Not A Guide To A Meaningful Life

“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them” – Dalai Lama. Since the beginning of humanity, more specifically, since people became self-conscious, the question of what is the meaning of life has been asked numerous times. Nowadays, despite the technological advances and scientific works that continue to amaze humanity, this extremely simple, yet vital, question has still not been answered. However, novels such as The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane help people find an answer, that is solely based on their experiences and will continue to be modified throughout their whole life. Both stories go to extreme depths in analyzing human morality and the core principles of the American dream. Daisy’s actions, similar to Nellie’s, are driven by factors that are different from the ones that push people towards self-development and hard work, which are the foundations of the American dream. Both of the women have created their own perspective of the world in which they live, as they place themselves in the middle of everything, much like the Sun in the Solar system. Even though Daisy is trying to secure a bright future for her and her daughter, the actions she takes are solely based on her own benefits, which further relates her to Nellie’s life and the decision she takes, and both characters provide a guide of how people should not act in order to find true happiness.

Despite the similarity between their actions, Daisy and Nellie come from and live in diverse societies. Daisy was born in a rich family, and throughout her life, has never been put in a dead-end type of situation without it being a result of her own decisions. She has had a lot of opportunities that allow her to work towards self-development; however, she has not taken advantage of any of them. Daisy was born with everything a person could need, and because of that, she was looking for something that would intrigue her. Possessions that would make normal people happy do not excite her, as she could have anything she wants. Therefore, the only thing that would succeed in bringing excitement in her life would be a relationship with another person, such as Gatsby. However, despite the fact that they loved each other extremely much, they were not able to be together. Gatsby had to go to war, and as Daisy had never experienced the fact that she could not have something before, she found it convenient not to wait for Gatsby to be back, but to find a replacement for him, which is Tom: “‘She never loved you, do you hear?’ he cried. ‘She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!’” (Fitzgerald 130) This proves that, in fact, Daisy never knew what she wanted and perhaps Gatsby knows more than her what her true intentions are, considering the fact that she has always been too afraid to reveal them herself.  She cries right before she is about to marry Tom, and then as soon as she sees Gatsby, she claims to love him. Both of those actions demonstrate how, even though she clearly knew that her feelings are not real in the different scenarios, she decided to continue lying because she does not want to be alone, and eventually, she gets confused in her emotions: “‘I love you know-isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.’ She began to sob helplessly. ‘I did love him once-but I loved you too’” (Fitzgerald 132). Daisy has always been afraid of herself finding the truth, and because of that, she never really thought about it. However, she was forced to express her real emotions by Tom and Gatsby, which reveal exactly how confused she is because she has been living in a lie so far. Daisy does not care that she hurts other people by pretending to be in love with them because she values her happiness more than that of others. Those actions of Daisy not only create a strong feeling of dislike in the readers, but it also raises different questions in their minds, such as whether truly good people are capable of acting in such an immoral way.

Contrary to Daisy, Nellie did not have as many opportunities for self-development, as she grew up in the poor parts of New York City. However, Crane refers to her as “the woman of brilliance and audacity” (Crane 65) which is sarcastic, but it still reveals the fact that she perceives herself as something more than other women. Similarly to Daisy, she lives her life in a lie, pretending to be beautiful and extravagant, but in reality, she is just a prostitute. Even though Daisy’s lie is extremely different from Nellie’s, both of their lives are destroyed by their poor decision to hide the truth for as long as possible. The only thing in which Nellie is interested is money, as it would allow her to maintain her belief that she is something special: “The woman of brilliance and audacity stayed behind, taking up the bills and stuffing them into a deep, irregularly-shaped pocket” (Crane 86). Right after she has lured Pete into spending his money for her, Nellie steals everything he has left and leaves him in an even more miserable situation. Her morality principles have been destroyed by the fact that she only cares for herself, and is able to destroy other people’s lives, in order for herself to feel well. Unlike the main protagonist in the story, which is Maggie, Nellie is supposed to be disliked by readers in order to illustrate how her actions destroy other people. Similarly, Daisy ruins Gatsby by giving him false hope of a treasure, which is her love, that he cannot possess.

Daisy and Nellie both believe that a woman cannot reach a high position in society by herself. The former argues, “She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. ‘All right,’ I said, ‘I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool-that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool’” (Fitzgerald 17), which illustrates how naive she is. Daisy does not realize that she has had so many opportunities in order to become so much more than just ‘a beautiful little fool.’ Also, she has always lacked the dedication needed, and as a result, she begins to feel sorry for herself.  This refutes the principles of the American dream, which clearly states that development is a consequence of hard work, but Daisy is not willing to act according to it. As a consequence, she perceives that women are unable to develop themselves and become something much greater than what she could imagine. By the same token, Nellie has accepted the fact that she is just a prostitute, and does not even try to make her situation better. Instead, she uses wealthy men in order to become even slightly satisfied with her miserable life.

Last but not least, both Daisy and Nellie want to preserve themselves, and this is why they act in such an ignorant way. As stated previously, they do not consider themselves as being able to take care of themselves without the use of manipulation. Daisy is unsure of her emotions, and as a result, she is worried about the future: “‘What’ll we do with ourselves this afternoon?’ cried Daisy, ‘and the day after that, and the next thirty years?’” (Fitzgerald 118). She does not want to continue living her life without being able to be happy; however, she does not realize that her happiness should not come after she destroys another person. She feels perfectly fine, and even claims to “love” Tom after she has just told Gatsby that his dream to be with her is impossible. Nevertheless, those hurtful actions do not stop Gatsby, as he pays with his life in order to keep the secret that Daisy hit Myrtle. Daisy does not care about anyone else, but herself. She does not even show up to Gatsby’s funeral in order to pay any respect to her first “true love”. She shows complete egoism and carelessness towards anybody else, as she knows that she has the money to do whatever she wants, including running away. Nellie is led by the same egoistic goal to improve her situation, even if she is required to ruin other people’s lives. However, she does not have as much money as Daisy has, so she decides that she will try to use as many people as possible, in order to become the “wealthy” lady she seeks to be. All of the characters in The Great Gatsby and Maggie: A Girl of The Streets are extremely complex and exist for a specific reason, that is revealed when people manage to successfully read between the lines. Daisy and Nellie serve as characters who symbolize exactly the opposite of the American dream, as both are not willing to work hard in order to complete their goals, but instead they look for the easy and fast way. Also, they are getting tangled up in their lies and low self-esteem, which results in them not trying to improve their situation by themselves, but by ruining other people’s lives. After all, Daisy and Nellie are extremely important characters not only in the novels, but in real life, as they are the perfect examples of how people should not live their lives, and perhaps are the most developed and accurate guides to a meaningful life. Also, they provide readers with a more simplified version of the question that seeks to find out what is the meaning of life, as they have clearly seen how people should not spend the years they have been given on planet Earth.