The Great Gatsby Novel: Why does Daisy hope her child will be a beautiful fool?
She was trying to imply that the life of a woman is a happier one in ignorance. If her daughter is a "fool" then she will never have to suffer the harsh realities of the real world. Think of the old saying " Ignorance is bliss". the less her daughter knows, the better. She also probably said this because she was still full of resentment over the fact that she wasnt allowed to marry Gatsby when she wanted too...
Beautiful fool.-the great gatsby... wat does it mean?
It is one of the few times Daisy shows self awareness in The Great Gatsby. She sees the superficiality and waste in her life. She wants her daughter to be blessed with lack of self awareness so she won't see she is just an object to be won. From Shmoop/The Great Gatsby
In The Great Gatsby what does this quote signify? “I’m glad it’s a girl. I hope she’ll be a fool--- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool"
By calling her daughter a “fool” Daisy is not insulting her, really. In that time, a rich, privileged, female would have been described as a “fool” to explain the behaviors of a typical heiress that lives a life of pure, mindless silly enjoyment and zero responsibilities until she finds a rich husband that keeps her busy.You may not need to go too far imagining this: think about the airhead heiresses we got in modern day, who are famous for doing, literally, stupid things.There’s more to the quote, though.Girls were not the preferred choice for firstborn, especially in rich families who abided by the idea of “an heir and a spare” that was so common among the royals. The mega powerful, too, wanted an heir that would perpetuate their very rich last names.It is clear, from the way Fitzgerald presents this stamp of Daisy’s life, that she was less than thrilled about having a girl. It also appears that Fitzgerald makes Daisy recognize that her own life has been nothing but a shallow world of debutantes, ballrooms, and whimsical nothings. Like Daisy, her daughter is likely to follow those very steps and live a “foolish” life, where she gets to be a plaything, much like Daisy is. Interestingly, you can almost sense a degree of repressed hatred about being under the control of “the man”—albeit a very low degree- coming from Daisy.It is almost as if she, too, had wished she could have been able to do more with her life than just “look pretty.” Of course, Daisy is beyond shallow and shifty, so this is merely a fleeting feeling, and she (again) simply submits to her role in life.