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How Does Daisy Buchanan Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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The Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is enveloped entirely by symbolism. Fitzgerald utilizes all different kinds of symbolism, from setting to color to even events that happen in the book. Though a type of symbolism that Fitzgerald uses to tell its own story is Daisy and her voice, her words. At multiple points in the book Nick Carraway, the main character and Daisy’s cousin, takes the time to describe her voice every time he hears it. According to him, Daisy speaks in a song-like voice that sounds like melodies, however her words have more to them than meets the eye. Daisy Buchanan is the sweet, innocent-seeming wife of Tom Buchanan that lives with him in the East Egg of Long Island, New York. She is first introduced …show more content…

Every character sees a different side of Daisy. “‘I love to see you at my table, Nick. You remind me of a–of a rose, an absolute rose’” (Fitzgerald 14). With Nick, Daisy is more innocent. She shows that she is a sweet girl who has just had just a life of melancholy, such as her husband cheating on her and Nick not coming to her wedding. “‘I’m glad, Jay.’ Her throat, full of aching, grieving beauty, told only of her unexpected joy” (Fitzgerald 89). Compared to how she speaks to Nick, Daisy is more gentle and loving to Gatsby, hooking her ex-lover on her every word. However, with Tom she speaks more damaged by what Tom does to her. “...she said accusingly”, “...said Daisy, with an expression of unthoughtful sadness” (Fitzgerald 12, 13). Daisy is more confrontational and stands up for herself to him, showing her husband a very different side of her. Daisy’s way with words can not only be comforting and innocent, but can possess underlying meanings that create tension. She uses her innocence to lure people in and then uses her words and their hidden meaning, uses her demeanor in order to make people feel a different …show more content…

A lot of the story centralizes around Daisy in some way; Nick is cousins with Daisy, Jordan Baker is friends with her, Gatsby is trying to get back with Daisy through Nick, and Tom is cheating on her. In some aspects, Daisy is the main point of the story, the one that pushes what is happening, either through association or through direct contact with her. Fitzgerald uses Daisy’s importance as a way to push the story, a way to push what money and love can do to a person. Daisy’s voice creates a false innocence that is underlined by the meaning in her speech. For example, the way that she makes herself seem innocent and damaged by the world to people like Nick and Jordan shows that she is trying to get sympathy, trying to get people to love her because once people love her, as many always have, she has them wrapped around her finger and can use their emotions and their feelings to get what she wants out of them. She makes herself appear flirty and sweet to Gatsby and Nick because she knows that that will get her what she wants with well-placed phrases and pleas. Fitzgerald’s use of the words ‘whispers’, ‘murmurs’, and ‘exclaimed’ give the illusion of innocence, of something resembling a young girl. However, the words that she uses are sly, well-thought-out and hold tone and brevity that makes people pity her for what she has done, though she has used that pity for getting what she wants, money,

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