1920's Essay
Sands 1
Clarice Sands
Honors English 11
24 August 2011
Essay
Judy Jones is the daughter of the Mortimer Jones. Glowing with vitality, Judy is casual, charming, and irresistible to many men, including Dexter. She is attractive, unattainable, and amusing, “entertained only by the gratification of her desires and by the direct exercise of her own charm” (Fitzgerald 4) . Judy does not seem to be fully aware of how manipulative she is toward the many suitors who pursue her—or if she is aware, she doesn’t care. “She was not a girl who could be "won" in the kinetic sense” ( Fitzgerald 4). I believe Judy aspired to find happiness which she looked for in the attention of various men. “When a new man came to town every one dropped out--dates were automatically canceled” (Fitzgerald 4). In a way, Judy is shaped by men who view her as the ideal woman, they must twist her to fit their opinion of this vision of feminine beauty. Judy depends on these suitors’ attentions to give her a sense of life meaning. Just as Dexter seems out of his element when he becomes part of Judy’s world, Judy also suffers from a kind of displacement. This causes her to have selfishness, willfulness, and impulse-driven behavior in her adult years. Judy sees her beauty as a sign that she deserves great happiness and doesn't understand why she can't obtain it.
Judy fails to obtain the happiness she seeks because she is unaware of what happiness requires and what path will lead her there. Set in surface impressions and the praise that the dates provides, she is unable to state her unhappiness. She uses her beauty as her only means of
Sands 2 participating with and making sense of the world. At the end of the story, the life she lives falls far short of the life she had expected. She ends up getting married to a man who “Treats her like the devil” (Fitzgerald 6) and becomes “all right” (Fitzgerald 6) in appearance. She suffers from her impressions of the world and lack of being able to
Clarice Sands
Honors English 11
24 August 2011
Essay
Judy Jones is the daughter of the Mortimer Jones. Glowing with vitality, Judy is casual, charming, and irresistible to many men, including Dexter. She is attractive, unattainable, and amusing, “entertained only by the gratification of her desires and by the direct exercise of her own charm” (Fitzgerald 4) . Judy does not seem to be fully aware of how manipulative she is toward the many suitors who pursue her—or if she is aware, she doesn’t care. “She was not a girl who could be "won" in the kinetic sense” ( Fitzgerald 4). I believe Judy aspired to find happiness which she looked for in the attention of various men. “When a new man came to town every one dropped out--dates were automatically canceled” (Fitzgerald 4). In a way, Judy is shaped by men who view her as the ideal woman, they must twist her to fit their opinion of this vision of feminine beauty. Judy depends on these suitors’ attentions to give her a sense of life meaning. Just as Dexter seems out of his element when he becomes part of Judy’s world, Judy also suffers from a kind of displacement. This causes her to have selfishness, willfulness, and impulse-driven behavior in her adult years. Judy sees her beauty as a sign that she deserves great happiness and doesn't understand why she can't obtain it.
Judy fails to obtain the happiness she seeks because she is unaware of what happiness requires and what path will lead her there. Set in surface impressions and the praise that the dates provides, she is unable to state her unhappiness. She uses her beauty as her only means of
Sands 2 participating with and making sense of the world. At the end of the story, the life she lives falls far short of the life she had expected. She ends up getting married to a man who “Treats her like the devil” (Fitzgerald 6) and becomes “all right” (Fitzgerald 6) in appearance. She suffers from her impressions of the world and lack of being able to