Daisy Buchanan exists within a gilded cage. She is subservient to her husband, kept quiet by the luxuries he affords their family, and ignores the impact of his infidelity and terrible character. Her most important role in her home is to be a beautiful and lifeless trophy. She is expected to be the homemaker, the mother, and the moral backbone of the household, an image of delicate femininity.
Her only child, a daughter named Pammy, faces the same imprisonment that tortures Daisy. Pammy is a very minor character in the novel, mentioned only a few times, emphasizing her insignificance within the family. The only acknowledgment Pammy receives from her mother is when Daisy wants to show her off, dressing her up to create the illusion of ideal motherhood. In reality, Pammy is neglected by her parents.
Perhaps Daisy is such a negligent mother because she has no hope that her parenting will change anything, that her own misery will inevitably pass down to her daughter. Or maybe she believes it is futile to raise a daughter, knowing that in her home, Pammy will be nothing more than an object of affection, always inferior to Tom and his male counterparts. It could also be a reflection of Daisy’s nature: self-centered, hedonistic, pleasure-seeking, and irresponsible.
Pammy’s rare mention in the novel is best remembered from a single, infamous line: “I hope she’ll be a fool, that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald, p. 17).
The readers are not aware of what will become of Pammy as she grows up, but we can imagine that she must face similar issues to her mother: loneliness, sexism, the weight of perfection and beauty, and the inability to voice her own thoughts. Fitzgerald uses the Buchanan women in his novel to highlight sexism’s rippling effects on generations of women.
Bibliography: The great gatsbybyf. Scott Fitzgerald. The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Great Gatsby. (n.d.). https://www.gutenberg.org/files/64317/64317-h/64317-h.htm