Theme Of Innocence In The Great Gatsby

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Throughout The Great Gatsby, the perception of Daisy Buchanan is that of innocence and love. All men desire her, and through her beauty, persuasion, and melodious voice, she is desired by all men specifically, Jay Gatsby. Through her innocence and charisma, Daisy exceeds the virtuosity of deception and manipulation. Although Daisy presents herself as a loving character, her destructive nature is exposed as she starts to show her true colors. Due to the indecisiveness of her love for both her past and present lover, Daisy’s cynical actions ultimately cause the demise of Myrtle Wilson, Gatsby, and George Wilson. In the novel, Fitzgerald presents Daisy with innocence and purity through the use of her white attire, along with her white roadster, along with the perception of a golden girl, and the perception of a king’s daughter. She lacks vitality and sexual desire, and instead presents herself by appearing very playful, naïve, and childlike. For example she tells Gatsby, “I’d like to just get one of those pink clouds and put you in it and push you around.” (Fitzgerald 98) .Through this imagery, she creates a sense of lusterless, foolishness, and innocence. However, a theme portrayed throughout the novel is that people are not always what they seem. In chapter seven Daisy leaves the room , gets up and goes over to Gatsby, as she pulls his face down, kissing him on the mouth. With this, her infatuation with Gatsby demonstrates her yen to control or instigate his love for her. This shows how she can be either foolish, and naïve, but also manipulative and controlling through her charm. Fitzgerald depicts Daisy’s charm through the tone of her voice, her beauty, and her persuasion. When Daisy talks and laughs people desire to in... ... middle of paper ... ...es the deaths of Myrtle Wilson, Gatsby, and George Wilson. Although she is aware of the fact that nothing lasts forever, she ultimately holds responsible for the broken dreams caused in the novel. All in all, the events that unfolded became still a cover for Daisy Buchanan, due to false accusations. Nick enlightens us when he puts the fault on the upper class: “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy. They smashed up things and people and retreated back into their money and in their vast carelessness and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”(Fitzgerald 187). Even though Daisy survives, in the end they have all lost their dreams. At the end of the novel, Daisy never stays with Gatsby or attends his funeral simply because she is under pressure from societal rule. Above all, through her indecisiveness she becomes a contradictory and distant character. .

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