Great Gatsby Daisy Deception Analysis

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the character Daisy deceives the other characters in the novel through how they appear and act.

Near the beginning of the novel, Daisy acts angelic, surrounded by bright lights and white. The color white is typically associated with purity and heavenly, but as the novel progresses, it is clearly shown that she is not. When Daisy interacts with the people in the lower class, she proves how low she views them. An example of this is,

While angels are often portrayed as above others, they have pure intentions, while Daisy only thinks about how to advance herself. Daisy wants others to believe that she is more important than them, and this reflects the theme in the book of deception. To any stranger

Daisy, despite being completely at fault, allows Gatsby to take the blame, even though she claims to have once loved him. This shows how desperate she is to keep society’s view of her untainted. She wants to remain pure in their eyes, and killing someone with a car would shatter her image. She could not claim it was an accident for it would make her look inattentive, while if she claimed it was not an accident, it would make her look callous, neither of which would benefit her reputation. Her only option left was to let Gatsby take the blame and walk away with no consequences. If Daisy had truly loved Gatsby, it is possible that she could have bought her way out of the situation, but she didn’t love Gatsby, and this is what led to him taking the blame. Despite Daisy’s clear nonchalance towards Gatsby’s feelings Gatsby still felt as if Daisy loved him, why else would he take the blame for something so massive, he wouldn’t have done that for someone who was only a friend. Daisy continues to deceive Gatsby because she knows that he will do whatever she wants. This connects to the entire book because Daisy is a deceitful woman, and the book as a whole portrays woman as unfaithful, an example of this