Sometimes characters represent more than the reader may think. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, tells the story of a wealthy man, Jay Gatsby, and his love for Daisy. Throughout the novel, many characters are brought up. On the surface, they seem almost unimportant, but after reading through the story it is made known that each of these people can represent different archetypes. Archetypes are perfect examples or perfect models of something. For example, Daisy represents the Queen. Queen, means she is a woman who is often connected to a powerful man. And Tom represents the Narcissist, Nick represents the Everyman, and Gatsby is the Wealthy Hedonistic. Fitzgerald uses many writing techniques to portray these archetypes to the readers. …show more content…
The Queen archetype is usually connected to a powerful man and they find fulfillment in partnership with a man. Daisy’s “powerful man” in the book is Tom. While her and Gatsby’s interest in each other seemed to reappear when they saw each other again after being apart for a long time, she will always go back to Tom because her character is loyal to him and she realizes that Tom is whom she has to be with because of his money and because he is who she had been with for a while. Their relationship is her fulfillment in life. That is why she cannot leave him. In the book, Tom says, “And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart, I love her all the time” (Fitgerald 131). Their relationship isn’t close perfect and they both know that, but it fills them both with an odd sense of comfort. This sense of comfort is what causes Daisy to stay with him; therefore, she feels that if she leaves him she won’t feel that same comfort. Also, when Gatsby would plan things to do with Daisy, she usually did not act like it was as big of a deal as Gatsby acted. Her, “gestures serve to downplay the intensity of her devotion, making the relationship more one-sided…” (Kehl 128). Her unwillingness to act like she and Gatsby were more than just friends exemplifies how she couldn’t leave Tom. The overwhelming feeling of fulfillment she gets from their …show more content…
He throws luxurious parties in his huge mansion, has only the nicest things, and his bootlegging business is brought up. While he has all this money, he always wants more. He is not happy with where he is now. This is why he is characterized as the Wealthy Hedonistic. A hedonistic person is someone who is devoted to the pursuit of pleasure. They are known to be unhappy as well as selfish. His values were not what they should have been. He was, “a victim of his own warped idealism and false set of values” (Pearson 645). His unorderly values ended up negatively impacting his life. A way Gatsby proved himself to be selfish is by the way he treated Nick. At first, he came off as someone who genuinely cared about Nick and wanted to be his friend, but then as the story went on it is shown that he often used Nick to get to Daisy. He knew they were cousins and used that to his advantage. He was always pursuing Daisy because he thought Daisy would bring him happiness. He did not stop until he had
(Lena, web). He is always quick to anger and aggressive, Tom as a person is just violent. “She says she's going to quit her marriage to be with Gatsby but is unable to leave Tom.” (Lathbury, 28). Daisy is afraid to leave Tom if she was just with Tom for his money she'd be able to leave him for Jay because he now has money, but now it's about more than just money.
Gatsby is mainly focused on Daisy every not much one himself but one finding her love is his goal. “He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy” (pg 111)- Nick Carroway. Tom on the other hand care about himself and his status even though he claims to love her he cares about himself and what he wants. "And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in awhile I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time."
Gatsby’s one goal was to live a happy life with Daisy, just like he did all those years ago. This doesn’t end up happening since Daisy doesn’t leave Tom to go and get back with Gatsby. During Gatsby and Tom’s argument Daisy pleads with Tom to take her away and for them to leave, saying, “Please, Tom! I can’t stand this any more”(Fitzgerald 134). This was the moment where Gatsby’s dream life with Daisy began to slip out of his hands, as Daisy chose to stay with Tom.
Not only does he try to impress Daisy with an interesting backstory, he even tries to impress her with fanatical acts of love. An example of this is when Jordan explains why it is not a coincidence Nick and Gatsby met. Gatsby attempts to reach Daisy through Nick when Jordan states, “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be
He constantly manipulates Nick throughout the book by offering access to his parties and the ability to impress Jordan all for the sole purpose of bringing Daisy in order for Gatsby to get closer to her. Gatsby is as noted above, manipulative, but also is unaware as he remains solely focused on his pursuit of Daisy. By doing these things, his personality and true desires are
Gatsby is a wonderful person who genuinely cares about someone, willing to go above and beyond for them, as he did for Daisy. Daisy is an unworthy person and Gatsby should not be involved with them because he deserves better. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” (Fitzgerald 179). In the quote, Daisy and Tom did not care what happened to other people.
She turns down life with Gatsby simply because he was not able to provide her with the safety net of money. After leaving her house Nick thinks, as he is talking to Gatsby, that “She wanted her life shaped now, immediately…of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality—that was close at hand” (Fitzgerald 144). Daisy does not continue being with Gatsby, though she loved him. She wanted someone that could give her a lavish and supportive lifestyle. Tom became that support for her and was able to provide her with the type of life she wanted, so she and Tom got married.
He believes that Daisy is the key to his happiness. " He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: 'I never loved you.'" (Page 110). Gatsby wants Daisy to admit that she picks him over her current husband Tom. He is trying to change her emotions to fit in the life he wants with her.
In the novel The Great Gatsby, Daisy is conflicted between her past lover and her current husband. Daisy should not choose neither Gatsby nor Tom because neither one truly loved Daisy. Gatsby is in love with the idea of Daisy being his girl, not another man’s girl. He is in love with the idea of Daisy, rather than Daisy herself. “It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy— It increased her value in his eyes.”
However, in chapter 7, during the confrontation, Daisy quickly rethinks her decisions and states, ‘I did love him once – but I loved you too’. As Gatsby hopes and expectations of them being together breaks the audience starts to comprehend that Daisy contradicting statements is purely because she is afraid to leave Tom. Tom came from a wealthy family and was highly respected in society. Daisy knew that life with him would be luxiourous and entirely satisfactory in terms of respect and wealth. In addition, the author is trying to convey to the audience that Daisy is too secure in her marriage with Tom to even consider leaving it.
Inconsistently with Tom and Daisy’s marriage in the novel, Daisy’s feelings towards Gatsby are much different than those with Tom. Richard Dabiel Lehan, author of, “Careless People: Daisy Fay” explains Daisy’s strong love for Gatsby when he states, “Once Daisy gave herself to Gatsby… She incarnates the dream. She embodies all the wonder and mystery that lies inherent in romantic possibility, so that to yearn for her is to romp like God through the heavens,” By interpreting this it’s pretty simple to say that Daisy wanted to be with Gatsby for life, while it appeared she wanted Tom just for a period. Lehan elaborates on the ‘romantic possibility’ throughout the article and what could have been between Daisy and Gatsby.
When Gatsby confronts Daisy about her love for him, Daisy is unable to deny that she didn’t love Tom. She quotes that she “loved [him] now—isn't that enough? I can't help what's past,” (132). Her love for Gatsby causes her to act without thinking. She doesn’t care who she hurts.
Gatsby’s love for Daisy ran so deep because it was about more than a girl for him. Daisy symbolized the identity he had gained for himself when he achieved his wealth and his new life. She symbolized the man he had striven to become and everything he still wanted to be. It is obvious that Daisy is pursued, but so is her husband, Tom.
It seems so simple for Daisy to leave Tom and run to Gatsby but when in reality she had more than just her wealth on the line, she and Tom had a child together. The child wasn't brought up much during the novel and Gatsby doesn't put much thought into this his only worry is for Daisy and this reflects some of his selfish behaviors we are faced with throughout the book. Gatsby gives up his old life to create a new one in the same class as Daisy and he expects Daisy to give up her life she's created with Tom this projects how Gatsby does things for only his own personal gain. Pammy Buchanan daughter of Tom and Daisy Buchanan.
She also continued to say, “I think he half expected her to wonder into one of his parties, some night, but she never did.” (79). This proves that Gatsby clearly had more respect for Daisy, and even more love than Tom, but this backfired for Gatsby because his dreams with Daisy were to far to reach. Gatsby wanted to go back to how the past was, and run away with Daisy. Tom on the other hand wanted to move on from the situation happening, and be more realistic with life.