preview

Daisy Buchanan : The Great Gatsby Essay

Good Essays

Behind every great man is a beautiful, charming maiden who holds his heart. What if this woman was not absorbed with taking care of his heart but was completely absorbed with money, reputation, and her own needs. In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Mrs. Daisy Fay Buchanan is the object of affection or the "rock of [Gatsby's] world."(99) All Daisy's life she has wanted to be noticed, to be heard, and to be loved. However, when everything she has always wanted is being held in her hands, in the form of Gatsby, Daisy chooses money as her form of happiness ultimately leading to her misery. Daisy's action and choices are extremely defined by her "East egg" way of life, which is a representation of old money …show more content…

Although Daisy is not ignorant of the desolate state of life she has created for herself, she is a fool for choosing a materialistic lifestyle over true happiness with Gatsby. Through staying married to an abusive husband, consistently acting careless, and continuing to choose materialism Daisy becomes the fool for being so ignorant of the resulting consequences of her actions. Daisy as a character and Daisy's choices are symbolized in the novel through her house. Nick, our narrator, describes the Buchanan house to be "more elaborated than…expected, a cheerful red and white Georgian Colonial Mansion." (23) The white of the Buchanan house exemplifies Daisy's signature color, represents the ardorless marriage between Tom and Daisy, along with the colorless state of life she has created in her pursuit of money. The "brick walks and burning gardens"(23) of the front lawn give a subtle hint of the empty home the Buchanans share. The brick walks show how Daisy's materialistic choices are set in stone even when all life in her garden, a representation of Eden in the novel, are in flames before her. The architecture of the colonial style mansion further demonstrates Daisy's old money, high social standing, or in other words the American Dream. The American dream being if you work hard to pursue money it will in return buy you happiness. Even though

Get Access