Even though I already gave Daisy’s character a debrief, I feel that it is necessary to give her another one because yesterday when I was working on my unit 2 essay I came across a new comparison for her that I have never thought of.
In one of the secondary resources Glenn Settle compares Daisy to a siren because Daisy uses her voice which is “full of money” to sire Gatsby to want to continue to pursue her, similarly to how Lady Liberty sirens immigrants to want to come to America for their continued desire of freedom that is promised by the American Dream. In fact, the main reason Gatsby wanted to become wealthy was to prove to Daisy he could provide for her and the family they could have created together. Many immigrants that come into the United States enter in hopes of creating a better life for themselves. They are hopeful they can do this because of all the myths they have heard about the freedom that awaits in the New World. However, many immigrants are actually not as successful as they thought they were going to be due to abundant xenophobia in the United States. Many immigrants end up working low paying factory jobs because factory companies are looking for cheap labor, and other higher paying companies would not want to hire immigrants due to racial biases. Considering the fact that even Gatsby (a man who had everything going for him) still could not achieve an honest American Dream really goes to show that the American Dream is a myth because the American Dream offers false hope for the New World. Gatsby ultimately fails at his attempt of trying to achieve the American Dream because of Daisy’s representation of a siren. In Greek Mythology, when a siren is able to lure her victim, the victim’s inevitable fate is death caused by the siren crashing of the victim’s ship. In this case, when Gatsby almost has Daisy, his plans are foiled when Daisy crashes Gatsby’s car. Even though Gatsby does not die from the crash itself, the crash is the ultimate cause of his death because Mr. Wilson shoots Gatsby for supposedly killing his wife with his car.
After I read that source I kept thinking and thinking about the connection Settle made to Daisy and a siren, and I thought it was really interesting. I knew I had to include it in my essay because it adds a new level of complexity to Daisy’s character.