Daisy is not often seen as a major character in The Great Gatsby. Instead of people viewing her and her own story, she is seen for her part in other people’s story. I could write a whole essay on how female characters are often pushed aside and seen as a stepping stool for the other male character’s development, but that wouldn’t give any one of them the justice they deserve.
So today I will let Daisy’s story talk for itself.
Daisy’s earlier life was told by Jordon in Chapter 4, so this retelling should be taken with personal changed, biases, and word choices in mind.
She started off like any other girl, coming from a reasonable wealthy family hoping to marry into a richer one. She was likely trained from a young age to be appealing to the male audience, learning how to behave, speak, move. This made her a perfect candidate for courting during her time, leading lots of met to flaunt to her, but these men never seemed to stick. That was, until she met Gatsby. Similar to how Gatsby’s whole world shifted to surround her, Daisy wasn’t that different. Instead of seeing marriage as a goal to be achieved for her safety, she fell in love and the sense of security that love gave her was stonger than the sense of security money gave her (or at least what she thought it would give her)
This was the first time she envisioned a life for herself outside of what is expected of her, she craved something more and this was dangerous. To think, want, feel more than expected for a women of her time meant that she would resist when being pushed to limit herself and her wishes. However, when she was with Gatsby she was so blinded by her love and the safety she felt with Gatsby that she forgot all about the risk she was taking.
Thats when Gatsby was drafted to war, Daisy went to run after him to tell him goodbye. Regardless if it was give her a sense of closure or to be told to wait for him with a promise of marriage when he returned, she wasn’t given that luxury. He parents forbade her, and she retreats within herself. Without knowing if Gatsby would return alive, or If he would want to marry her if he was, led Daisy to take her life into her own hands. She had to let go of this hope, learn to cope with the loss, and forced herself back into the box she hadn’t released she was in.
Daisy embodies the “arrogance is bliss” concept. Now that she knows true love, a secure love that feeds her soul more than she ever expected, she will never be satisfied again and she has to cope with that. If she had never met Gatsby, she would have perhaps never known that things could be better, she wouldn’t be able to crave something she didn’t know existed. However, now she does know, she had to make a decision, and she chose the safest option, hoping to never be let down ever again.
The reason I gave Daisy the title “the Magician” is because the Magician is someone who has all the tools and information in front of them. Sometimes they pick those tools up and sometimes they don’t, its what they chose to do after this that makes them the person they are. Daisy choses safety, whether she did it because she felt obliged to or because she was protecting her heart, this choice reshaped her entire life and that of everyone around her.
She closed Gatsby off from being able to freely return to her, causing him to become obsessive and shift his entire life’s purpose to getting back with her. If she had waited for Gatsby Tom would have never married Daisy. Tom would have probably married some other women, perhaps never being tempted to cheat (even though I’m sure he would have still), but he certainly would hold a different kind of resentment than what he currently feels towards Daisy. Nick’s entire character development through the book depended on the love story between Nick and Daisy.
The Magician, Daisy, is in charge of her own story. For better or for worst. Others are the pieces and stepping stones to her story, not the other way around. And it’s about time someone brought it to light.
-Lucid Lamb