Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
All About Daisy
Daisy's Dream
In Great Gatsby, Daisy's ultimate dream is to maintain a good social status/reputation. She wants to live the rich and famous lifestyle and will sacrifice love to do so. This is why Daisy remains with Tom.
"Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. 'They're such beautiful shirts,' she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. 'It makes me sad because I've never seen such-such beautiful shirts before.'" (Fitzgerald 94)
"'I adore it,' exclaimed Daisy. 'The pompadour! You never told me you had a pompadour-or a yacht.'" (Fitzgerald 95).
"Daisy and Jordan lay upon an enormous couch, like silver idols weighing down their own white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans." (Fitzgerald 115)
All of these quotes show how important fancy things are to Daisy, and how much they mean to her. She was so amazed by all of these "things" that Gatsby owned, it was almost as if they made her attracted to Gatsby even more. The last quote shows the type of clothing that Daisy wore. Even on a hot day she wore her fanciest attire instead of something of more comfort.
"Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. 'They're such beautiful shirts,' she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. 'It makes me sad because I've never seen such-such beautiful shirts before.'" (Fitzgerald 94)
"'I adore it,' exclaimed Daisy. 'The pompadour! You never told me you had a pompadour-or a yacht.'" (Fitzgerald 95).
"Daisy and Jordan lay upon an enormous couch, like silver idols weighing down their own white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans." (Fitzgerald 115)
All of these quotes show how important fancy things are to Daisy, and how much they mean to her. She was so amazed by all of these "things" that Gatsby owned, it was almost as if they made her attracted to Gatsby even more. The last quote shows the type of clothing that Daisy wore. Even on a hot day she wore her fanciest attire instead of something of more comfort.
Daisy Symbolizes the Moon
Daisy is like the moon. She likes to be seen but only when she can shine above everything else. Then the brighter the sun gets, the more the moon wants to hide under the covers of its insecurities. Usually it likes to blend in with the stars because it cares more about the opinions of others. "Daisy's murmur was only to make people lean towards her, an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming." (Fitzgerald 76)
"The King's daughter, the golden girl." (Fitzgerald 84)
"'Are you in love with me?'" (Fitzgerald 89). All of these quotes from the book The Great Gatsby prove that Daisy is like the moon. In the first quote, Daisy's need for attention from others is revealed. In the second quote, it shows how highly everyone thought of Daisy and just how bright she shined, like the moon. The third quote shows how Daisy is concerned with the fact of what others think of her, specifically Gatsby. The fact that she wants to know if he is in love with her proves the point of her need to feel wanted.
"The King's daughter, the golden girl." (Fitzgerald 84)
"'Are you in love with me?'" (Fitzgerald 89). All of these quotes from the book The Great Gatsby prove that Daisy is like the moon. In the first quote, Daisy's need for attention from others is revealed. In the second quote, it shows how highly everyone thought of Daisy and just how bright she shined, like the moon. The third quote shows how Daisy is concerned with the fact of what others think of her, specifically Gatsby. The fact that she wants to know if he is in love with her proves the point of her need to feel wanted.
Daisy's Character Traits
"As he left the room again she got up and went over to Gatsby, pulling his face down, kissing him on the mouth." (Fitzgerald 116) This part in the book represents how Daisy was a little promiscuous. She was married to Tom, but she went ahead and kissed Gatsby in front of everyone anyways. Even though she technically loved Gatsby, kissing him in front of everyone was not very appropriate. In this book, Fitzgerald uses synecdoche (using one element of a character to describe them as a whole) to describe Daisy. "Her voice was full of money," (Fitzgerald 97). "The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain" (Fitzgerald 142). Daisy was a woman of beauty, elegance and grace. People were always drawn toward her and she attracted many. However, underneath the surface, Daisy also had some greed/insecurity inside of her. She wanted a wealthy and clean social status and would do anything to get it, even leave the one she loved. This in itself shows how insecure Daisy is. The fact that she could not be happy being who she was, proves to the audience that she was insecure about herself.
Daisy Is The Color Orange
Daisy is the color orange because orange represents energy, enthusiasm, flamboyance, and demanding of attention. Daisy definitely has all of these traits, but especially the demanding of attention. "It's a great advantage not to drink among hard drinking people." (Fitzgerald 82) I feel as if Daisy didn't drink among these people because she didn't like to drink a lot for one, but also it made her feel better about herself and higher up than these people when she remained sober. "'You remind me a rose, an absolute rose.'" (Fitzgerald 92) Daisy says this to Nick because she is trying to make Tom jealous. By doing this, it shows the audience that she wants attention from Tom, further proving the point that she will do almost anything for attention. "'That's because your mother wanted to show you off.'" (Fitzgerald 104) When Daisy brings her daughter in, she doesn't want to show her off because she loves her. She wants to show her off for her own ego and pride. To Daisy, everyone is an object. Daisy wants all the attention and is caught up in materialistic things.
What Daisy's Dream Costs Her
Daisy's dream of living with a high, wealthy social status costs her the love she shares with Gatsby. She gives up being with Gatsby because she is too 'perfect' to leave her "perfect" marriage with Tom to go live with Gatsby, a bootlegger that no one really respects. Daisy is too afraid to take that big of a risk so she gives up love, to be the person that she thinks everyone else wants her to be. "She wanted her life shaped now." (Fitzgerald 23) Daisy wanted her life shaped, and thought that marrying Tom would help do that. But unfortunately it just caused her so much misery that she got drunk right before the wedding. "I never loved him" (Fitzgerald 143) Here, Daisy lies to Tom's face and says that she never loves Gatsby. This shows that she will do anything to please Tom so that he will stay with her, even if it means denying Gatsby right in front of his face. "She was feeling the pressure of the world outside." (Fitzgerald 36) This proves that Daisy was feeling pressure from everyone else to be someone she wasn't. She was passive and let people make her decisions for her. That is Daisy's main flaw in this book. The reason she isn't very good at making decisions for herself is because she worries about what everyone else is going to think.
Works Cited
The Great Gatsby: Book
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996. Print.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996. Print.