How Is Daisy Portrayed In The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald uses several characterization techniques to portray Daisy as pure and charming and he later uses others to portray George as broken and passive.
As soon as Nick enters the room where Daisy is located, the environment around Daisy is instantly utilized to characterize her as a pure, innocent person. Nick describes the windows as “gleaming white” and the room as having “a frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling” (Fitzgerald 8). The room that Daisy seems to spend the majority of her time in is an intense white aside from the wine-colored rug. Therefore, it makes sense to associate the coloration of this room in particular with the character traits of Daisy. White is commonly associated with purity and innocence and Fitzgerald is purposefully

using it as a representation of Daisy’s purity. The rest of the house isn’t described this thoroughly nor is the color emphasized so extensively, so Fitzgerald is deliberately placing an importance on this room in particular and especially the color of it. Descriptions of her physical appearance further elaborate on this idea of her innocence and purity.

Along with his vivid description of the room, Nick also speaks of the physical appearance of the women. He explains that the women “were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon” and that “they were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house” (Fitzgerald 8). Entirely dressed in white and having the ability to fly around the room, these women possess features similar to those of an angel at least through Nick’s eyes. Her likeness to an angel, one of the most well-known symbols of purity, was certainly included to further expand on her purity. Further details point towards Daisy also possessing a natural charm. After stepping into the room, Nick begins being talking with Daisy and describes her as having an almost angelic voice. He says, “It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again” (Fitzgerald 9). To Nick, her voice is like a beautiful musical composition and deserves to be cherished as one. Her voice seems to have the ability to draw people towards her and makes it difficult for people to resist

her. The content of her speech isn’t as important as how she says and the majority of her charm doesn’t lie in her words, but rather in the way she says them. She has an innate charm without her consciously attempting to be charming. During their dinner, Nick brings up her angelic tone once again seemingly still amazed by it. He says that “Daisy leaned forward again, her voice glowing and singing” (Fitzgerald 14). Personifying her voice as glowing and singing, Nick continues to emphasize the beauty of her speech. Daisy compares Nick to a rose to which he immediately objects in his mind, but his focus quickly turns from what she said to how she said it. Reiterating his previous feelings, Nick goes on to talk of the “stirring warmth” that flowed through her. Nick isn’t any less captivated by her voice as he was when her first meet her demonstrating how powerful it truly is.
George is characterized as a passive and broken man.

Upon Nick and Tom’s visit to his garage to pick up Tom’s mistress, Nick’s first impressions of Tom were that “he was a blond, spiritless man, anaemic, and faintly handsome” (Fitzgerald 25). George is the embodiment of the “Valley of Ashes” where he lives. His life of working everyday with little payoff has broken his spirit and has aged him past his years. Along with his destroyed spirit, this lifestyle has altered his looks dramatically. Nick calls him faintly handsome implying that at some point he was probably more handsome. Maybe these things were caused by his job, his surroundings or his seemingly terrible relationship with Myrtle or perhaps some combination of these, but there is no doubt that it has taken an enormous toll on his body and mind. After picking up Myrtle from George’s garage and home, Nick asks if George knows about what has been going on between Tom and Myrtle. Tom replies that “‘He’s so dumb he doesn’t even know he’s alive’”(Fitzgerald 26). For a character like Tom, who has been mocked multiple times based on his lack of intelligence, to point out someone’s stupidity, they must either very stupid or just not trying at all. Living in that environment has either caused George to become stupid or has taken away his will to do anything about Tom and Myrtle’s relationship. Tom may not realize that George actually notices the relationship, but just doesn’t care about doing something about it. Either way it

demonstrates that it has taken a toll on his mind. Throughout the exchange between Tom, Myrtle, Nick and George, George is also characterized as being very passive and allows multiple people to walk over him. As Tom greets George, they begin to talk about the car that Tom has been planning on selling to George for what must be a rather long time. Tom says that his mechanic is still working on it to which George responds “Works pretty slow, don’t he?”(Fitzgerald 25). Annoyed by this comment, Tom answers by threatening to not sell his car to George. Without any hesitation, George backs down in an effort to avoid conflict with Tom. Rather than back up his obvious joke, George immediately withdraws the statement so that he doesn’t anger Tom. George appears to be intimidated by Tom and is easily pushed around by him. Most people are easily intimidated by Tom due to his powerful body and his demeanor, but George is also pushed around by his wife and seems to also be intimidated by her. She demands that he grabs chairs for the guests and he answers by saying “Oh, sure” (Fitzgerald 26). She tells him what to do and he instantly does it without a hint of objection. Especially during this time period, this relationship dynamic wasn’t really common. Although it was an era of progression in terms of the role of women in society, the men were still seen as the bosses in the relationships. Their relationship certainly doesn’t fit this standard contributing to George being a passive man. Fitzgerald uses the word “hurriedly” to describe Wilson’s response to Myrtle’s demand to emphasize how easily pushed around he is and how quick he is to do exactly what he says.