We continue to witness the evolution of Daisy’s character as a personification of Fitzgerald’s ideal of femininity through the eyes of her lover Jay Gatsby. As Nick recounts Gatsby’s first meeting with Daisy he describes her as, “the first ‘nice’ girl [Gatsby] had ever known.” Nick states that, “ [Gatsby] found her excitingly desirable,” and that, “it excited him too that many men had already loved Daisy—it increased her value in his eyes.” Fitzgerald clearly draws the link between Daisy’s intrinsic value and worth and her desirability to men. Her ability to perform as an object of desire is seen as her crowning virtue and defining attribute. However, the reasons for her ‘desirability’ are more clear in the following quote, “He knew that
