How Does Daisy Buchanan Affect The Great Gatsby

Historically, the 1920s were a period of boundless economic growth and expansive consumerism in the United States of America. Amidst the vast forests of advertisements and streets packed bumper-to-bumper with Ford’s Model T, money rapidly became a symbol of societal power. Credit allowed United States’ citizens to develop a buy-now-pay-later mentality, inspiring the unwarranted augmentation of materialism. Despite this, the Jazz Age came quickly to an end upon the occurrence of Black Tuesday, in which the stock market crashed irrecoverably, leaving millions in poverty. Thus the Great Depression was triggered, an obvious consequence of the reckless spending and disregard of the law that characterized the 1920s. Tom and Daisy Buchanan, along

This is obvious even before the wedding, as Daisy appeared agonized prior to the ceremony: “‘Take ‘em down-stairs and give ‘em back to whoever they belong to. Tell ‘em all Daisy’s change’ her mine. Say ‘Daisy’s change’ her mine!’ She began to cry--she cried and cried”(76). However, Daisy knew, in order to maintain her elevated status on the social hierarchy, she needed to marry a man of the same strata, so she married Tom Buchanan and, “didn’t say another word”(76). The discontent once again becomes apparent directly before the occurrence of the mortality-inducing car crash that killed Tom’s lover, especially demonstrated with Daisy’s venomous comment to Tom, “‘you’re revolting’”(131). By making this remark, Daisy made indisputably clear the negative sentiments she harbored for her husband. The Buchanan marriage seemed to be crumbling, the romantic facade appeared to finally breaking down to reveal the couple’s incompatibility. Overall, Daisy and Tom’s marriage was a hasty decision that led to both the individuals’ dissatisfaction. Due to her wealth, Daisy especially felt pressured by societal expectations to sacrifice her optimism in order to maintain her position in the Jazz Age hierarchy. In essence, the wedding of Tom and Daisy Buchanan was a rash, superficial choice that led to the inevitable development of discontented tensions building in the couple’s