Does Fitzgerald Present Daisy's Relationship In The Great Gatsby

Paying close attention to form, structure and language, analyse how Fitzgerald presents the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy in ‘The Great Gatsby’
F. Scott Fitzgerald exposes The Great Gatsby's excess of materialism and consumerism during the roaring 1920s, also dubbed as 'The Jazz Age'. Fitzgerald encapsulates the mood of a generation filled with jazz, flappers, sex, alcohol, and gangsters, through use of cinematic techniques and colour. Therefore, there is question as to whether or not Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship is a genuine love or is to be seen as equally superficial and sensational. 
Throughout the novel, Nick is both participant and observer of Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship. He somewhat idolises Gatsby and this mirrors

Gatsby's idolisation of Daisy. As a result, Nick is blinded by the illusion Gatsby portrays. Daisy symbolises the American Dream in the sense that she is ungraspable as very few achieved the Dream. This is presented through Gatsby's constant need for Daisy's love and affection for Gatsby, for we get a sense that it is never reached, the American Dream will always remain a dream, even the water between the two Eggs symbolise the separation between them. Gatsby's story is also a quintessential example of a boy who goes from rags to riches. He resembles the American Dream since he attains this lavish lifestyle single-handedly, however, this is pursued through illegal activities, and due to his blurred vision, he fails to see the crime and corruption that goes on, perhaps this is a sign of his self-perpetuated ignorance.There is nothing pure about the American Dream, and there is nothing pure within Daisy either, since, ‘A lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers, you know.'  
Gatsby desires Daisy's love and reaches for the green light on the dock, the more he can't reach it, the faster he runs after it, 'Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us.' But Gatsby, unknowingly, does not realise that he cannot repeat the past and so Daisy is an unattainable dream.

His belief in the green light suggests that Gatsby still has hope and it's within reach, he can almost feel it and this is what motivates him to continue his dream, since'… His dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him.' The light flickers as Daisy procrastinates and green is also the colour of old money, wealth, status, artificiality which Daisy represents. Gatsby's focus on the past seems to prevent him from seeing the true Daisy, his idea of Daisy is simply non-existent as she holds 'the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves,' and so he, like many others, is also mesmerised by the glamour of her life, suggesting that the relationship is founded on a ‘fairy’s wing’ – unstable, glamorous and

impermanent.
Daisy's pure appearance and association with ‘whiteness’ derives from her name and all that surrounds her, from her pretentious mansion to the clothes that she wears.As Nick comments, “Their house was even more elaborate than I had expected, a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay,” while the colour is unblemished, untainted or 'like a blank canvas', it's also a reminder of freedom; this is ironic since Daisy is neither free nor untainted.

She is bound by materialism and status, Gatsby is also bound by such things, but this is inflicted by Daisy. He wears a white flannel suit to the affair or second meeting in Chapter Five to sycophantically meet Daisy. Here, Gatsby sees time running out and the analogies of clocks suggest this, 'Two 'o' Clock … eleven 'o' clock … defunct mantelpiece clock'. Time stands still for a moment, then Gatsby's terrible infatuation continues as he invites Daisy to his house to admire the shirts, this, not only representative of status, but also, the shirts are costumes, like the books, they disguise James Gatz and are a superficial way of accessing Daisy. Gatsby and Daisy are also covered in 'coral' or flesh coloured shirts symbolizing nakedness or vulnerability. There is also question as to what happened when Nick left the room, this tells us Nick is not all knowing and leaves the answer to the imagination of the reader. This is the climactic point in the structure of the novel and their relationship, since from this

point their love is exposed and becomes vulnerable.
The relationship between Gatsby and Daisy is a problematic one, especially in Chapter 7 where Gatsby jumps to a conclusion of his relationship between him and Daisy, “She never loved you, she loves me,” where Daisy replies with, “I did love him once – but I love you too,” this surprises Gatsby, having been absorbed in his own imagination for the last five years and to be betrayed by Daisy, destroys him. Gatsby is only focused on the past, whilst Daisy only cares about the future.

Bibliography
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996. Print. 

Crow, Anne. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Deddington: Philip Allan Updates, 2010. Print. 

Spargo, R. Clifton. "Why Every American Should Read The Great Gatsby, Again." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 09 Apr. 2013. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.