8/8/2019 Essay for the Great Gatsby

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THE GREAT GATSBY

WHY THE READERS VIEW OF DAISY DIFFERS FROM THAT OF GATSBY

Rosie Diamond May 9, 2009

In F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great G atsby, after coming home from service

in World War I during the 1920s, Jay Gatsby devotes his life to rekindling an

old romance with the wealthy and beautiful Daisy Fay. With her in mind, he

pursues a career in bootlegging alcohol t o make his fortune. Later, upon buying

a house across the lake from hers, he begins to throw lavish parties every night

in hopes of her stopping by. S oon after Gatsby settles in, Daisys c ousin Nick

moves in next door, and the two become fast friends.

As the story moves forward, it becomes apparent how differently the two

men view Daisy. The narrator, Nick Carraway, provides the readers view of

Daisy. Nick narrates the story from a mos tly objective viewpoint, causing the

reader to view Daisy in a more realistic manner than Jay Gatsby, her former

lover, whose infatuation with Daisy makes it hard for him to view her as she

really is.

Jay Gatsby holds Daisy in his m ind as an unattainable ideal, rather than

as just a person. His love for her makes him prone to bel ieve that she is

perfect, which as the reader sees, is far from the truth. In the sto ry, Daisy

Buchanan (formerly known as Daisy Fay) is the primary object of Gatsbys

desire. Because of his feelings for her, G atsby is too starry-eyed to take note of

her faults. This, coupled with the fact that Gatsby is at heart loyal and

innocent, makes it very difficult for him to see past her charms.

8/8/2019 Essay for the Great Gatsby

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THE GREAT GATSBY

WHY THE READERS VIEW OF DAISY DIFFERS FROM THAT OF GATSBY

Rosie Diamond May 9, 2009

Nick notes that: "There must have been momentswhen Daisy tumbled short of

his dreams not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of

his il lusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself

into it with a creative passion (92)"

The reader, unlike Gatsby, gets a realistic picture of Daisy because of

Nicks narration. Nick and the reader view Daisy as t hey do because Nick is

firstly, not infatuated with her; and secondly because Nick depicts his cousin

honestly. Nick acknowledges things about Daisy that Gatsby would not want to

notice, and treats her the same as everyone else when it c omes to character.

He notes her flaws and good qualities as he observes them, and is not under

the impression that she is perfect. Since t he reader only experiences her from

Nicks point of view, t he reader views her much as he does: careless, self -

serving and fickle. The following excerpt sums up Nicks view of Da isy near the

end of the book: "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy -- they smashed up

things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or the ir vast

carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people

clean up the mess they had made (188).

Overall, the real difference between the readers view of Da isy and

Gatsbys view of Daisy lies in the acknowledgment of Daisys imperfections.

Where Gatsby sees her as some kind of mythical being, Nick and the reader

8/8/2019 Essay for the Great Gatsby

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THE GREAT GATSBY

WHY THE READERS VIEW OF DAISY DIFFERS FROM THAT OF GATSBY

Rosie Diamond May 9, 2009

perceive her as a normal, flawed human being. Because the reader experiences

Daisy through Nicks eyes, the fact that s he is not a perfect person is made

apparent. Nick does not sugarcoat what he sees to make her l ook better, nor

does he disregard her shortcomings as Ga tsby does.