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Brennen Zeigler
Mrs. Weathersbee
AP Language and Composition
10 February 2015
Great Gatsby Rough Draft
Daisy doesnt truly love Tom, and is in fact involved in a loveless
marriage with him. This statement has puzzled many people and
raised many questions to people that have read and are in the process
of reading novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Fitzgeralds novel leaves many topics throughout the novel, such as
the previous one unanswered, which lets the reader interpret and
create their of perception of the story.
There are many things that a reader must know about Daisys
character before determining if she is actually involved in a loveless
marriage with Tom. A very important detail about Daisys character is
the fact that she grew up wealthy, is currently wealthy (while in
marriage with Tom), and will more than likely be wealthy in the future.
Daisys character can be described as very superficial. She possesses
the stature of being a very rich, upper class wife that is innocent and
does nothing wrong.
Daisy stays in the marriage with Tom instead of divorcing him
because it will damage her reputation and status as a high class,
wealthy and innocent woman. Daisy displays, or tries to convey her

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innocence by wearing white throughout the book. On many occasions,
Fitzgerald goes out of his way per say, to go into great detail about
Daisy being clothed in white to portray her innocence. Daisy is very
materialistic and cares a great deal about others opinion of her. She
cares about these opinions because they could damage her reputation
if people were to find out how superficial her act she puts on while in
public really is. This idea is displayed in an article written by Kori
Morgan when she stated, The wife of wealthy polo player and college football
star Tom Buchanan, Daisy centers her world on social status, materialism and
possessions. Tom's money dictates her romantic choices, according to critic Leland S.
Person, Jr. in "'Herstory' and Daisy Buchanan." Daisys superficiality and shallowness
can also be seen in the amount of attention that is given to her child throughout the novel,
which is very slim.
Daisy initially chooses Tom over Gatsby because of his wealth, and even when
Gatsby acquires the fortune he lacked during their courtship, she is unable to leave Tom
because the Buchanan name is too valuable. At the same time, Gatsby's own wealth
dazzles her as seen when his vast collection of shirts provides the catalyst for her
emotional response to their reunion. She could obtain a divorce if she really
wanted to do to the fact that she and her husband Tom have both
committed adultery, giving her a legitimate excuse for divorce.
Although divorce rates were beginning to increase as time passed,
divorce rates were still low in the early 1900s because you could not
obtain a divorce without proving a significant cause of abuse, adultery,

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or abandonment. The rate of divorce increased in the years of 1916
at ten percent to fifth teen percent in the year 1925. This is a
considerable jump in percentage compared to the previous years,
which averaged only a one percent increase per five years. Daisy also
doesnt want to leave Tom because of the fact that they have a child
together.
Money can often be a reason, or motivation for marriage. I
believe that this was the sole motivator in the marriage of Tom and
Daisy Buchanan. An article published on psychology.com summed up
the money-marriage relationship well when it stated: Through most of
Western civilization, marriage has been more a matter of money,
power and survival than of delicate sentiments. In medieval Europe,
everyone from the lord of the manor to the village locals had a say in
deciding who should wed. Love was considered an absurdly flimsy
reason for a match. Even during the Enlightenment and Victorian eras,
adultery and friendship were often more passionate than marriage.
This has proven to be true throughout Fitzgeralds novel. A quote from
psychology.com states, Even during the Enlightenment and Victorian
eras, adultery and friendship were often more passionate than
marriage. Is especially seen in the novel with the scandals between
Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, and Tom Buchannan and Myrtle
Wilson. This supports my opinion that there was in fact no love
involved in the relationship between Daisy and Tom Buchanan. An

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article published on history.com talks about the increasing sexual
freedom in women in the 1920s. It states, The most familiar symbol
of the Roaring Twenties is probably the flapper: a young woman with
bobbed hair and short skirts who drank, smoked and said what might
be termed unladylike things, in addition to being more sexually
free than previous generations. In reality, most young women in the
1920s did none of these things (though many did adopt a fashionable
flapper wardrobe), but even those women who were not flappers
gained some unprecedented freedoms. They could vote at last:
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution had guaranteed that right in
1920. Millions of women worked in white-collar jobs (as stenographers,
for example) and could afford to participate in the burgeoning
consumer economy. The increased availability of birth-control devices
such as the diaphragm made it possible for women to have fewer
children. And new machines and technologies like the washing
machine and the vacuum cleaner eliminated some of the drudgery of
household work. Although Daisy was in fact, not a flapper because
flappers were often seen as low class, trashy women, the idea of
sexual freedom still ran rampant through the upper class, in which
even Daisy was involved. Stated in an article written by Roger Lewis,
is how prevalent the theme of the relation between love and money is
in fiction novels. Lewis states One characteristic of popular American
fiction is the implicit separation of love and money. Possession of one

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does not lead to possession of the other. This was and still is a
common misconception when the subjects of love and money are
mentioned together. Along with the previous articles, a publication
from Margaret Sanger supports my argument by stating, UPON the
shoulders of the woman conscious of her freedom rests the
responsibility of creating a new sex morality. The vital difference
between a morality thus created by women and the so-called morality
of to-day, is that the new standard will be based upon knowledge and
freedom while the old is founded upon ignorance and submission.
Along with the numerous previous reasons that Daisy did want to
leave Tom, including her reputation and wealth, it is a common
assumption that she was unable to make decisions on her own. On
one of the few occasions that Daisy does mention her daughter Is
analyzed by Karielle Stephanie Gam in an article and states, The
reader catches glimpses of her true self in a multitude of instances, but
none better than when she refers to her daughters birth. Im glad its
a girl. And I hope shell be a fool-thats the best thing a girl can be in
this world, a beautiful little fool(Fitzgerald, 17). This writer continues
to analyze daisys character when he says, What Daisy truly means is
that she herself is a fool, a useless little housewife following an
extravagantly normal routine day after day. However, in many stories,
including many of Shakespeares plays, the fool is a character with
hidden wisdom and knowledge about life. The same applies for Daisy,

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her child, and all women of the era. In order to survive in a mans
world, a woman either had to ignore gender roles entirely and never
marry or become so meek and innocent that no one suspected her true
nature or married her right away. In the conventional definition of
happiness for women, the latter was preferable, and thus, Daisy
wished this curse of false happiness upon her daughter, because it is
all she will ever know. I completely agree with this statement that
says that women in the time period of the 1920s, especially Daisy, In
order to survive in a mans world, a woman either had to ignore gender
roles entirely and never marry or become so meek and innocent that
no one suspected her true nature or married her right away. These
ideas that Daisy cannot make decisions for herself are mentioned
throughout many other sources; for example, Rather than take
initiative, Daisy relies on others to make decisions for her. At the
novel's climax, the love triangle between Daisy, Tom and Gatsby
explodes when Gatsby demands that she renounce her love for Tom.
Daisy becomes quickly overwhelmed and retreats inward, unable to
speak for herself. Alcohol allows Daisy to take control before her
wedding when she breaks the pearls Tom gives her and refuses to
marry him, according to Linda C. Pelzer. Once the influence has passed,
though, she gives in to her family's demands and is the ceremony's
"radiant guest of honor." was published by a literary critic by the name
of Kori Morgan. Although this idea mostly sums up Daisys inability to

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make decisions for herself, there are some decisions in the novel in
which she does make them on her own. Ultimately, the novel's tragic
conclusion reveals Daisy's selfish, careless nature. Although it is Daisy
who hits and kills Myrtle Wilson in Gatsby's car, she leaves Gatsby to
take the blame. This decision eventually leads Myrtle's husband,
George, to murder Gatsby and kill himself. After Gatsby's death, Daisy
and Tom leave town without a clue of where they've gone. Daisy is not
only unable to make decisions for herself, but also unable to take
responsibility for her actions. As Nick says, she and her husband hide
in their money from the damage they've done, unwilling to confront its
effects on the other characters. The previous quote is an example of
when Daisy made a decision for herself and it turned out being fatal. It
is safe to say that Daisy was unable to make good decisions on her
own and she can be held solely responsible for the death of Myrtle.
This is also ironic because Tom gets blamed for the crime and is in fact
blamed for the death of his lover.
The Christian Bible states in 1 Timothy 6:10, For the love of
money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money,
have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many
griefs. I believe this to be very true and is especially in Fitzgeralds
novel. Many examples throughout the novel The Great Gatsby support
that Daisy is in fact in a loveless marriage with Tom Buchanan. On
many occasions throughout the book, Daisy pays great attention to

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Gatsby such as on page 116 when Fitzgerald wrote, Gatsby stood in
the centre of the crimson carpet and gazed around with fascinated
eyes. Daisy watched him and laughed, her sweet, exciting laugh;.
Generally when a female watches a male and has a reaction such as
her sweet, exciting laugh it means that there is a felling of more than
friendship. I feel that Fitzgerald is trying to allude to something by
including this in his writing. Throughout this essay, I have used details
and included expert opinions that help support my theory that there is
in fact no love between Tom and Daisy Buchanan in Fitzgeralds novel.
I feel as if the only reason that the marriage between Tom and Daisy
exists is due to the yearn for wealth, which is viewed as evil, and public
image (Daisys superficiality) which is seen by the public.

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Bibligraphy
Chafe, William H. "Women in the Early to Mid-20th Century (1900-1960): Social
and Economic Conditions." U.S. History in Context. N.p., 2005. Web. 3 Feb. 2015.
"Daisy Buchanan Character Analysis." Bell Reviews on Life. N.p., 26 Jan.
2013. Web. 03 Feb. 2015.
Gam, Karielle Stephanie. "A Great American Character Analysis: Is Gatsby
Indeed Great?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d.
Web. 03 Feb. 2015.
Jones, Audrey M. "Historical Divorce Rate Statistics." LoveToKnow. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2015.
Lewis, Roger. "Money, Love, and Aspiration in The Great Gatsbyby Roger
Lewis." Money, Love, and Aspiration in The Great Gatsby, by Roger Lewis. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2015.
"Marriage, a History." Psychology Today. PT Staff, 1 May 2005. Web. 03
Feb. 2015.
Morgan, Kori. "Traits of Daisy in "The Great Gatsby" | The Classroom |
Synonym." The Classroom. Demand Media, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2015.
Offen, Karen. "International Museum of Women." View Story. N.p., n.d.
Web. 03 Feb. 2015.
Sanger,Margaret."14.WomanandtheNewMorality.Sanger,Margaret.
1920.WomanandtheNewRace."14.WomanandtheNewMorality.
Sanger,Margaret.1920.WomanandtheNewRace.N.p.,1920.Web.
03Feb.2015.
"TheRoaringTwenties."History.com.A&ETelevisionNetworks,n.d.Web.

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02Feb.2015.