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
Daisy’s reactions to certain events show how she makes decisions based off of what will give her the most money, rather than what will be the best option for her. Daisy was in love with Gatsby, but he was poor and he had to go to war, so she decided to wait for him. However, it took too long for him to return, so Daisy got impatient, and she married Tom instead. Tom was rich, and Daisy knew he would bring her an old money status. When Gatsby finally meets with Daisy again, she sees how rich he is and she regrets her decison to marry Tom. Gatsby shows her his house, and his fancy shirts, which makes Daisy say that “They’re such beautiful shirts… It makes me sad because
The narrator compares her beauty displaying regrets to children having to children departing from playing outside in the evening. Daisy is a beautiful girl that Nick becomes instantly star-struck in; however, the reader knows that her personality kills this star-struck from the phrase, “then the glow faded, each light deserting her with lingering regret.” Her personality is compared to “like
Daisy just feels like her being a “fool” is just apart of being a girl. She thinks it is her job to be a
His material world reflects Daisy. Daisy is sometimes a symbol of the American dream. “Her voice is full of money... That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money - that was the inexhaustible
Throughout the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the character of Daisy Buchanan undergoes many noticeable changes. Daisy is a symbol of wealth and of promises broken. She is a character we grow to feel sorry for but probably should not.
Daisy is one of the main characters whose obsession with wealth influences her life decisions. “ Her voice is full of money” (Fitzgerald 128). this quote shows that even people around Daisy can hear the longing for money in her voice. She is obsessed with money and thinks that if she has it she will achieve happiness. “ She wanted her life shaped now, immediately- and the decision must be made by some force-of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality-” (Fitzgerald 161). Daisy thought money and love would make her life more fulfilled and she believed it was the only way for it to be more adequate. She wanted her life to be perfect and she was willing to go with whoever could provide her more money and love. In Daisy’s marriage with Tom she felt a lack of love because of Tom’s mistress, which is why she was drawn to Gatsby once again. When Gatsby and Daisy first met he was lacking money but they were in love. Daisy was consumed by the idea that she must have both money and love in order to get happiness, that she ended
Daisy is in love with money, ease, and material luxury, all things a rich Southern Belle grows up with. After her marriage to Tom, she is whisked away to the east, the symbol of 'old money' and corruption of America. Here she becomes more comfortable in she and her husband's abundant assets and allows the corruption of the east to take her over- she becomes reckless and even more materialistic. She treats her own daughter as nothing more than an object to show off and treats Gatsby, the man who dedicated his life to seeking her out, as if he had never existed. The combination of the Southern Belle stereotype along with that of the corrupt Rich Easterner creates the perfect portrait of Daisy Buchanan.
Daisy, like her husband, is a girl of material and class at heart, and Gatsby being her escape from a hierarchist world. Daisy has just grown up knowing wealth, so in her greedy pursuit of happiness and the “American Dream” Myrtle Wilson died, Gatsby's heart and life were compromised, without claiming responsibility on her part. Daisy was “by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville...” (116) Jordan says, describing early affections between Daisy and Gatsby. She goes on to say, “...all day long the telephone rang in her house and excited young officers from Camp Taylor demanded the privilege of monopolizing her that night.” (116) . Daisy was a fancied girl who has Gatsby tied around her finger, Jordan explains that he was looking at Daisy “...in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at some time...” (117). Daisy, abusing Gatsby’s love for her uses it to create security and protection, greedily and selfishly allowing him to take the fault. While Daisy’s beautiful, alluring traits turn her into an innocent, naive flower, she plays the ultimate villain.
Daisy illustrates the typical women of high social standing; her life is moulded by society’s expectations. She is dependent and subservient to her husband. She is powerless in her marriage.
Her actions are viewed as foolish, creating the stigma around women, and though Daisy does not see herself as a fool, surprisingly she expresses that “the best thing a girl can be in this world [is] a beautiful little fool (Fitzgerald, pg 17).” Yet, Daisy is not a fool; she is merely a victim of her environment which is influenced by gender, money, and status. This leads to Daisy having no power or control over her own life and feeling as though women can only be “beautiful fools” as stated earlier.
Daisy Buchanon was always mesmerized by wealth. Her dream is to have a luxurious lifestyle filled splendor. Before the events of the
The characters in this novel have very different values and goals compared to each other. Daisy for instance didn’t value her daughter at all and her only goals in life is to please herself and be accepted by others. Daisy believed that her love and social life were more important than her own flesh and blood. “I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything” (17). She’s done everything except
No one around her really valued true love, it is believed that money would be the source of Daisy’s happiness. Everyone around her knew that she valued money. Money was what her world revolved around, she even spoke like she was full of money. “Her voice is full of money,’ he said suddenly… ‘It was full of money-that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it… High in a white palace where the king’s daughter, the golden girl” (120) Sadly, Daisy’s husband is having an affair with another woman, but Daisy knows that this affair is happening. All these years she stayed with her husband, because she wanted to keep her status. Now that her old love is back in town and he is also very wealthy, Daisy now feels she can leave her husband. Daisy truly believes that money is the key to keeping herself happy. Money is worth way too much to her and seems to be the only valuable object in Daisy’s life.
Not in the traditional way where she drove under the influence of marijuana, which she smoked a lot, she lived the life everyone around her wanted to live. Which inevitably lead to her to a path of destruction, that’s what her parents called it, to her it was called life and she would live it in the fast line. She never wanted the family with the white picket fence, she wanted the spontaneous alcohol and drug rock n’ roll lifestyle.
Daisy Buchanan is a old money wealthy wife of Tom Buchanan, living a rich and successful life, but unhappy with her marriage. She was fully aware of Tom’s affair, and decided to have her own with her old lover, Mr. Gatsby. She’s known to be all about money, careless, indecisive, daunting, and beautiful. At the time where she met her true love, Gatsby, 5 years ago, she had ended her journey of many of guys coming into her life. She just wanted money and fame like the rest of the snobs. “Her voice is full of money.” he said suddenly”(pg.120) Even Daisy’s lover is aware that she only cares about money. Even as she tries to get away from Tom, she is forced back with him as she accidently kills Myrtle, with Gatsby, in Gatsby’s car. Daisy will never be happy with her marriage, and probably never happy with the life she lives, especially after murdering someone in involuntary manslaughter.