Great Gatsby - Daisy
The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a story about money and "true" love, revolving around a man named Jay Gatsby. Gatsby spends his life in pursuit of his dream of winning wealth and the love of the beautiful Daisy Fay Buchanan, a character based on Fitzgerald's own wife. Unfortunately, as Gatsby discovers, Daisy is not worthy of such devotion. Despite her attractive appearance and the refined mannerisms she possesses, her true personality is overtly self-centered, careless, and incapable of sustained loyalty. Because of this, Daisy plays an important role in developing the theme of the novel, which is that wealth leads to the corruption of a person. At first glance, Daisy seems to be a typical wealthy woman of the 1920s; she is beautiful, charming, and sophisticated. Her classic beauty is one of the first things Nick notices about her, as he describes her lovely face, bright eyes, and passionate mouth (Fitzgerald 9). Her name also indicates her fairytale-princess appearance. The beautiful flower that she shares the name of is fresh and bright, a symbol of spring and youthfulness, and Daisy shares those qualities. Although she is already in her twenties, she still often acts like a teenager. She tries
Daisy's many immoral qualities all stem from her love of money. As the apostle Paul once wrote, "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil," (Bible 1). Daisy is a prime example of that principle in action, because she is shallow, irresponsible, uninterested, and indecisive. The character of Daisy basically encapsulates all of the negative aspects Fitzgerald saw and detested in the rich people of his time, and she illustrates just how corrupt the affluent people became because of their money. Daisy's spotless outer shell hides her money-corrupted personality. Even though she is wearing white clothing, she is compared to things of silver and gold, such as a "silver idol" (Fitzgerald 115). Silver and gold are precious metals often used as currency, and when they are used to describe Daisy, they indicate that the wealth she grew up with and married into permeates her whole being, annulling any good that appears to be present. According to Gatsby, even Daisy's voice rings of money (Fitzgerald 120). This wealth is what made her so attractive to Gatsby and many of her past suitors, and her desire for more wealth led her to marry affluent Tom Buchanan, instead of waiting for monetarily-challenged Gatsby to return from the war. Daisy's drive for wealth has become the foundation for her character, but it has not made her happy with her life. Fitzgerald uses Daisy as a symbol of all of the rich people of her time. Through Daisy, he indicates that once the wealthy consider their wealth to be important, they will no longer be happy with what their money and social status bring them. Her affair and the resulting conflict also illuminated her character flaws of indecision and shallowness. She wanted the best of both worlds: the wealth and social status of being with Tom and the excitement of Gatsby's way of life. Daisy had never expected to have to make a decision between them. When confronted with the situation, having no way to avoid it, Daisy's pathetic "solution" was simply to back out of the situation by saying she had loved both of them (Fitzgerald 133). Even though she did not directly pick one man
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Approximate Word count = 1438
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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