Essay On Daisy In The Great Gatsby

A brooding collusion of justice, greed, and power, the American dream is hidden behind a mask of gold, glamor, and glitz in the famed gilded age of America. Fitzgerald creates a realistic society that lacks morals and embraces surface level ideas, and his use of narration through Nick Carroway’s character lacks perspective on his female characters. Though the book is about the character Gatbsy, his delusions and ideals befall all the characters in the book, leaving only Nick’s character to make judgemental and analytical remarks over the events that occur within the novel. This leaves readers with a dissatisfied view of his female characters, particularly Daisy. Daisy’s character is crafted through the perspective of the characters around

This portrayal of Daisy suggests her to be a perfect woman that is better than the society and people around her. This gives the readers a distasteful view of Daisy and reflects her to be a self centered character that only cares about herself, neglecting the people around her. Fitzgerald’s use of simile comparing Daisy to silver describes how she is forever unattainable to Gatsby. Gatsby will never be able to have his perfect fantasy, Daisy. Fitzgerald use of dialogue between Nick and Gatsby further the prerogative of Gatsby's, unattainable expectations, “One of them was that, after she was free, they were to go back to Louisville and be married from her house — just as if it were five years ago” (Fitzgerald 84-85). In the quotation Gatsby mentions freeing Daisy from her life with Tom. Gatsby isn’t really freeing her though, merely transforming her role in another man’s life. Fitzgerald’s use of Gatsby’s delusion highlights the realism of the society he created. Showing readers the norm entailing women giving up their ambitions and dreams to appease a man in his unrealistic ideals and fantasies. Overall, Fitzgerald’s creation of an elaborate delusional world created only for Daisy, by Gatsby, shows a man creating a world for a woman to live in, leaving her unable to create a world of her own. Emphasizing the equal gender ideals prevalent in the 1920s. The gender norms of the 1920s rationalize Gatbsy’s behavior and make it seem a lot less

Fitzgerald creates Tom to be a very brute and masculine man with a short temper. He is introduced to readers as, “...one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anti-climax” (Fitzgerald 7). This gives the reader an immediate distaste for his character and Fitzgerald intentionally introduces him this way to establish a dynamic between characters. Additionally, Fitzgerald’s use of imagery in the beginning to introduce Tom’s affair with Myrtle gives readers a very shallow view of Tom, “was able utterly to put this fifth guest’s shrill metallic urgency out of mind” (Fitzgerald 15). Also by Fitzgerald adding these details so early on in the book and mentioning Daisy’s knowledge of his affair leaves readers as well as Daisy with no question of his character. By Fitzgerald, initially creating and continually making Tom out to be a bad character, readers do not have to dissect or psychoanalyze him. Fitzgerald shows Tom getting drunk and being reckless in an apartment with Myrtle in one of the first chapters, “So Tom Buchanan and his girl and I went up together to New York — or not quite together, for Mrs. Wilson sat discreetly in another car” (Fitzgerald 22). Therefore, readers take Tom at face value, and so can Daisy. An element that Fitzgerald successfully uses in his ending where Daisy stays with Tom, “But she and Tom had gone away early