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How Does Daisy Create Happiness In The Great Gatsby

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People have a general conception that having more wealth creates more happiness within a person's life. This theory is disproved through F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Daisy’s melancholy personality and regret after leaving Gatsby and marrying Tom for money demonstrates that wealth does not buy love nor fulfillment in life proving that some people value financial security over love. Daisy is a symbol of wealth herself and normally attracts and is attracted to men of similar status. Daisy Buchanan was born into wealth and lived among money for her entire life. With this wealth came enormous privilege when it came to everyday life. When Gatsby first met Daisy he was in the army and was stationed in Louisville, Kentucky as an …show more content…

Gatsby earned all of his money for Daisy after he faced her rejection in the form of her marriage to Tom because of his lack of wealth and inability to provide. The way that Gatsby gained his copious amounts of wealth was through bootlegging. This required that he associate with rough men of society. Daisy is repulsed by what Nick describes as the “Sinister faces, the faces of Wolfsheim’s people”(Fitzgerald, pg. 143) because they lack class. Describing Wolfsheim’s people as having Sinister faces allows for the reader to realize the flagrant evil behind the way that Wolfsheim and his people obtain their wealth such as bootlegging or fixing the world series. This snobbish behavior shows that security not only means that someone can provide a steady income but that they can also provide a stable and high class life. East Egg is commonly known as old money and has extremely high class wealth while West Egg is a mix and the wealthy people there usually come from new money which is commonly associated with bootlegging. The first time that Daisy is invited over to Gatsby’s after meeting at Nick's for tea, Gatsby proudly gives her a tour of what he has built for her. While on this tour Gatsby goes to his dresser which overlooks a balcony that Daisy is under and starts throwing his beautiful silk shirts over the balcony towards Daisy. This blatant behavior shows his affluency. As he kept throwing the shirts over the balcony Daisy saw financial security flying over the balcony that she could have had with Gatsby while also having love and she longs for this yet all she can verbalize is “‘They’re such beautiful shirts she sobbed,’ her voice muffed in the thick folds.”(Fitzgerald, pg. 92) When she says this, she is so overcome by emotions and regret that she

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