Daisy Miller

Tom cheats on daisy with george’s wife myrtle. Tom tries to be something he isn’t because he cheats on daisy. Daisy tries to be something she isn’t because daisy married tom and she is really in love with gatsby. Daisy and gatsby have a mysterious relationship and nick finds out about it in chapter four from jordan baker. Daisy is trying to be something else by marrying tom when she is inlove with gatsby. I think daisy is in it for the money, that’s my opinion.

Daisy throughout the novel was part of a failing marriage, specifically her husband affair with Myrtle. In the beginning of the novel, Daisy did not know she had an option to get out of her marriage, and could live a happier life with Gatsby. When Daisy first learned of Tom’s affair, she seemed embarrassed not for him but herself, considering this was not the first time Tom has had an affair and

Daisy, who is another careless character in this book is can be blamed for three things, hitting Myrtle with Gatsby’s car, not confessing to it and allowing her affair with Gatsby to start up and continue. Daisy not only hit myrtle with Gatsby’s car but also didn’t decide to stop, “Daisy stepped on it” (151). She had no intentions of swerving before the hit or slowing down and stopping after it. This shows her jealousy towards Tom’s affair with Myrtle, along with that she didn’t take responsibility and selfishly did not confess to what she had done and how it could affect others. Secondly, she subconsciously leads Gatsby on into thinking that he really did have her back all to himself when realistically she was not sure what she was going to do. While talking to Jordan “She realized at last what she was doing — and as though she had never, all along, intended doing anything at all.” (175). Her affair with Gatsby was risky and turned into nothing but damage in the end. Lastly, Daisy says to Gatsby "I did love him once – but I loved you too" (140) referring to Tom. She shows her carelessness over her marriage seeing as she had an affair with Gatsby and didn’t think to put a stop to it. If Daisy had not had the affair with him, there would be no reason for Tom to want revenge on Gatsby in the first place, therefore Gatsby would’ve have been blamed.

We do also see Daisy portrayed as very boring character “Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it etc” (p.17). This also implies that Daisy might not be as bright as Tom and Nick and that she doesn’t shape her destiny or takes control of her life. E.g. she attempted to plan something with Nick. she said, “What'll we plan? What do people plan?” meaning she has never had to make decisions nor has she had much responsibility. Again unlike Tom who is very much in control and has got firm charge over his future (That he thinks). Daisy however does not have much loving feelings for Tom as when Jordan mentions to Nick that she knows Gatsby, it raises Daisy's interest momentarily “Gatsby? demanded Daisy. What Gatsby?”, but the conversation is quickly diverted by the announcement of dinner.

Daisy is actually a very weak person. This is probably due to all the physical and mental abuse she has suffered by her husband. She allows him to have complete control over her and order her around as if she were a small child. In a way, she seems to like that Tom is in control because she never has the burden of making decisions. Because of Tom?s finances, Daisy never is in need of anything. She likes living a life of luxury and appears to be quite happy with her situation. While she may not like the concept of her husband cheating on her, she would never consider leaving him or getting a divorce because of what society would think of her. It is Daisy herself that chooses to remain in a loveless marriage.

Although Daisy may seem sweet, it is difficult not to over think her actions throughout the book. If Daisy was always in love with Gatsby as she proclaimed she had been, then how did she move on so quickly? It is tempting to jump to the conclusion that she had only married Tom for his money. Additionally, it is evident that Daisy is aware of Tom having an affair with Myrtle Wilson. Knowing this, was Daisy truly in love with Gatsby after he returned, or was she only acting this way in retaliation to Tom’s affair? If both of these theories are true, that qualifies Daisy as the most selfish person in the novel. These actions cause us to question Daisy’s character throughout the novel; however, there is one incident that is unmistakably an act of selfishness. While Daisy was driving Gatsby and herself home, she ran over Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s mistress. Some believed it was an accident, but Daisy never stopped driving. “The ‘death car,’ as the newspapers called it, didn’t stop; it came out of the gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment and then disappeared around the next bend.”(Fitzgerald 144) Because she was in Gatsby’s car, he inadvertently took the blame and eventually got himself killed. The author merely discloses that Daisy and Tom had gone away never to return. Was Gatsby’s death a result of Daisy’s selfishness? Daisy’s selfish desires destroyed relationships and

Despite Daisy being a dislikeable character, there are some instances in which the reader feels sympathetic towards her. A big factor is the affair that Tom has with Myrtle. Daisy knows that what her husband is doing, but she still stays with him for the fact that they have a daughter together and for financial support. When Nick first sees Daisy's daughter, she says, "I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool-that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." By this she means that if her daughter is in the same position she is in her marriage, she won't know of the affair that her husband might have. The reader feels bad for Daisy because she is not being treated the way a wife is supposed to be treated. That is why she is yearning for love, and Gatsby was there to give it to her. Another time is at the hotel suite scene. She doesn't know who to choose from-Tom or Gatsby. She's torn between two lovers, and both of them have their own reasons for loving her, and why she should choose them. Gatsby has a lot to offer her, and loves her for who she is. He succeeded in life just to be with her. Although Tom is having an affair, he questions her about their love, and that Gatsby cannot take his place.

In both short stories, it is easy to discover that Winterbourne and Waythorn both are mysterious of who their adored ones really are besides what is normally perceived of them. Throughout the story Winterbourne could not figure out Daisy as he tried to analyze all the unusual aspects of her character. Winterbourne becomes infatuated by Daisy, confused by her “mixture of innocence and crudity,” (James 520) and “mixture of audacity and puerility.” (James 533). On the other hand, Waythorn becomes a bit curious as to who Alice really is now or was during her past two husbands who aren’t nearly as bad as Alice had informed him. Although Winterbourne is not married like Waythorn, Winterbourne desires Daisy a great deal but he is humble enough to avoid being disparate especially when she is accompanied by Mr. Giovanelli. Compared to Winterbourne, Waythorn could not bear “to think that she had, in the background of her life, a phase of existence so different from anything with which he had connected her.” (Wharton 1032). Although “The Other Two” ends much better than “Daisy Miller,” thanks to Mrs. Miller, Winterbourne learned that Daisy really did care about him. As for the very ending of both stories, “The Other Two” ends with Waythron, Alice and her former husband’s leaving enough room to bug in each other’s lives comfortably as hoped

When Daisy is first introduced in the story and movie, she is dressed in all white symbolizing purity and innocence. She, Nick Caraway, Jordan Baker, and her husband Tom Buchanan sit down to have dinner. Her husband mistress calls time and time again. She finally gets up to say something to him but it solves nothing. She sits back down being fully aware of her husband infidelity and does nothing. I wondered why she didn’t do anything about it or leave him. The simple answer was the wealth. Even though Daisy loved Gatsby when she first married Tom, she is staying for the same reason she got married in the first place. She enjoys the lavish life and if she leaves she loses it all. This was typical of women in the 1920s though. Daisy character is questioned many times in this story. First she has a daughter that she barely mentions. Even in the movie the girl only appears once. In the story Daisy says when she woke after giving birth she immediately asks the nurse if she had a boy or girl and the nurse told her it was a girl. She then goes to say “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope shell be a fool- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world a beautiful fool.” (Fitzgerald 17) This suggest that she feel like women have no place in the world. This also reflects how Fitzgerald own personal reflection of women. In an article titled Feeling "Half Feminine": Modernism and the Politics of Emotion in The Great Gatsby, Frances Kerr wrote that “"In 1935 Fitzgerald told his secretary Laura Guthrie, "Women are so weak, really-emotionally unstable and their nerves, when strained, break.” (Kerr 406) I think that this is why he made Daisy, who is the main female character in the book, look at herself as having no place in this world and as a fool. The next time Daisy character is really questioned is at the end of the book when she hit Myrtle Wilson and let Gatsby take the blame for it. She didn’t know he was going to get

     Daisy falls for the same shallowness that Gatsby does. She doesn’t love Gatsby for who he is—she does like him for his personality, partly, but it’s mostly because he has the money now, and is therefore much more qualified to be with her. Daisy really doesn’t want to be with Tom, for example, “I’d never seen a girl so mad about her husband” (p. 76) Jordan says, on how Daisy felt after marrying Tom. She wanted Gatsby. Or rather, she wanted to have a nice husband that would be a caring, rich gentleman. And Gatsby fills that idea up perfectly.

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.

James attempts to explain this lack of inhibition by constructing for her a simplistic vernacular and almost oblivious approach to life that would prove her innocence. Without knowledge, any faux pas are assumed inexperience, not immorality. This inexperience with more cultured society is also apparent in her vernacular. Daisy says things like "ever so" (56) that give her away as an "uncultivated person" (121). Her name, and the fact that it is her chosen, not given one, is also very significant. Miller suggests her family's humble history and Daisy, a "common flower...is also simple and unpretentious. The fact that it opens up in the sun also suggests [Daisy's] life-loving qualities" (121). That she chose this name also supports a view that Daisy had no qualms about living the way she does as a simple, life-loving creature. James also provides some subtle symbolism to support once again Daisy's innocence. In one scene, Daisy sits alone with Giovanelli and a painting of "Innocence X by Velazquez" (105) hangs above them to remind the

Daisy, on the other hand, seems at first as though she truly does love and care for her husband. While Tom keeps himself at a distance in both relationships, Daisy seems to possess an outright need for his company. This is supported by Jordan’s recollection of Daisy’s behavior towards Tom after marrying him: “If he left the room for a minute she’d look around uneasily and say: ‘Where’s Tome gone?’ and wear the most abstracted expression until she saw him coming in the door. She used to sit on the sand with his head in her lap by the hour, rubbing her fingers over his eyes and looking at him with unfathomable delight” (Fitzgerald, 76-77). That being said, there are in fact several signs that point toward Daisy not loving her husband at all. Perhaps the most notable is her behavior just before her and Tom’s wedding ceremony, when she is found “lying on her bed as lovely as the June night in her flowered dress – and as drunk as a monkey. She had a bottle of Sauterne in one hand and [Gatsby’s] letter in the other” (76). Daisy goes so far as to even momentarily call off the marriage altogether, ordering the bridesmaids to “tell ‘em all Daisy’s change’ her mine. Say: ‘Daisy’s change’ her mine!’” (76). Why, then, does she marry Tom after all and seem so in love with him afterwards? People usually seek out partners who will make them happy, protect them from that which they fear, etc. What does Daisy fear? She

Daisy also went against the social norms of the society when she began to talk to Winterbourne (472). James is displaying Daisy as a tramp because she is traveling around and talking to Winterbourne when she should be a conservative woman who stays with her mother or only goes out with a chaperone.

He misjudged her based on being, “too long in foreign parts” (459). Daisy was American and as such behaved differently from the way the other women Winterbourne knew did. He expected her to behave in one way and she behaved in another and he wrote her off even though he liked her. After Winterbourne found Daisy at the Palace of the Caesars, he gave up on her, “She was a young lady whom a gentleman need no longer be at pains to respect” (456). He continued to follow her comings and goings without telling her how he felt.