Relationship Between Jay And Daisy In The Great Gatsby

730 Words2 Pages

Conversely, Fitzgerald uses specific poetic lexis to characterise Daisy, whose “voice is full of money”. This shows her as unobtainable, but perhaps even more desirable for Jay. She is “the king’s daughter, the golden girl”, and for this reason society would believe that Tom is a much more suitable partner for her, as he has the money and status that she believed Jay didn't have at the time of the wedding. However Daisy did seem to love Jay briefly, but the security of marrying an affluent Buchanan was much more appealing to her and therefore she was easily able to fall in love with Tom, and the idea of a comfortable life. However Fitzgerald also characterises Jay similarly, especially with his attempts to buy Daisy’s attention with “a greenhouse”
They are contrasted with Daisy being characterised is superficial and shallow, whilst Jay is ambitious and hopeful. Whilst the reader sees Daisy as something unobtainable, Jay is a symbol of hope through the complete reinvention of himself from “James Gatz of North Dakota”, to Jay Gatsby of West Egg. Jay will go to any means to get what he truly desires and win the affections of Daisy Buchanan, and his struggle is prevalent through his participant in illegal activities such as bootlegging to increase his wealth and therefore desirability in Daisy’s eyes. Daisy’s status is shown through Fitzgerald’s use of the smilies when she and Jordan sitting on “an enormous couch”, “buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon”. This use of the verbs “anchored” and “buoyed” are significant as it shows Daisy’s life to be aimless, and dissatisfying as she is seen to be floating through life with ease, unlike Gatsby with he ambition and hope of winning of Daisy. Furthermore it also describes her as high above Jay perhaps in social standing, therefore once again illustrating her as
Therefore one could argue that Daisy and Tom neglect each other due to boredom, demonstrated by Daisy’s affair with Jay, and Tom being “God knows where” at the birth of their daughter Pammy, and his affair with various woman including Myrtle. However they remain together throughout the novel and it is written that they “weren’t happy and yet they weren’t unhappy either”. This presents how society influences feelings of romantic love, as Daisy and Tom remain together because of ease. Meanwhile at Jay’s funeral “no one arrived except more police and photographers and newspaper men”. Therefore as Jay did not have the “pomp and circumstance” that Tom Buchanan is he left without the love and affection from Daisy that he pursued for so long. This conveys how romantic love can be superficial, with Tom and Daisy only remaining together due to ease, as well as conforming to what was expected of them as a married couple, where as Jay’s obsession with Daisy meant he neglected other relationships in his life, and was left without any significant romantic love at his

Open Document