When Daisy, the mother, in Anne Tyler's Teenage Wasteland, finds out her son is failing the private school he's attending. She feels confused on what to do, so she seeks out the school psychologist for advice and meets with Cal, Donny's tutor. In the beginning she feels like Cal is really helping out her son. Later on, Daisy realizes Cal isn't who she thought he was. Even though Cal is somehow responsible for Donny's disappearance because he infected Donny with negative reinforcement, Daisy is uttermost responsible for Donny's disappearance because she is the main adult responsible for his well-being. Although Daisy is uttermostly responsible for what happened to Donny's disappearance, Cal is also to blame for because he befriends the kids …show more content…
An example that shows her irresponsibility as a parent is when she gets a call from school from Donny’s history teacher, Ms.Evans, and tells Ms. Evans to call Cal, Donny's tutor. “ I’m a little concerned about Donny, Mrs. Coble.” Says Ms. Evans” “Oh, I’m sorry, Ms. Evans, but Donny's tutor handle these things now…” Says Daisy. “ I always deal directly with the parents. You are the parent,” Ms. Evans said, speaking very slowly and distinctly.” Now here’s the problem. Back when you were helping Donny with his homework, his grades rose from a D to an C, but now they've slipped back, and they're closer to a F” ( Tyler 869). Daisy’s irresponsibility as a parent is shown because parents should be able to take care of their children and their children's problem. Daisy was told nicely by Ms. Evans to act like a parent since Daisy told Ms. Evans that Cal deals with those kind of things. Parents should be able to talk to their children's teacher when necessary. This also brings up her naiveness. Daisy believes whatever Cal says so easily and doesn't realize that he is being so manipulative. After Donny angrily asks his parents do they trust them, Daisy gets a call from Cal who says,”I think this kid is hurting. You know? Here's a serious, sensitive kid, telling you he'd like to take on some grown up challenges, and you're giving him the
Daisy was somewhat of a bystander. She stood around and watched as Tom had an affair with Myrtle, and then as Gatsby and Tom hatched it for long periods of time. With an abusive husband like Tom, Daisy didn’t exactly have the strength and confidence to stand up for herself and choose what she wanted. She did not really love Tom, or Gatsby wouldn’t have been of love interest to her, so when Tom and Myrtle had this affair, it didn’t phase her. Although, she had these feelings towards another man, she knew she couldn’t leave Tom because he was much stronger than her, and could easily hurt her. It was clear to me that she wanted to leave with Gatsby, but when put in the situation of admitting it to her husband, she was panicked. Tom, of all people, should understand the possibility of loving another, but is extremely hypocritical and scares her into staying. On the contrary, Daisy performed one despicable act that resulted in the death of her true love. She was the driver of the car that hit, and killed Myrtle, but instead of fessing up to it, she blamed Gatsby. He was shot because of the accusation that he was the murder, and bashed all over town; so much so that all those people that came to all his parties, refused to come to his funeral. Daisy herself, failed to make an appearance at this event, which makes me wonder whether Gatsby was her love, or her
When Nick visits Daisy she tells him the story of how her daughter was born, “It’ll show you how I’ve gotten to feel about––things. Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling.” By leaving Daisy behind at a time when she most needs him, Tom loses his value of companionship with Daisy. He no longer fits the three criteria that Daisy feels she needs in a man. Daisy knows that Tom no longer loves her and is having an affair with another woman, but despite all of this, Daisy has no intention of leaving him (20). This is because Tom, despite no longer fulfilling her emotionally, is still better for her financially and socially than if she left him to live alone. If Daisy wants to stay in her class, she has no option other than to stay with Tom. When Daisy finally sees Gatsby again, she suddenly has another option besides staying with Tom. Daisy knows that Gatsby has true feelings of love towards her, but leaving Tom would prove to be risky as it could tarnish her reputation and by extension her social stability. Daisy is now struggling between taking a risk for love and maintaining a safe, stable life she is ultimately unhappy
The ironic thing is, she is already behaving somewhat “paralyzed” because she is doing nothing to save her marriage with Tom. Daisy says foolish statements with radiance which shows that she does not think before she speaks. For example, she “always watch[es] for the longest day in the year and then miss[es] it” (11) which shows how much spare time she has. Funnily enough, Daisy cannot even watch for the longest day successfully because she “miss[es] it.” This statement also implies how the wealthy people like Daisy do nothing; they just watch society without any contribution because they are aimless. Also, since Daisy is always “watching” for something, in other words she always wants something; in the process, she forgets what she already has, revealing her to be insensitive. Lastly, Daisy “want[s] her life [to be] shaped immediately – and the decision must be made by some force – of love, of money, [or of] unquestionable practicality,” (151) she cannot bother to take a decision herself showing her to be unthinking. Out of the three things she says, she picks the one “that was close at hand” which is Tom’s
Daisy’s character can also be identified by the way she speaks of her daughter, Pammy, “I hope she'll be a fool, that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (17). This implies that woman don’t have power in the world compare to a man. Daisy thinks it’s best to have beauty rather than brains. Daisy treats her daughter as an object, showing her off to guests at her house, which suggests her lack of concern for her child and how careless she is. Daisy’s relation with Tom is unstable at sometimes. Daisy and Tom both came fr...
Anne Tyler’s “Teenage Wasteland” is a story about a modern day family of four and the relationship issues they experienced with each other. The story is presented in third person limited; however, the reader is shown much about how the mother of the family feels and the troubles she experiences in her relationships with her husband and children, primarily her son Donny. Daisy is portrayed as a mother who worries that she had failed Donny because of his continual disobedience toward the authority figures in his life. Donny is a teen who constantly misbehaves in school and in the story is described as “noisy, lazy, and disruptive; always fooling around with his friends, and would not respond in class.” (188). These behaviors lead Donny to poor grades in school. Daisy takes Donny to a tutor who is supposed to help Donny improve his grades and make better choices in life. The tutor turns out to own a “teenage wasteland” as referred to in the story that was a place that “teenage hoodlums” hang out. Donny starts to get worse in school and eventually gets kicked out. After Donny gets kicked out of school, he leaves his hometown and his whereabouts become unknown. Daisy is left in shock, wondering where she went wrong in young Donny’s life.
She stayed home and did not go out much to be independent. In Tiffany Swenson’s Feminist Opposition: The Great Gatsby, she talks of Daisy’s perfect submissiveness, making her appear to be a wife anyone would want. “However, when Gatsby challenges Daisy to break free, ruin her life and submit to Gatsby instead, she returns to submission with Tom. Both choices given to Daisy are ones that require her to submit to a male figure rather than follow her own heart” (Swenson). Daisy is not a free thinker or worker. She is financially dependent, making it impossible for her to want to leave Tom. As a person, she was beautiful, glamorous, but also disloyal, and very shallow. Her shallowness lead to her motherliness, she only brought up her daughter as if to brag, but never actually took care of her child. This leads to society devaluing women. Daisy’s beautiful exterior, and unloving interior makes society think that these “New Women” are unfit to be good mothers, and with that, underrates family morals and
I believe that all characters except Gatsby have something to do with his downfall. Daisy
takes no responsibility for her actions. Daisy even goes back to Tom, who cheated on her and
Daisy even be cause? she loved him so why would she try to be involved in this
Daisy is describe as childish, because like a child playing pretend, she pretends to be someone she is not, she cannot make up her mind, and does not think about how her action will affect everyone else. For example, Nick said, “The instance her voice broke off, ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, I felt the basic insincerity of what
Daisy's carelessness reveals her corruption as a human being. She uses her wealth and social status to escape whatever she chooses, like the death of Myrtle. Additionally, her actions demonstrate the dishonest exploitation of power for personal gain and attention. Daisy’s character, due to her money, inherently values her advantage over the lower class, revealing a nature of entitlement. Additionally, she gives no respect to anyone around her, sometimes n...
Gatsby spent his entire life working up from poverty and finding ways to gain wealth. Through becoming an officer, he meets Daisy, but cannot have her until he can provide for her. This causes him to leave her in order to become wealthy, but as he does this, Daisy marries Tom, not for love, but for money. Even when Gatsby returns, Daisy still has trouble leaving Tom and telling him how she really feels. Perhaps this is because it is so sudden, which also shows how the male characters easily persuade female characters. Daisy had been with Tom for years and now Gatsby shows up, even eats lunch with Tom which is ironic, but expects Daisy to just walk away as if it’s not a big deal. “Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic. His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately from his control,” (131). This is when Tom begins to realize that he’s losing Daisy, but the important aspect of this situation is what Daisy is trying to get out of this and how the men can easily affect the women. After Daisy allows Jay to get blamed for the murder, and destroy his name for her, it shows how she had never cared about anyone but herself. She might have enjoyed spending time with Gatsby, but if he didn’t have the money that he did, she wouldn’t have even looked at him. Once Gatsby has this power, he is able to pressure Daisy into leaving her
...atsby’s shady background, she runs back into her equally shallow husband’s arms. Daisy is careless with people’s lives because she let Gatsby take the blame for her unintentional manslaughter of Myrtle Wilson. Her inconsiderate actions eventually lead to Gatsby’s death, which she shows no remorse for.
During the confrontation between Gatsby and Tom Buchanan about Daisy, she is talked about like she is a possession to be won over. During the argument Nick “glances at Daisy who was staring terrified between Gatsby and her husband” (Fitzgerald, page 143). Gatsby and Buchanan tell Daisy what to say instead of allowing her to tell her own truths, and if she does start to speak up for herself she is quickly quieted down. Daisy states at the beginning of the novel while talking about finding out the sex of her child that, “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, page 16). Daisy is the only female character in the novel who understands that no matter what a woman accomplishes, she will always be downcasted based on her gender. This outlook is what allows her to be controlled by Gatsby and Buchanan, because she doesn’t believe that anything she can do will make her more of a human to them. Myrtle on the other hand, while still a married woman, isn’t able to see her powerlessness. She feels powerful enough to stand up to Tom and chant Daisy’s name over and over again until he breaks her nose (Fitzgerald, page 37). This scene demonstrates the way that men handled women if they ever did feel confident enough to speak for themselves. One final scene from the novel that really
Here, the woman exhibits the old money’s way of hiding their cruelty by calling it good manners and Gatsby mistakes it for genuine politeness illustrating how he hasn't quite mastered the nuanced interactions of old money.