How Does Daisy Mature In The Great Gatsby

Human beings tend to possess the innate characteristic of finding peace of mind through the acceptance and understanding of our history. Additionally, human beings also experience the need to reconcile the past, often with a new or present situation. Periodically, this ceaseless need becomes an overwhelming force, and contains the power to completely grasp and control an individual’s life. An indisputable example of this human need is expressed through the novel, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. One of the main characters, Jay Gatsby, demonstrates his unremitting need to relive his past from five years ago through his fixation on Daisy Buchanan; going so far as to build a house near her and constantly host countless wealthy parties,

insisting upon Daisy stating she never loved her current husband, and indirectly, following his incessant need to his death.
While the novel itself takes place in the summer of 1922, five years prior, Jay Gatsby meets and falls in love with the beautiful, rich girl, Daisy.

While Gatsby did not have excessive wealth, or much wealth at all, between her beauty and her voice “full of money”, Gatsby found himself inevitable attracted to her. Nevertheless, the feeling of love was equally reciprocated between Daisy and Gatsby. Regardless, before the chance of marriage, Gatsby was summoned in the line of duty, and was therefore forced to temporarily leave his everlasting love, Daisy. The uncertainty and fragmentary of Gatsby’s past initiated the start of a lifelong need to return his life back to the day when he felt complete, whole, and in love. However, when he returns from war, Gatsby finds that Daisy is now married to another man: Tom Buchanan. In response, Jay Gatsby spends years making himself wealthy, and proceeds to build a large house in East Egg, a place just across the lake from West Egg, and consequently, Daisy. In his mansion, Gatsby frequently hosts large parties, all for the glory of the chance that he may one day woo Daisy back to the past that he so strongly wishes to reconcile with. Eventually, Gatsby’s incredulously large parties successfully grab Daisy’s attention, and Daisy and Gatsby begin to reconnect. Gatsby’s intentions are clearly based on the past, as Gatsby wants to once again start a life with Daisy, despite her current marriage, and daughter. In an attempt to reconcile the uncertain past, Gatsby continues to deny the change around him, and relentlessly hopes to return to the way things were

before.
In the progression of the revitalized interconnection, Gatsby begins to lose focus of the different realities of the past, compared to the present. One afternoon, when Gatsby visited the house of the Buchanan’s, Tom, Daisy’s husband, became increasingly aware of the blatant flirting between his wife and Gatsby. Upon Daisy’s suggestion, Tom urges at the proposal to head into town. Daisy and Gatsby travel in Gatsby’s car, and Tom, along with Nick, the narrator of the novel, and Jordan Baker, Daisy’s friend, travel in Tom’s car. Once in town, they decide upon renting a suite in a plaza hotel. Tom, while still suspicious of his wife’s affairs, begins interrogating Jay Gatsby. In Gatsby’s endeavour to reconcile his past, he answers Tom’s question regarding his intentions with Daisy by openly saying, “She never loved you. She loves me.” In Gatsby’s desperate attempt to console the ceaseless uncertainty, he then repeatedly demands that Daisy verbally reinforce his words by telling her husband, “I never loved you.” Despite Daisy’s initial compliance, she later retaliates, “You ask too much. I loved him once, but I loved you, too.” Consistently throughout the novel, Gatsby continuously ignores everything regarding the notion that history cannot be altered. It is mostly evidently shown in his declaration of, “Why of course you can!” in response to Nick directly telling him otherwise. Nonetheless, Gatsby persistently continues to strive for his reconciliation, and further pursue of Daisy.
Ultimately, Gatsby’s fixation on reconciling the uncertainty embedded in his past indirectly led to his death. On the journey back from town, Gatsby allowed Daisy to drive his yellow car. Whilst driving, Daisy ran over and killed Myrtle Wilson, the woman Daisy’s husband was having an affair with. Subsequently, Gatsby took full blame, as the car belonged to him, and thus is was believable. Overstrucken with grief, Myrtle’s husband, George Wilson soon heard the rumours of Jay Gatsby being his wife’s murderer. In retribution, George came to Gatsby’s house, shot him, and immediately proceeded to commit suicide. Gatsby made himself the target by willingly and mindlessly taking full responsibility of the actions of the woman he has devoted his life to pursuing. Indirectly, it was his incessant need to reconcile his history, and therefore his need of Daisy, that prompted his death.
Moreover, the need to reconcile the past, and thus find peace of mind, is a powerful notion. In a perpetual mission to retain the past by way of attempting to recreate history in present day, the human need for the acceptance and understanding of our history becomes evident. When experienced without limit, the human need for reconciliation of the past is a riveting force capable of captivating, and in extremes, controlling an individual’s life.