Gatsby : Daisy Buchanan Flashcards
Connotations of a Daisy
• fragile and frail
• “he loves me, he loves me not”
• pure
• from the old English ‘dæges eage’ (day’s eye)
• the sun
• warmth, light, joy
• everything revolves around her - she in the centre of the controversy
Daisy
• ethereal, iridescent, angelic, pure
“they were both in white”
• vacant/ vacuous, talkative, lively
“I’m p-paralysed with happiness!”
• liked by many
“found difficult to forget”
• glamorous
“she had done gay and exciting things”
• submissive
“anchored balloon”
• egotistical, confident
“Do they miss me?”
• careless
“She added irrelevantly”
• radiant
“Bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth”
“I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”
• This quote offers a glimpse into Daisy’s character
• Daisy herself isn’t a fool, but she is the product of a social environment that does not value intelligence in women
• Daisy’s remark is somewhat sardonic (mocking): while she refers to the social values of her era, she doesn’t seem to challenge them
• Instead she describes her own boredom with life and seems to imply that a girl can have more fun if she is beautiful and simplistic
• Daisy herself often acts upon this
• She conforms to the social standards of American femininity in the 1920s in order to avoid such tension-filled issues such as her undying love for Gatsby
“I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.”
• Daisy’s first words in the book
• Her affected but playful stutter suggests that she is a constant performer in social situations
• Rather than express her happiness to see Nick in an earnest way, she performs happiness, and she does so ironically, which makes the reader suspicious as to just how “p-paralyzed” she is
“[She had] 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. . . . [T]here was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered “Listen,” a promise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour.”
• This whole paragraph is just about Daisy’s voice
• But instead of describing the quality of Daisy’s voice, Nick emphasises the effects her voice has on others, and particularly on men
• Her voice has an enticing mystique that captures the listener’s attention and compels them to follow the musicality of her speech
• In this sense, she resembles the features of the Siren, a Greek mythological creature, who use their enchanting voices to lure sailors into shipwrecks
• Like Sirens, Daisy’s voice issues a vague but entrancing promise of “gay, exciting things”, but instead her voice eventually leads to tragedy
“In two weeks, it’ll be the longest day in the year.” She looked at us all radiantly. “Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.”
• Conversation filler
• She says this after a mention of Gatsby
• She is uncomfortable / nervous about talking about Gatsby
