“Toxic relationships not only make us unhappy; they corrupt our attitudes and dispositions in ways that undermine healthier relationships and prevent us from seeing how much better things can be” - Michael Josephson. Manipulative, impulsive, chaotic; all are characteristics of a toxic individual. The majority of these people can cause disaster and dysfunction in society and relationships ultimately ending in despair. Comparatively, in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan is the living embodiment of despair. Daisy is reckless, irresponsible, and causes horror by her failure as a mother to her daughter, as a wife to her husband, Tom, and her affair with Jay Gatsby. Moreover, Daisy leads chaotic relationships and refuses …show more content…
First, Daisy betrays Gatsby by ditching him to marry a more rich Tom Buchanan. Gatsby himself shows this when he tells Tom, “She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me” (Fitzgerald 83). After dating Gatsby, Daisy betrays him by being impatient and unloyal. Daisy should not have let herself fallen in love with Gatsby to begin with as this will lead to Gatsby’s decision to earn money as a bootlegger in a dangerous gang. Secondly, Daisy is careless with love which is why she was easily capable of falling in love with Tom, money, and not Gatsby. This is easily described with, “Daisy was a loose cannon that was young and careless and was in love with a soldier. After the soldier leaves, as Jordan describes, Daisy picks herself up, moves on and comes to a realization; she needs to marry someone with money”(Snyder 10). This idea not only shows Daisy's poor dating habits but it also reinforces the fact that she abandoned Gatsby. She couldn’t decide between loving Gatsby or living with old money which unfortunately won Daisy love due to her greedy personality. Next, Daisy decides that ruining her own on life wasn't good enough for her, so she takes her anger out on Myrtle Wilson and leaves Gatsby to pick up the pieces. This is seen perfectly with, “Another instance of Daisy´s childish position is the fact that she is willing to let Gatsby take the blame for the murder of Tom's mistress.”(Velasco 40). Daisy hits and kills Myrtle Wilson and without owning up to its leads, leaves her grieving husband, George, to believe that Gatsby was the driver and it was Gatsby who needed to be reprehended. This not only destroyed Myrtle directly and eventually Gatsby as well, but it also, consequently, led to George's own shooting himself. Lastly, Daisy decides to deny any associations with Gatsby after his murder. This is seen with, “Daisy
Yet his actions of following and having hope in her would lead him to find her actions not supporting what he wished for. Daisy wants to be a part of his life, yet her actions and decisions would hurt him both physically and mentally. She believed a life with Gatsby would finally fulfill her. When she decides to leave the hotel room after the argument, “Staying with Gatsby she decides to drive the car overwhelmed with anger and realizes her fun with Gatsby has ended”(Samkanashvili 48). All her expectations came to the reality that what she wanted was not going to ever be what she got. Only caring about herself and her issues, after that was when she killed Myrtle. “And as a result of Myrtle’s death Gatsby gets killed for Daisy’s foolish behavior”(Samkanashvili 48). Her unreasonable consciousness was not what could save Daisy now. What she did led to the death of the person we believe she loved, yet what she did for him was not very impressive. When Gatsby’s funeral came “Daisy hadn’t sent a message or a flower”(Fitzgerald 174). She did not want people to know she was caught up in this business. Daisy and Tom went away on a vacation to get away from what had happened. She never cared enough for Gatsby to risk her own appearance of being ruined through her mistakes and misjudgement. But her misstep was accompanied by the physical and
Throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows that Daisy is self-centered and careless at heart; she is a dreamer who fails to face reality. Continuing an affair with Gatsby with no real intentions of leaving her husband eventually leads to the death of Gatsby. In return she shows little to no concerns over the death of her “love” Gatsby and returns into the arms of her corrupt husband. Tom, who is also unfaithful in their relationship has a mistress of his own who is killed in a car accident while Daisy was driving. Tom as well shows no remorse in her death and moves on like nothing ever happened. Daisy and Tom are the prime example of corruption in both material success and with what wealth can bring; “They instinctively seek out each other because each recognizes the other’s strength in the corrupt
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 sees this as does almost the exact same thing, only with Gatsby. By expressing this carelessness for each other, one can only begin to imagine the carelessness they have for other human beings. Tom treats Myrtle even worse than he treats Daisy, but Myrtle doesn’t seem to care, because she is mainly interested in his money. Tom doesn’t seem to worry about anyone but himself. In his own spite he ruins his life, as well as Daisy’s, Gatsby’s, and Myrtle’s. Daisy shows her carelessness during the time where Jordan, Tom, Daisy, Nick and Gatsby go to town. Her and Gatsby act like they are in love and make Tom incredibly jealous even though he is having his own affair. Tom accuses Gatsby of trying to start trouble in the Buchanan house, and they begin to fight. Daisy yells at Tom and tells him that she no longer loves him and is in love with Gatsby. Tom proceeds to tell everyone how Gatsby came across his money, and once Daisy finds out it was by illegal gambling and crime, she seems much less interested in him. Daisy appears to be more interested on what is on the outside of people, rather than the inside.
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.
Will true love itself keep people satisfied and motivated? Both F. Scott Fitzgerald and E.E. Cummings support this idea in their works. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby died protecting the love of his life, and in the poem “anyone lived in a pretty how town” anyone and noone died satisfied with the love they shared with each other. Both show that love is still present in the world and that there are still some people in the world who actually care about others, Both authors use tone, imagery, and symbolism to reveal this concept.
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 The Great Gatsby, Daisy’s betrayal takes place in order for Daisy to have stability in her life with Tom. Since their first encounter five years earlier, Daisy has led Gatsby to believe that she is in love with him and that they were going to be together, “they were so engrossed in each other that she didn’t see me until I (Nick) was five feet away,” (Fitzgerald 48) Although at first, their encounter is described as “a terrible mistake,” (Fitzgerald 94) her attitude towards Gatsby changes when she enters his immense mansion and sees the vastness of Gatsby’s wealth, “That huge place there?’ She cried pointing, (Fitzgerald 99) Gatsby then realizes that he has been betrayed when he accuses Daisy of never loving Tom, only to discover that Daisy
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.
Gatsby loved Daisy and was willing to work hard to attain her. In fact, it took him five years of hard work to make himself worthy of her love and notice. Daisy is wealthy and well off and fitted right into Gatsby’s elaborate dream. Whereas the reality of Daisy’s life was her husbands continual infidelity, indulging herself without regard for anything but her own pleasure. When she conducted the affair with Gatsby and then murdered Myrtle, she took no responsibility, because didn’t feel she needed to.
In The Great Gatsby the author F. Scott Fitzgerald writes a romantic and tragic novel about a young man named Gatsby who is possessed with the love of his life, Daisy, but cannot reach her. Gatsby has waited for 5 years to be with her but she already had a husband. Gatsby believes that if she says she never loved Tom, her husband, everything can restart and Gatsby and Daisy can get married. Unfortunately Gatsby will learn that you cannot repeat what was in the past.
All through the book, Gatsby's mind is stuck on getting Daisy back. He thinks that in one magical moment, Daisy will leave Tom and return to his bed for a fairy tale ending. After he comes back from the war his thoughts are on his love's betrayal, her marriage. He sees his actions as a method of love, but his thoughts are ill hearted towards others. He has been involved in illegal financial methods and is trying to break up a marriage for his own gain in life. After their fling officially begins, Gatsby has Daisy lying to Tom and he is convincing her that she never loved her husband. Gatsby thinks that by getting Daisy to realize her marital mistakes, she will simply leave Tom and marry him. He is corrupting a relationship and an individual further than their present state of dishonesty. He thinks that his plans are going accordingly until a heated discussion breaks out and he is on the losing end. He has ended up emotionally unbalancing Daisy to the point where she accidentally kills someone. Gatsby then takes the blame like it was nothing with the thought that it is his duty. Gatsby's train of thought was a bit off the tracks and did crash and burn, but who could blame a man in love,
Daisy Buchanan is not so sweet and innocent as she is portrayed in Luhrmann’s film. Daisy is not innocent- her voice is full of money, she cries over shirts (not lost time), she sulks, she fake, she kills Myrtle, and she’s frivolous and careless with other’s feelings. In Luhrmann’s film, she is a dear, sweet girl who is lost in her own beautiful world of white dresses, mansions, and love, and in the end we are left feeling sympathetic for the character because she almost seemed upset about her decision. Daisy Buchanan is not that same girl in the novel. She is an heiress who sits upon chairs in her white dresses. She toys with the emotions of Gatsby. She chooses money over love and chooses Tom while Gatsby is away at war. And she doesn’t even take care of her own child. Despite the many differences between Daisy in the novel and Daisy in the movie, it is understandable as to why these decisions were made. People want to like the damsel in distress, the damsel being Daisy trapped with her abusive, unloyal husband, Tom. Had
Daisy’s inability to understand love impels Gatsby’s downfall, while she remains unscathed, bearing no visible signs of guilt. Her obsession with wealth and materialism from old money eradicates her sense of morality and reasons her unwillingness to commit to a relationship with Gatsby. She consistently provides Gatsby the hope of a life together with secretive acts as she goes “over to Gatsby and pull[ing] his face down”