The Voice Full of Money in The Great Gatsby

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"'Her voice is full of money,' [Gatsby] said suddenly. That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money- that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it...High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl" ( The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 127 ). In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Daisy Buchanan’s powerful allure hypnotizes Jay Gatsby into believing she is his “dream girl”. At first read, one would assume the novel to convey a passionate love story, however Fitzgerald proves otherwise as he writes about a materialistic desire between the two. Gatsby, throughout the novel, is infatuated with Daisy in a narcissistic way, because he is so in love with her glamour, sophistication, social status, and all the benefits given to the wealthy. Daisy’s voice reflects upon her personality and symbolizes her indecisiveness, her selfishness, and her demand for money. The narrator and only friend of Gatsby, Nick Caraway, acts as a credible eyewitness to Daisy’s cruelty. As the novel progresses, Gatsby further becomes a hopeless romantic and falls for Daisy’s unattainable love.

Gatsby is against the inevitable as he attempts to satisfy Daisy Buchanan’s dominant desire for prosperity. One of Gatsby’s first steps to winning over Daisy’s affection is producing an unfeasible amount of wealth. Creating a new identity, he believes is worthy of her flawless, excellence. Growing up as a poor boy, James Gatz refashions his name to Jay Gatsby and begins a life of under-the-table bootlegging. His dream initially becomes a reality when he begins to host extravagant parties to lure in Daisy. The fact that Gatsby must use acquisitive wealth to attract Daisy immedia...

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...atsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 133). With this final rejection, Gatsby’s dream is destroyed by Daisy’s insensitive ambiguity. Not only is her voice entrancing like the sirens from Odysseus, but it is also misleading and deadly. Her uncertainty was in fact the end of Gatsby as he was still infatuated by her hypnotizing allure up to his death.

Underneath Daisy’s shrouded veil of purity rests corruption. The charming voice she had was but a mere representation of her true character that showed her indecisiveness, selfishness, and demand for great wealth. Although Daisy represents the American Dream, Fitzgerald demonstrates the deception in it as Gatsby dies trying to achieve it. Ultimately, Daisy’s voice full of money proved to be a representation of the deceitful American dream in the 1920’s.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004.

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