The Great Gatsby - 'Fitzgerald informs the reader too often of her charm without providing her with substance as a thinking, sentient woman. How far do you agree with this view of Daisy?'

possibly attain in real life and pursues her with a passionate zeal that blinds him to her limitations. His dream of her disintegrates which reveals the corruption wealth causes and unworthiness of the goal. This is also the way in which Fitzgerald sees the American dream crumbling in the 1920s. Gatsby first meets Daisy in the novel in chapter five. Before this event the story of their relationship exists only in prospect. “ A pause; it endured horribly” “Sat down, rigidly, his elbow on the arm of the sofa and his chin in his hand.” The moment seems awkward. Gatsby becomes terribly nervous, doesn’t know what to say to Daisy to make an impression and worries that even if Daisy accepts his advances, things will never be the same as they were in Louisville or in his dream world. Nick returns to the room after a while to find that Gatsby and Daisy are getting along well. It is then that we realise how much Gatsby is obsessed with Daisy when she makes a remark that they hadn’t seen each other for many years. He replied with “Five years next November.” This shocked everyone in the room but is not clear if they realise his so-called “crush” on Daisy.  Daisy is overwhelmed by Gatsby’s luxurious lifestyle and when he shows her his collection of shirts she begins to cry. “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such – such beautiful shirts before.” Their romance seems fully rekindled. In chapter six of the novel Daisy and Tom Buchanan are invited and go to one of Gatsby’s parties. Daisy doesn’t have a good time and Gatsby realises this. “I guessed at his unutterable depression.” Gatsby is unhappy because Daisy has had such an unpleasant time. He wants things to be the same as they were before he left her. “She should go to Tom and say ‘I never loved you.’” He wants Daisy to leave Tom so he can be with her. Gatsby protests that he can re-create the past and believes his money can accomplish anything where Daisy is concerned. In this chapter Gatsby’s most powerfully realised dream is his own identity and that his conception of Daisy is itself a dream. Chapter seven sees Gatsby so preoccupied by his love for Daisy that he calls off his parties and fires his servants to prevent gossip. He replaces them with people related to Wolfshiem. Lunch at Tom and Daisy’s house shows the love, which Gatsby and Daisy feel for each other. They find it hard to hide and Daisy eventually asks Tom if he wants to go to the city. Tom becomes certain of their feelings for each other. Tom later asks Gatsby of his intentions. Gatsby tells Tom that Daisy loves him and not Tom. Tom sends Daisy back to Long Island with Gatsby to prove Gatsby can’t hurt him. But they are involved in a car crash. Myrtle was fatally hit by the car Daisy and Gatsby were in. they were in Gatsby’s yellow car and so is assumed that Gatsby was driving whereas it was actually Daisy. Gatsby is worried that Tom might hurt daisy and send Nick to check on her. This shows the deep love Gatsby still feels for her and the nobility that defines his character. Gatsby stands outside Tom and Daisy’s house alone. Earlier in the novel he stretches his arms out towards the green light, optimistic about the future. He has made it past the greens light, but his dream is gone forever. Losing Daisy is like losing his entire life. Gatsby has made Daisy the object of his dream and when Nick suggests that he forgets about Daisy and leaves Long Island he is very reluctant to do so. “He couldn’t possibly leave Daisy.” Gatsby thinks of Daisy as a sweet girl who lived him, blinding himself to the reality that she would never leave her own class and background to be with him. Jordan Baker is one of Daisy’s younger friends whom she knew in the past. She describes Daisy in the past and refers to her as less rose tinted and glowing.  Jordan paints the picture that Daisy was a beautiful girl and that all the military officers were in love with her. Daisy was also very popular and everyone seemed to envy her. “All day long the telephone rang in her house and officers…demanded the privilege of monopolising her.”  Daisy fell in love with Gatsby when he was stationed at the base near her home. “ Looked at Daisy while she was speaking in that way every young girl wants to be looked at.” He left and she chose to marry Tom instead. She became drunk though the night before her wedding after receiving a letter from Gatsby. “Bottle of sauterne in one hand and a letter in the other.” This shows that she could only be marrying Tom for his status and wealth and still has feelings for Gatsby. Maybe her feelings never went away. Daisy’s popularity is emphasised all through this passage. “ Daisy was popular in Chicago, as you know.” Jordan could be trying to portray that this is all daisy wanted and if she had to chose wealth over love then she would. “She came into my room and woke me up.” I believe Jordan wants to portray the fact that Daisy still has feelings for Gatsby when Daisy hears his name again for the first time since the wedding. Nick, Daisy’s second cousin, focuses on Daisy’s voice, charm and looks. He is also critical by implication. “ Stirring warmth flowed from her” “ Breathless, thrilling words.” Nick sees Daisy as someone who wants to show that she wants to make men notice her, perhaps like the officers used to when she was younger. But he then sees another character in her. He judges her too quickly. “Before I had grasped her meaning there was a flutter of a dress and the crunch of leather boots.” This shows that Daisy is either oblivious to Tom’s unfaithfulness or knows about it and doesn’t mind because all she thinks about is her appearance, status and wealth. But then daisy shows a romantic side too. “There’s a bird on the lawn that I think must be a nightingale…He’s singing away-.” This portrays Daisy as a woman with many sides to her character. You can easily just see one side and make a judgement too quickly. This is what Nick nearly did. Fitzgerald doesn’t think of Daisy as a product from the jazz Age. This is clear as he disapproves of Daisy’s actions and questions her morality. Daisy’s character is partially based on Zelda Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald’s wife. Like her Daisy is in love with money, ease and material luxury. She is capable of love but not of loyalty and care. She seems to be different from her own daughter in the way that she never discusses her and doesn’t seem to notice when her daughter’s around, when her daughter’s talking to her she simply ignores her. In Fitzgerald’s conception of America in the 1920s, Daisy represents immoral values of the aristocratic or the posh side of East Egg. In conclusion, I do think Daisy’s charm is presented too much in the novel and we don’t get to see much of an intelligent woman in the novel. She is portrayed as snobbish and only cares about wealth and status. I think this is because she is presented and portrayed through other characters, for example Gatsby and his dream portrayal of Daisy. This might not be true to her typical character.