How Does Daisy Present The American Dream In The Great Gatsby (Essay Example)

There are many different characters who play a crucial role in the interpretation of the novel's many themes in F. Scott Fitzgerald's, "The Great Gatsby." Daisy Buchanan, in my understanding, is a naive and superficial young woman who, at one point, finds herself in love with someone before marrying another man. She is used to a particular way of life and a particular set of people. Only the shallowness with which she chooses to go about life surpasses her money and class. Daisy is not simply the classic 1920s woman, but she is also a deeper representation of the very real, but hard to find American dream.

Daisy's interests with the security and comfort of old money shapes her character throughout the book. She is drawn by its aura and "saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand"(Gatsby 115) after getting a feel of the West Egg. Daisy is a character who develops many habits and who is frightened by the unknown. Gatsby challenges her to explore outside of her comfort zone and widen her experiences by trying new money, only to return to the steadiness she's become accustomed to. Her persona reflects the aristocratic and noble East Egg group, which is motivated by consumerism and fearful of social class fall.

In pursuit of the American dream Daisy appears to be the flawless match and that everything she does, fully represents the American dream. She is so beautiful that she can charm Jay Gatsby “I looked back at my cousin who began to ask me ques- tions in her low, thrilling voice. It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each speech is an arrange- ment of notes that will never be played again."(Gatsby 12) Fitzgerald presents Daisy as a perfection, but as the novel goes on she falls short of all the predetermined beliefs. Daisy utilizes her external beauty as a deception to attract anyone willing to listen to her. Even the sound of her voice captures the attention of the men in her life, rendering them powerless in the face of her.

Daisy's greatest distinguishing feature is that she is a real person. She isn't the imaginary fantasy lady that Gatsby dreams and desires, but a real, living woman who is ultimately imperfect. Daisy "There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams—not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion." (Gatsby 103) Gatsby has portrayed her as a magical, angelic figure, and he believes that, like his fortune, he may gain her through time. Daisy is, in the end, Gatsby's American dream, but he will never be able to have her because of his wildly unrealistic conception of her.

Daisy's role in the Gatsby exemplifies the unattainable ambition of one day becoming successful and happy as a result of countless years of hard labor. Her exterior is shown as beautiful and pure, despite the fact that she is shallow and hungry on the inside. Her idealistic look is deceptive, and it is her graceful, dreamlike aspect that draws others in. Daisy's shallowness and reliance on money has an effect on everyone around her, eventually leading to her own inner misery and deep hole of loss. Her character is realistic in the sense that it is similar to the American dream in that both are eventually unsatisfying and clearly about the selfish pursuit of pleasure.