Daisy Buchanan Character Analysis

The Great Gatsby is considered to be a great American novel full of hope, deceit, wealth, and love. Daisy Buchanan is a beautiful and charming young woman who can steal a man’s attention through a mere glance. Throughout the novel, she is placed on a pedestal, as if her every wish were Gatsby’s command. Her inner beauty and grace are short-lived, however, as Scott Fitzgerald reveals her materialistic character. Her reprehensible activities lead to devastating consequences that affect the lives of every character. I intend to show that Daisy, careless and self-absorbed, was never worthy of Jay Gatsby’s love, for she was the very cause of his death.

Fitzgerald has perhaps selected the colour white due to the connotations during this era, with the colour white indicating wealth and so immediately we are lead to believe that Daisy is a perhaps wealthy character if she is to posses white clothing. We are lead to believe that those who wear white and can maintain their clothes in pristine white condition aren’t those who bore on doing hard labour

Fitzgerald uses Gatsby's parties and the way in which Nick views them to reveal that whilst Gatsby is surrounded by shallow and vulgar people, he is above this. Fitzgerald also uses these parties to expose Gatsby's isolation which leads us to feel sympathy toward Gatsby. Despite the amount of people at the party, Nick observes Gatsby's seclusion and loneliness, "my eyes fell to Gatsby, standing alone on the marble steps". This evokes a great deal of sympathy from us as although Nick describes Gatsby in a warm and friendly way, "It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life", we now can see that Gatsby is a lonely figure. This sympathy is accentuated when Nick is the only person to turn up to Gatsby's funeral, as we know that Gatsby is a decent and honourable character and thus our sympathies are emphasised by Gatsby's isolation. When Nick first meets Gatsby, he reveals Gatsby to be a fascinating character that we would like to know more about. The warm and assuring smile that Nick describes is in antithesis to the

Daisy is often written to go along with the color white, which most first associate it with purity and innocence, as white is often used to represent. By the end of the story, the reader sees Daisy for who she truly is, as she skips Gatsby’s funeral the reader can see the white to represent a voidness, emptiness, and lack of consciousness. The reader now

F. Scott Fitzgerald uses white to portray innocence and class. This color is used several times while talking about Daisy. “She dressed in white and had a little white roadster” (Fitzgerald 4.74). This quote is used to convey Daisy during the innocence of her youth. The color white is pure and conveys her innocence.

Nick Carraway is one of the novel’s characters that lives in reality "They're a rotten crowd. You're worth the whole damn bunch put together," this occurs when Nick realises to what extent money corrupts people. Even though Nick sees reality he still allows money to somewhat possess him at the will of Gatsby who is aware of this. Nick is not as corrupted as the other characters and it’s portrayed through his modest house and the fact that he doesn’t lie or cheat.

Nick Carraway describes himself in the first chapter as reserved in judgement and tolerant of other people, even when subjected to their unwanted and boring secret confessions. He is indeed more tolerant than most, and holds judgement even when faced with huge and unmistakable character flaws. For instance, he makes no solid judgement on Tom Buchanan when he sees him openly displaying his extramarital affair with Myrtle and holding no shame or guilt about cheating on Daisy. His unwillingness to criticize leads to his having double feelings about several characters, because he see their faults but wants to keep an open mind. He is especially reserved in holding judgement against Gatsby, which causes him to go so far as to create a sort of blind spot towards him. He criticizes Gatsby’s obsession with wealth and luxury, and is very aware of his criminal behavior, yet he sees more in Gatsby the man who would do anything for his love and worked towards his dreams all his life.

Fitzgerald uses the color white to indicate purity and innocence throughout the book. When Nick Carraway first visited the Buchanan household, he met Daisy Fay and Jordan Baker. Nick tells us, “They were both in white…” (Fitzgerald 8). This is in reference to the girl’s dresses. Nick’s first impression of them was based upon the substantial amount of white visible throughout the room. Along with their apparel, the windows and billowing curtains were also white. We know innocence is depicted by Daisy because she drives a little white roadster, is always seen dressed in white, and is often described using the color white: “white girlhood,” “white neck,” “high in a white palace.” As the story goes on, we find out Daisy isn’t as innocent as Nick initially thought. This goes to show that even the “purest” of characters later become corrupted.

In a coming of age story, a character must look back on his or her youth and say goodbye. Nick Carraway comes to Long Island as an almost 30 year-old man who prides himself on the fact that he is a non-judgmental person. However, after his experiences he is no longer the same person he was before his 30th birthday. Along with turning 30, Nick’s experiences allow him to see past the illusions of the upper class lifestyle. Initially, Nick was intrigued by the glitz and glamour that accompanied the lives of Tom and Daisy. Slowly but surely, he matures out of his infatuation and comes to several realizations about himself and those around him. Fitzgerald initially presents Nick as a trustworthy character who reserves judgment and is unaffected by others. This first impression provides a meaningful contrast for Nick’s final opinions. After an unforgettable summer, Nick matures into a different person and has several judgments to make towards the people of East and West Egg.

He is the only one in the group that is not rich or famous and he has to adjust to the crazy life of partying with his so-called friends and ends up being the witness of all the broken dreams and lies. Over the course of the story he develops habits of alcoholism, depression, and loneliness that will haunt his future. Because of Nick’s ability to be within and without ultimately destroys him after Gatsby’s death and spends time at a sanitarium. The character of Nick Carraway is often overlooked when he is actually the one who suffers the most in the

Nick Carraway is the only character worth knowing in The Great Gatsby. He is living in East Egg with the rich and powerful people. He is on the guest lists to all of their parties and yet he is the person most worthy of attending such parties because he is well bread and his family is certainly not poor. “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” (Ch1, P1). These words were taught to Nick by his father showing the qualities that a man with goals and values would have in a place where goals and values was no existent. His Judgmental eye for character and guts of using them when desired makes him more interesting. He has a greatest fear that he will be

The name “Daisy,” is one that our culture has stereotyped to be a loving and caring person. We often see daisies as vibrant and pure, and we can see the pureness when Daisy is first described in the book. Fitzgerald writes, “Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright, passionate mouth, but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget.” The white and billowing curtains that are introduced in the beginning of the novel give way to a beautiful character that ensnares the

Regarding Gatsby, Nick "had enough of all of them [referring to Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, and Jordan]"(Fitzgerald 79) and he thought Gatsby was "despicable."(Fitzgerald 79) This is all just after the accident. By the end of the whole story though, Nick's sympathy toward Gatsby improved. He felt terrible that no one paid honor to this man or cared that he was dead.

Daisy Buchanan is the embodiment of perfection, grace, and luxury and Gatsby must make himself presentable to her. He believes that he is somewhat lesser than her and that he must be the one to change to become worthy enough for her hand in marriage. Due to Gatsby holding himself so far below Daisy when they first met he spends the rest of his life trying desperately to gather the means in order to impress and support her. One of the things noted in Gatsby's transformation into a newly "refined" version of himself is how he changed his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby; subsequently, the later has more flow to it whereas the first name is more of a cacophony. His inferred intent with the transformation of his name is to make him sound more

for a woman; the best she can do is hope to survive and the best way