American author, F. Scott Fitzgerald in his novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ incites glorified feelings that lead the reader to believe the character Daisy Buchanan is a kind of ideal perfection, although she does not possess nor deserve that position. He supports this claim by showing the audience both Gatsby’s and Nick’s perceptions of Daisy. Fitzgerald’s reasoning for this is to charm the audience to Daisy in order to build hope for her and Gatsby’s relationship. He provokes a curious mindset in his readers through his use of tone.
Daisy Buchanan is a beautiful young woman who was raised in Louisville, Kentucky. She's Nick's cousin and Jay Gatsby's love interest. Back in the 1920s, when World War I was about to start, Daisy was admired by many of the officers posted near her home, including Gatsby. Gatsby mislead Daisy about his past and claimed to come from a wealthy background to convince her that he was deserving of her love. Gatsby won Daisy's heart and they were madly in love until Gatsby left to fight the war. Daisy vowed to wait for Gatsby, but in 1919 she decided rather marry Tom Buchanan, a young man from a powerful, upper-class family who could give her the rich lifestyle that she always wanted.
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Fitzgerald incites glorified feelings that lead the reader to believe the character Daisy Buchanan is a kind of ideal perfection, even though she does not possess nor deserve this position. This is exemplified when Nick is describing what sets Daisy apart from the rest of the affluent “fast crowd all of them young and rich and wild, but Daisy came out with an absolutely perfect reputation” (pg.115). This ‘perfect reputation’ makes her seem flawless, but Nick does not actually think that Daisy is as perfect as she seems, only that everyone around her is so “blind that they don’t see or care” (pg.116). Nick frequently comments on Daisy’s voice, saying, “[She had] the kind of voice that the ear followed up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again” (pg.77). Nick accentuates the effect her voice has on others, particularly men, saying, “There was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found it difficult to forget: a singing compulsion” (pg.78). These details make her level of flawlessness seem unattainable, even though she’s just as imperfect as everyone else. This information further proves that Daisy has an image of perfection through the eyes of her acquaintances, but the people who truly know her see the messy reality that Daisy Buchanan is.
Daisy Buchanan is not the type of ideal perfection everyone thinks she is. She uses romanticizing characteristics to charm men just as she did with Gatsby. To Gatsby, Daisy is the epitome of perfection. She sets a tone of charm, wealth, grace, and sophistication that draws Gatsby to her, but in actuality, Daisy does not meet Gatsby's expectations. Although she is beautiful and charming, she is also very selfish, unstable, and cynical. Nick calls Daisy a spoiled, egotistical, rich person who “smashes things up and retreats” (pg.212) behind her money. Daisy shows this behavior at the end of the novel when she chooses Tom over Gatsby again, and then lets Gatsby take responsibility for the death of Myrtle Wilson, even though she was driving the car. Furthermore, rather than going to Gatsby's wake, Daisy and Tom decided to move away.
‘The Great Gatsby’ evokes glorified feelings that lead the reader to believe that the heroine Daisy Buchanan is a kind of ideal perfection, although she does not have and does not deserve this position, which is depicted in certain parts of the text. Fitzgerald uses Daisy's beauty to claim that she is a paragon of perfection, when in fact she has lived a lie for most of her life and was unhappily married to a man she did not love. When Gatsby went to war, Daisy Buchanan chose money over love, and she struggled with the consequences throughout her life. That one selfish decision left her with a lifetime of misery and despair because she couldn't be with the one she truly loved. As Matshona Dhliwayo once said: “If you choose money over love, you will always be poor”.
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