Daisy the Golden Girl
- f15eagle314
- Jan 14, 2022
- 5 min read
Daisy is the impossible dream that Jay Gatsby spent his whole life chasing. His entire life is devoted to trying to get her back, to bring her back to him. And through the help of Nick Carraway, he finally succeeds. But his victory is short lived as things quickly fall apart since Daisy cannot find the love she used to feel for Gatsby. But Gatsby continues to dream, and to hope. For some reason deep down, he believes that Daisy will come back to him, but his naivety leads him to his death. His legacy becomes that of a murderer and his dreams crushed. Forgotten by even the one he risked everything for, Gatsby's whole life gets torn apart. But why? Who exactly is Daisy Buchanan? What did she do that destroyed Gatsby? What is her legacy?
Born to a wealthy family, Daisy Fay has always been surrounded by enough money for her to live multiple lives. By the time she was a young adult, she already had many suitors but she fell in love with Jay Gatsby, who at the time was serving in the military. When Gatsby had to go overseas, she kept in touch with him but eventually married Tom Buchanan. After years of marriage Daisy eventually forgot about Gatsby until Nick Carraway came to her house. Later, after Gatsby and Nick get Daisy to come over for tea, she finally is reunited with Gatsby. Daisy begins to spend more and more time with Gatsby, telling him that she loves him and continuing their relationship, but over time Tom begins to get suspicious. One day when Daisy, Tom and Gatsby all go into town, Gatsby tells Daisy to renounce her marriage to Tom. But Daisy in unable to do it. When leaving New York to go back home, Daisy decides to drive thinking that it would help calm herself but instead hits a woman on the road and kills her. At home, Tom tells Daisy how everything will be fixed and they later leave New York and go live somewhere else. Daisy learns of Gatsby's death through the papers but never says or does anything to show remorse for her first love's death.
How could Daisy be so emotionless about Gatsby dying? The person she first fell in love with and who devoted so much to her is dead and she didn't even send one flower. The person she thought about running away with and spending the rest of her life with simply didn't matter anymore. I think that Gatsby knew why she left him, but he could never accept it. All her life Daisy has been used to having money, wealth and privilege. She could do whatever the hell she wanted and not have to worry about the consequences well, because she was rich. Gatsby knew this when he told Nick that: "Her voice is full of money"(Fitzgerald 120). By saying this, Gatsby knew that one could tell how rich and privileged Daisy was just based on how she spoke. And because she was so rich and privileged, she would often not care what the consequences of her words and actions would be. She was, as Nick described her: "High in White palace the kings daughter, the golden girl" (Fitzgerald 120). She was so privileged that she was basically the kings daughter.
Not only had she been rich all her life, she has also had "old money" for all her life giving her an even more privileged position in society compared to Gatsby. It doesn't matter what she does because she knows that it will bring her no consequences. It doesn't matter that she cheated on her husband, or that she killed someone. Tom knows this so once she returns home after Tom discovers the murder, he tells her that everything will go away. And even when Gatsby dies, Daisy is indifferent and doesn't care. Nick describes the characters of both Tom and Daisy in this quote:
They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they made (Fitzgerald 179).
Daisy was able to smash up Gatsby's life and then simply run back to Tom and let Gatsby up the mess she made. He was blamed for everything that she and Tom did. Daisy, simply put, is a woman who cheated on her husband, kills another person, and then lets Gatsby take the blame for all her actions.
This is the defining characteristic of Daisy. She appears to be an innocent, pure woman but at her center she has a heart of a rich careless person. When one looks at a daisy, one can see the characteristics that define Daisy Buchanan. On the outside she appears to be pure, white, and gentle, but at the center, her at the center she is made of gold. Daisy's final choice is to abandon Gatsby and live her life out with Tom and her daughter.
Daisy's legacy was not quite created by her actions but was somewhat predetermined by which family she was born into. Those with old money seem to be somewhat careless because they know that they are at the top of society. Nobody can stand up to them. This doesn't define every person who is born into old money. Nick was born into old money and yet he was not as careless as Daisy and Tom. This carelessness however seems to be a trait that exists in those born into old money. To those most of the world, Daisy Buchanan's legacy is probably one that is no different than the average person with old money. But to the only one who completely understood everything that happened, to Nick, Daisy's legacy was one of a careless person who couldn't care less about the world and the people around her.
Daisy's true legacy teaches us not to be careless with what we have. Even though Daisy didn't care about what she lost or who she destroyed, most of us are not privileged like Daisy to live that shallow of a life. As a result, we must be careful with what we have and what we build. At the same time we have to be careful with who we trust and spend time with because there are careless people in the world. We must watch out for Daisy, the Golden Girl.
Links
Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Arcturus Publishing, 2020.
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