What examples illustrate the overreaching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure seen in Daisy and Myrtle? How can I write a good closing...

Let's work on those examples first; they'll fill up your body paragraphs and give you lots to talk about.

Try setting up a table to organize the quotes you find (either on paper, or in a new document on your computer). I'll add an image here to show you what I mean.

Now start skimming your book to find scenes involving Daisy or Myrtle, and see what you can find. For example, we see something that Myrtle says in Chapter 2:

"‘I told that boy about the ice.’ Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders. ‘These people! You have to keep after them all the time.’

She looked at me and laughed pointlessly. Then she flounced over to the dog, kissed it with ecstasy and swept into the kitchen, implying that a dozen chefs awaited her orders there."

You might use some of what Myrtle says here to show how cynical she is. Let's keep looking to find something for Daisy. Here she is, being talked about in Chapter 4:

"The next April Daisy had her little girl and they went to France for a year. I saw them one spring in Cannes and later in Deauville and then they came back to Chicago to settle down. Daisy was popular in Chicago, as you know. They moved with a fast crowd..."

You might choose some of that to show how Daisy's life is all about travel, a luxurious, pleasurable pursuit.

As you keep skimming, you'll find lots of quotes to add to your chart, and then you can pick the best of them to use for your paragraphs.

Now let's work on that transitioning sentence you need. You said it needs to be "a closing sentence which at the same time is beginning my second body paragraph." What it looks like will depend on how you've decided to organize your ideas.

My best guess is that your two body paragraphs will be structured like this:

   1. Daisy

   2. Myrtle

But you could instead write them like this:

   1. The cynicism of both girls

   2. Both girls' greed and pursuit of pleasure

Let's say you're moving from a paragraph about Daisy to one about Myrtle. You might write, "But all of this greedy, cynical behavior from Daisy seems tame compared to how Myrtle conducts herself."

But then, what if you organized your paragraphs by topic instead of by character? Then you might write, "Myrtle and Daisy's cynicism might be easily excused, but readers are likely to view their empty pursuit of pleasure with more condemnation."