A Daisy by Any Other Name Every great story needs both a villain and a hero, and the greatest stories are often characterized by their ability to blur the line between the two. In The Great Gatsby, a novel by Scott F. Fitzgerald set in the Eggs of New York, a line can be drawn between Daisy and Gatsby, Daisy and Nick, or even Daisy and Tom quite easily. Though a reader’s first impulse may be to cast Daisy as the villain, she fills the role of the victim more so than that of the tormentor. The central male characters in the novel objectify, oppress, and project their own ideals onto Daisy, which reduces her to the shadow of a character who is so damaged that she is incapable of being her own person. The repercussions of Daisy’s oppression
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When Daisy leaves New York Gatsby, Gatsby tells Nick “‘she was very nervous and thought it would steady her to drive… at first [she] turned away from the woman to the other car, and then she lost her nerve and turned back… she fell over into my lap and I drove on’” (151). After losing control of her life in such a dramatic fashion, Daisy tries to regain some measure of authority over herself by driving. When faced with Myrtle, she considers committing a double suicide, however she “[loses] her nerve” and kills Myrtle, letting Gatsby retake control of the car. She lets a man control her once more, as that is all she knows how to do at this stage in her repression. Myrtle’s death in drives George insane, and motivates him to kill Gatsby and himself. Without a close reading of the text, it may appear to a reader that Daisy was the cause of all three deaths due to inherent faults in her character. In a literal way Daisy was responsible for Myrtle’s death, yet nobody would have been killed had Daisy not been oppressed by Tom, Gatsby, Nick, and the patriarchal society she lives in. The ideals projected upon her leave her unable to be herself, and the objectification she suffers devalues any sense of self worth she might have possessed. If Daisy had been able to make her own choices and develop her individuality, she would have never been caught in the uncertainty between Tom and Gatsby. Had Gatsby allowed Daisy to demonstrate her individuality instead of projecting an impossible illusion over her, their relationship would not have been as all-consuming, or it might have never happened at all. Though Daisy was guilty of vehicular manslaughter, through objectification and projection Tom, Gatsby and Nick were responsible for the deaths of Myrtle, George, Gatsby himself, and Daisy’s
When Daisy leaves New York Gatsby, Gatsby tells Nick “‘she was very nervous and thought it would steady her to drive… at first [she] turned away from the woman to the other car, and then she lost her nerve and turned back… she fell over into my lap and I drove on’” (151). After losing control of her life in such a dramatic fashion, Daisy tries to regain some measure of authority over herself by driving. When faced with Myrtle, she considers committing a double suicide, however she “[loses] her nerve” and kills Myrtle, letting Gatsby retake control of the car. She lets a man control her once more, as that is all she knows how to do at this stage in her repression. Myrtle’s death in drives George insane, and motivates him to kill Gatsby and himself. Without a close reading of the text, it may appear to a reader that Daisy was the cause of all three deaths due to inherent faults in her character. In a literal way Daisy was responsible for Myrtle’s death, yet nobody would have been killed had Daisy not been oppressed by Tom, Gatsby, Nick, and the patriarchal society she lives in. The ideals projected upon her leave her unable to be herself, and the objectification she suffers devalues any sense of self worth she might have possessed. If Daisy had been able to make her own choices and develop her individuality, she would have never been caught in the uncertainty between Tom and Gatsby. Had Gatsby allowed Daisy to demonstrate her individuality instead of projecting an impossible illusion over her, their relationship would not have been as all-consuming, or it might have never happened at all. Though Daisy was guilty of vehicular manslaughter, through objectification and projection Tom, Gatsby and Nick were responsible for the deaths of Myrtle, George, Gatsby himself, and Daisy’s