What Is Daisy's Motivation In The Great Gatsby

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Jay Gatsby’s and Daisy Buchanan’s motivations to illustrate that people are driven by their greedy natures, specifically being greedy for love and wealth. For the duration of the novel, Gatsby’s need for Daisy steers him through his life. Daisy is also driven by her need for Gatsby, but also by her need for wealth. Both Gatsby and Daisy have similar motivations, which demonstrate that people are driven by either wealth or love (or both). Despite having similar and different motivations, Gatsby and Daisy are simply human in their needs.
Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald expresses how people are driven by love through Gatsby’s motivation for Daisy. To start, Gatsby is insanely motivated by his love

When Gatsby confronts Daisy about her love for him, Daisy is unable to deny that she didn’t love Tom. She quotes that she “loved [him] now—isn't that enough? I can't help what's past,” (132). Her love for Gatsby causes her to act without thinking. She doesn’t care who she hurts. She acknowledges her feelings but doesn’t stop to think about anyone else's emotions. In addition to her love for Gatsby, she is extremely encouraged to act due to anything related to wealth. When she is in Gatsby’s house, she cries over the shirts, saying “‘It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such—such beautiful shirts before” (92). Daisy was crying because she lost what she could have had, which was a happy marriage with Gatsby and a wealthy lifestyle. She left Gatsby because he couldn’t provide for her, but she had once loved him. At last, Daisy is motivated by her fear of her husband, Tom Buchanan. When Tom and Gatsby got into an argument over Daisy’s love, Daisy was fearful of Tom’s actions. Nick had “glanced at Daisy, who was staring terrified between Gatsby and her husband” (134). She had tried to stop Gatsby and Tom from fighting because she didn't want to know the outcome. Daisy loves Gatsby and Tom, but she couldn’t choose between them. She wanted to preserve her image and memory of Gatsby that she had from the past. By thoroughly

Daisy wanted to live a wealthy life. She mentions that “she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver” (76). Despite loving Gatsby, she married Tom so that she could live the lifestyle that she wanted. She wasn’t willing to give up her lifestyle for Gatsby. Sadly, Gatsby wanted a lover (Daisy), but he didn’t have the money to support her. Gatsby mentioned that she“never loved him” to Daisy when he and Tom were arguing over Daisy’s love, “she hesitated” once he said it (132). He wanted Daisy’s love so badly that he wouldn’t believe that she could love someone other than him, just as he never loved anyone else. His love for her drove him to become wealthy so that she may love him. He became obsessed with the idea that Daisy would be his