the same. From the point of Isabelle, we see how the idea of her and what she is “said ” to be has been widespread throughout her community, all of them seem to think they know who she is when they haven’t even met her. “I’ve heard a lot about you—,” A simple piece of dialogue from Kenneth Powers, a college boy who is attending the party which the story revolves around. Kenneth Powers represents the men who are lured by the talk of this Golden Girl and begin to create an image in their head of who they are. Without even ever meeting Isabelle, Kenneth Powers is already attracted to her by just what he has heard about this girl. Fitzgerald uses this analogy to critique the obsession of 1920’s America with status and reputation. “The half dozen girls she met that morning were all rather impressed by her reputation,” further develops this idea and gives the reader more knowledge on the situation Isabelle is in. We see that even if Isabelle is a cruel and twisted, or even sad person deep down, people will only pay attention to the surface area of high reputation and flattering looks, an obvious parallel to Daisy Buchanan who becomes depressed with her status in “The Great Gatsby”. The characteristics of Kenneth Powers is, too, evolved in “The Great Gatsby” into Jay Gatsby, a man obsessed with the dream in his head. “Babes in the Woods” is a direct link to human ignorance. Fitzgerald shines a light with his literature on how people will believe without question things they are told and how The Golden Girl is just a lie created by the whispers spread to peoples brains.

As time ticks on, the “Golden Girl Reputation” begins to spread and solidify to a point of common and unquestioned knowledge. We also see how time affects the people so obsessed with their dream and how it takes a hold of their life. Both sides of the gold coin are symbolised by characters in “The Great Gatsby” by Fitzgerald. Daisy Buchanan is a character of class and wealth, an obvious symbol of the principles outlined throughout Fitzgerlad’s literature. She is described as a woman who almost instantly snatches the attention of the people around. Daisy Buchanan is a product of age and the principles seen in “The Scandal Detectives” and “Babes in the Woods”. “They moved with a fast crowd, all of them young and rich and wild, but [Daisy] came out with an absolutely perfect reputation.,” a statement used to describe Daisy, The Golden Girl, yet again mentions “an absolutely perfect reputation”. Reputation by definition means “widespread belief that someone or something has a particular characteristic” and belief by definition mean “an acceptance that something exists or is true, especially one without proof”. Coincidence is a word rarely used in reference to Fitzgerald’s work and this statement further cements the lie of The Golden Girl and how time takes blows the idea into something with little proof and reality. A century from now, Fitzgerald criticism on human nature is still valid. In this modern-day age, it is even more important than ever before. The advancements in technology mean that the lies which were told in person overtime back in the roaring ’20s can now be spread instantaneously with little effort. Judging someone on your own terms rather than what you hear is as important as it was 100 years ago. Obviously, this isn’t always done and Jay Gatsby is an example of someone being consumed by the image they have of someone in their head, what they hear and what it fuels in their head. “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams — not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything.” Gatsby conjures an illusion, a dream, where he fantasised about Daisy to such an extent that his idea of her became a completely different person, her flaws becoming invisible. This is what it means to be The Golden Girl, to be seen as perfection. And Gatsby becomes so enticed by it that he dedicates his whole life to achieving it. His life comes to an end when committing too much to achieving his goal, going in too deep to try to steal Daisy from Tom. He was gunned down because of a situation he provoked trying to reach his green light. Fitzgerald shows how much power The Golden Girl has through Gatsby, a true slave to the idea. He emphasises how people can get so caught up in something that there is no way of getting out unscathed.

Though Fitzgerald touches on the effect of these dreams being smashed in Gatsby’s dying moments, the end of this cycle and the effect it has is delved into with more depth through “Winter Dreams”. Winter Dreams is another classic depiction of the Golden Girl and their aspirers, Judy Jones being the woman of interest and Dexter the protagonist so lulled by her vitality. The characters and story are similar to Gatsby’s previous works, Judy Jones having countless men who would do anything for her and Dexter is one of these men. The name itself, “Winter Dreams”, refers to Dexter’s tendencies to be enveloped in his imagination. “As so frequently would be the case in the future, Dexter was unconsciously dictated to by his winter dreams”, shows Dexter’s reaction, and those to come, to his feelings after meeting Judy for the first time. These emotions which were brought out by Judy are an obvious parallel to that discovered by Basil in “The Scandal Detectives”. As their relationship matures over time, we begin to also see parallels between Dexter and Gatsby as Dexter time after time is unable to resist Judy due to the hold his idea of her had on him. He doesn’t see her imperfection, the fact that she is with a new man every second week and how he is just a tool to her. He goes to measures above and beyond, even ditching his fiancé before their wedding for a small amount of time with Judy. Fitzgerald builds up the tower of Dexters obsession just for it to tumble down. Several years after he moved away and stopped seeing Judy Jones, an old friend comes to him and strikes a simple conversation that would prove catastrophic for Dexter. He is informed of how she is not what she once was. She is now described as “faded” and a shell of what she once was. Just like Daisy, her husband is said to cheat and mistreat her and with this, causing the cycle of The Golden Girl for her to come to a slow end. “The dream was gone. Something had been taken from him…For the first time in years, the tears were streaming down his face…Even the grief he could have borne was left behind in the country of illusion.” Fitzgerald shows how Dexter is shell-shocked by the information and reacts strongly. His dream shatters and he begins to see it for what it truly was. His mind processes the fact that for so long he ignored, that Judy was just a woman. The illusion that lived in his head, growing and growing for so long, is no longer there and he feels like a piece of himself has died. “Long ago,” he said, “long ago, there was something in me, but
now that thing is gone.” Dexter’s reaction is very understandable and relatable, a feeling that most people even almost a century later will feel to some extent. The relatable feeling of losing someone that after time, began to feel like a part of one’s self is depicted through Dexter’s reaction. The Cycle of The Golden Girl comes to an end, much to the dismay of those who were a part of it.

The concept of The Golden Girl is one of perfection that takes hold of the life of countless people, right from when they are first introduced to it. It brings out true human nature and unfiltered emotion and manipulates souls, young to old, to do beautiful and unspeakable things. Fitzgerald’s literature conveys the idea of how this concept is one that is given birth and death through human imagination. A dream. Fitzgerald shows the effect of time from birth to death through “The Scandal Detectives”, “Babes in the Woods”, “The Great Gatsby” and “Winter Dreams” as well as how characters react to the ideals. Fitzgerald’s literature critiques and exposes human nature and is still relatable now. Through the four pieces of writing, key principles such as Love, Illusion, Obsession and Heartbreak are woven into the stories and it’s characters. Fitzgerlad uses all these things to explain and make the reader think about how much of their reality is a figment of their own imagination.