Solomon Parker Mr. Bruneel Honors English 11B-Pd.4 1 March 2011 The Outer Appearances and Inner Happiness
Solomon Parker Mr. Bruneel Honors English 11B-Pd.4 1 March 2011 The Outer Appearances and Inner Happiness
Solomon Parker Mr. Bruneel Honors English 11B-Pd.4 1 March 2011 The Outer Appearances and Inner Happiness
Solomon Parker
Mr. Bruneel
1 March 2011
“If only you knew how mean she really is... You'd know that I'm not allowed to wear
hoop earrings” (Waters). In the movie, Mean Girls, directed by Mark Waters, high school
students are constantly trying to assimilate to high school standards and appease the, “queen
bee”, Regina George. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, brings light to the way people of
the 20s publicized themselves in a way to become successful and accepted, while holding
ulterior motives. Both works show how people create superficial appearances to hide their true
personas. Using Gatsby’s ambition, Daisy’s shifting demeanor, and Nick’s façade, Fitzgerald
justifies this theme. Mean Girls also illustrates the theme through The Plastics seemingly perfect
appearance, Cady’s new identity, and the rest of the school’s, female population desperate
attempts at popularity. However, Mean Girls does a better job at supporting the theme because it
The Great Gatsby effectively supports how people create superficial appearances to hide
their true personas. Gatsby is seen as a wealthy man with family money and immense happiness,
when in fact he is a criminal millionaire that has obtained his lifestyle only to woo his ultimate
vision on wealth, Daisy Buchannan. Gatsby was born James Gatz, a poor farmer from
Minnesota. When he meets Daisy, a young and rich woman, he falls in love with her for her
enormous home and many cars, and later for how she was simply nice. Gatsby purposely had
“given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same
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stratum as herself – that he was fully able to take care of her” (Fitzgerald 149). He made a
woman, he claimed to love, believe he was something he was not, masking his true self and
giving him ulterior motives to build his life upon. Daisy Buchannan plays the role of the faithful
wife filled with mirth, yet scorned by her husband’s affair and over-protectiveness. In reality she
is one of, if not the most pernicious character in the novel. She exhibits how hypocritical and
selfish she is when she has an affair with Gatsby, betrays him and then kills Myrtle. Daisy is torn
between her husband and Gatsby, yet even when she feels stronger towards Gatsby she says “I
never loved him” (Fitzgerald 132). After Tom reveals to Daisy that Gatsby’s money is not
legitimate, her love towards him disappears. To add insult to injury she rides home with the
heartbroken Gatsby (Fitzgerald 135). Daisy shows how someone that appears fragile and
extravagant can be deleterious and uncompassionate. Lastly, the narrator Nick Carraway
establishes himself as “inclined to reserve all judgments” (Fitzgerald 1). However, Nick is
constantly judging the people he comes in contact with. He sees Gatsby as a great man, Tom as
over bearing, Owl eyes an intimidating businessman and creates a novel based on everyone he
came in contact with during this time. When he says good-bye to Gatsby he shouts “They’re a
rotten crowd … You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together” (Fitzgerald 154). Tom not
only verbally states his opinion on the Buchannans but also on his cousin, Daisy. Fitzgerald’s
novel encompasses the human essence of creating a more acceptable image of oneself to conceal
Mark Waters’, Mean Girls also represents how people create superficial appearances to
hide their true personas. The Plastics, Regina, Karen and Gretchen, are the social elites of North
Shore High School, they appear to be self confident, self aware and the perfect high school girls.
The girls have formulated how they will dress, what they will eat, and where they will shop for
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their high school career. Yet, when the girls get to Regina’s house they critically judge
themselves on anything they see wrong. They go down the line finding anything wrong with
themselves, like “I've got man shoulders … My hairline is so weird … My pores are huge … My
nail beds suck” (Waters). The females that everyone at North Shore attempt to emulate have
sundry problems that they attempt to hide. In addition, Cady Heron, a new student, is confronted
by the plastics and two other students, Janice and Damien. She quickly changes, her innocent and
tame personality, to a conniving “regulation hottie” (Waters). Cady’s obsession with appeasing
others is fully realized when she admits “The weird thing about hanging out with Regina was
that I could hate her, and at the same time, I still wanted her to like me” (Waters). Cady’s inner
persona, of a content and positive young lady, is overcastted by her plastic charade. The faux
appearances of people are also present in every other girl’s actions at North Shore. Every clique,
from “the burnouts” to “the wannabees”, places themselves in positions where they are labeled to
be accepted by the social standards, not giving them a chance to be true to themselves. When the
girls are asked about the plastics, they take their negative and sometimes awkward experiences,
and shift it to their advantage. For instance, Bethany Byrd says “One time she punched me in the
face... it was awesome” (Waters) and girls also confess “I saw Cady Heron wearing army pants
and flip flops, so I bought army pants and flip flops” (Waters). These girls feel, the only way to
make it through four of their most important years is to blend in with the people they envy as
oppose to showing how they could better themselves. Waters uses all of the characters in Mean
Girls to validate the title and bring more support to the idea the people create superficial
Mean Girls argument, that accepting yourself and others brings overall wellness, makes it
a paradigm for the two works common theme. Regina’s transforms herself from self-righteous
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and ignorant to goal oriented. She becomes a positive member of society due to the fact that “the
jock girls were not afraid of her” (Waters). She realizes with the help of her new friends that she
is truly happy and kind when she is in a positive and competitive environment. Karen Smith
drops her promiscuous charade and accepts her own dimwittedness, to reach her full potential.
She says “My breast can always tell when it is going to rain … Well they can tell when it’s
raining” (Waters). Karen puts her ability to use by announcing to the school there is a 30%
chance it is already raining (Waters). By breaking her mold and freeing her inner self, Karen
becomes peaceful and well liked. Cady Heron reverts back to her true self when she is stripped
of her Plastic reputation. She realizes when she has nothing left and is submerged in a
mathematics competition that coming to terms with yourself and others bring peace. She points
out Carolyn Cratz’s horrible outfit and appearance. But wisely states “Calling someone else fat
doesn’t make you any skinnier. Calling someone stupid doesn’t make you smarter. And ruining
Regina George’s life definitely didn’t make me any happier. All you can do in life is try to solve
the problem in fun of you” (Waters). Cady creates a superficial character to feel accepted, but
she becomes cognizant of the fact she must focus on herself and accept others. The females of
North Shore High School rid themselves of preconceived images and accept everyone around
F. Scott Fitzgerald and Mark Waters create power pieces of art that display the human
Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, uses its dynamic characters faux reputations to propel the
theme. Gatsby is seen as a well like gentlemen living a secure and lavish lifestyle; he is in fact, a
mendacious man with a hidden past and plans to ruin a relationship. Daisy is anything but the
sweet and innocent trophy wife. She’s a hypocritical and shifty woman with ambivalent feelings
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toward her two love interest. Nick claims to be a non judgmental man, but he creates a book
giving his insight on everything he witnesses. Mean Girls illustrates the theme by showing its
characters attempts at emulating the best at the expense of losing themselves. The Plastics put on
the act of perfect and secure girls, but fully recognize their flaws. Cady Heron loses her initial
personality to appease everyone she is acquainted with. The female population of North Shore
wishes to push aside their honest selves to satisfy their schools hierarchy. Mean Girls’ plot helps
it foster the idea that accepting yourself, and others, brings peace through Regina, Karen and
Cady’s attitude adjustments. For these reason Mean Girls, directed by Mark Waters, is a better
example of the theme: people create superficial appearances to hide their true personas.
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Works Cited
Mean Girls. Dir. Mark Waters. Writ. Tina Fey. Story. Rosalind Wiseman. Paramount