The Character of Daisy Buchanan in the novel "The Great Gatsby" by F.Scott Fitzgerald

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The Character of Daisy Buchanan in the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F.Scott Fitzgerald

Daisy is The Great Gatsby’s most enigmatic, and perhaps most disappointing, character. Although Fitzgerald does much to make her a character worthy of Gatsby’s unlimited devotion, in the end she reveals herself for what she really is. Despite her beauty and charm, Daisy is merely a selfish, shallow, and in fact, hurtful, woman. Gatsby loves her (or at least the idea of her) with such vitality and determination that readers would like, in many senses, to see her be worthy of his devotion. Although Fitzgerald carefully builds Daisy’s character with associations of light, purity, and innocence, when all is said and done, she is the opposite from what she presents herself to be.

From Nick’s first visit, Daisy is associated with otherworldliness. Nick calls on her at her house and initially finds her (and Jordan Baker, who is in many ways an unmarried version of Daisy) dressed all in white, sitting on an “enormous couch . . . buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon . . . [her dress] rippling and fluttering as it [she] had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house.” From this moment, Daisy becomes like an angel on earth. She is routinely linked with the color white (a white dress, white flowers, white car, and so on) always at the height of fashion and addressing people with only the most endearing terms. She appears pure in a world of cheats and liars. Given Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy and the lengths to which he has gone to win her, she seems a worthy paramour.

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As the story continues, however, more of Daisy is revealed, and bit-by-bit she becomes less of an ideal. Given that she is fully aware of her husband’s infidelities, why doesn’t she do anything about it? Because he has money and power and she enjoys the benefits she receives from these things, she is willing to deal with the affairs. In addition, when she attends one of Gatsby’s parties, aside from the half-hour she spends with Gatsby, she has an unpleasant time. She finds the West Egg nouveaux riches to be tedious and vulgar, an affront to her “old money” mentality. Another ...

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The Quality of Written Communication (QWC) is also very good. There is an adept use of punctuation - even when quoting, though candidate uses the correct standard whereby additional words are used to clarify and modify with the use of square brackewts. There is also a sound appreciation of grammatical standards and no reason to lower the QWC due to incorrect spelling. This candidate clearly has re-read their answer before submission and ironed out any writing/typing mistakes. This is a very valuable use of time towards the end of an exam or the coursework deadline because QWC is just as important the analysis - if candidate cannot express themselves clearly through a proper use of grammar, then they will lose marks.

The Level of Analysis here is exceptional. Fitzgerald's character is a very complex individual and her personality is only revealed to us through Nick's narration (this should really have been noted as it is imperative that it is made obvious the candidate is aware of how we receive information). But in Carraway's description and interactions with Daisy, the candidate has delved into what these interactions say about how character, as well as giving successful analysis into how Daisy's function in the novel affects the readers (the comments about Daisy's white "purity" being interpreted as a "void" is just one example). Although, the section where the candidate analyses what Fitzgerald is showing us in Daisy qand Gatsby's relationship when her is showing her his shirts missed an important element of colour - Gatsby always imagined Daisy as pure and innocent, thus the predominent white colour, though Fitzgerald described Daisy as having a "dash of blue lightning across her cheek" in this scene, which suggests she has dyed her hair and this corrupts Gatsby's and the reader's perfect view of her. Other than that, this is a very good analysis of character that comments on the perception of Daisy from a number of viewpoints of characters, with a sound appreciation of what Daisy's role in the novel tells us about her character.

This is a character analysis of Daisy Buchanan from F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel 'The Great Gatsby'. The candidate her has retained consistent focus on the proposed question, analysing both in Fitzgerald's descriptions and her role in the novel's plot how her character can be seen. What makes this essay most interesting to read and most successful in terms of answering the question is the evidence that the candidate has drawn from a number of points in the novel (chronologically, which suggests a wide knowledge of the novel and an understanding and anability to structure an answer well), meaning they comment not only on how she is percevied originally by Nick, but how she is perceived at different points during the novel by not just Nick, but also Gatsby, Tom and the reader themselves (as well as then going on to consider Daisy's own view of Myrtle). This shows an extremely acute awareness of the character Fitzgerald created in Daisy Buchanan, and the result is an extremely well-focused response that is entirely indicative of an A* grade candidate.