The Great Gatsby: Daisy

The Great Gatsby: Daisy

In The Great Gatsby, the character of Daisy Buchanan has many examples that revealed an unhappy life and a way to endure it by being selfish, cold and uncompassionated toward others covered by a sweet, innocent and fragil surface. Her love for money and materialism come into play when she is constantly portrayed as someone who is only happy when things are being given to her and circumstances are going as she has planned them. Because of this, Daisy seems to be the character that turns Fitzgerald's novel from a romantic tale of impossible love to a history that ends with unhappy lives and tragedy.

Since symbolizim takes part on this novel, it is not a coincidence that Fitzgerald chosed the name “Daisy” for this character, which is a plant, whose flowers have a yellow disk and white rays. (R.H. 335). Curiously, this image of a delicate flower set immediately into our minds the idea of a fragil and indefensible woman. Fitzgerald also presented her in couple of scenes wearing white clothes as a symbol of innocence and purity. (Schneider)

Fitzgerald portrays Daisy as a "doomed" character from the very beginning of the novel. She seems concerned only of her own stability and is sometimes not ready to go through what she

feels she must do, to continue the life that she has grown to know. It is implicit that she only married Tom Buchanan for the security he offered than for love. Her lack of decision and moral standards became her misfortune. Before her wedding, Jordan Baker finds Daisy in her hotel room, "groping around in a waste-basket she had with her on the bed and pulling out the string of pearls that Tom has given to her as wedding gift. "Take 'em down-stairs and give 'em back to whoever they belong to. Tell 'em all Daisy's change' her mine... She began to cry - she cried and cried... we locked the door and got her into a cold bath." (Fitzgerald 76)

Money and superfluous interests seems to be the very top priorities in her...