Daisy Buchanan

Gatsby’s entire fortune, and his entire life, really, are built upon the hope that someday he might rekindle his old love with Daisy. This, we have to admit, is an amazing, perhaps unbelievable, premise. The question that emerges from it is a simple but fundamentally important one: what kind of girl could possibly inspire such heights of devotion? In other words, what’s so great about this Daisy, anyway?

The answer isn’t simple – it’s as much about Gatsby himself as it is about Daisy. But there’s certainly something about Daisy that makes her special; she’s not like any of the other women in the novel, and we get the feeling that, in the eyes of both Gatsby and Nick, she’s not quite like any other girl in the world. What is it about her that’s so different, so thrilling, so intriguing? Sure, she’s beautiful – in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, she was always the belle of the ball (which we learn from Jordan’s account of their girlhood). She’s also fun-loving and something of a flirt; her conversation is charmingly sassy and delightfully frivolous. Even Nick, her cousin, can’t help but be taken in by Daisy’s many charms. But simply being charming isn’t enough to make Daisy stand out from the crowd. What, then, is the deciding factor? Let’s examine the different aspects of Daisy’s character and see what we find.

The Siren

Daisy’s beautiful, mysterious, flirtatious, intriguing, delightful, thrilling, sensuous, famously “full of money” voice is one of the central images in this novel; characters from Nick to Jordan to Gatsby all comment upon the magic of this remarkable instrument. Daisy’s voice is full, not just of money, but of promises – there’s something about it that tells the listener that wonderful things are on the horizon. Daisy’s voice is irresistibly seductive, and all the other characters are drawn to her because of it.

This brings to mind the image of the Siren. In Greek mythology, the island-dwelling Sirens sang to passing sailors, and their song was so seductive that the sailors would throw themselves into the sea and drown trying to get to them. Daisy is kind of a modern Siren; when Gatsby stretches his arms out to the green light across the water, we can almost imagine him throwing himself into the Sound to reach her. Her voice speaks of everything Gatsby desires – Daisy herself, wealth, social status, true happiness – and its call is irresistible.

The Dreamer

Daisy, like Gatsby, is something of a dreamer. One of the things they share is their idealized image of their relationship the first time around – and this rose-colored view makes everything in the present seem dull and flat in comparison. Daisy’s view of the past is both wistful and cynical at the same time. While Daisy recognizes that society’s pressures are forces to be reckoned with, she also longs for the innocent period of her “white girlhood,” before she was forced/forced herself into her marriage to Tom. Though the Daisy of the present has come to realize that more often than not, dreams don’t come true, she still clings to the hope that they sometimes can.

The Real Girl

The real problem is that Daisy isn’t really some mythical, divine creature, nor is she entirely an idealistic dreamer like Gatsby. She’s ultimately a real, living, breathing woman, who’s flawed, just like the rest of us. Daisy is used to her life being a certain way – she follows certain rules, she expects certain rewards – and when Gatsby challenges her to break free of these restraints, she’s understandably frightened. Ultimately, Daisy returns to Tom because he’s what she knows; the prospect of giving up her whole life to run off with Gatsby is just too overwhelming, no matter how unhappy she is. At her core, Daisy is also incredibly selfish, just like everyone else (Tom, Jordan, perhaps even Nick) – everyone except Gatsby, that is. The real Daisy is not the magical thing she’s made out to be: in the end, she’s simply too human to meet Gatsby’s expectations.