Comparing Daisy Buchanan And Jay Gatsby

Casey Byrd
Period 4
February 21, 2008

Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby

Comparing how life is like in this present day to back in the 1920s, it's easy to see how society has changed; the ways and standards of the people back then have changed predominately. The economy was booming and with World War I taking place, this time period had an affect on the young people of its decade. An example of this would be F. Scott Fitzgerald. In his time, those who were coming of age were named "The Lost Generation". Fitzgerald himself was going through harsh growing up conditions and living with the new rise of social classes. One of his greatest works, The Great Gatsby, offers a great example to what the times and people of the ‘20s were all about,
Scott Fitzgerald's character Daisy Buchanan in the novel The Great Gatsby is a perfect illustration of a woman in the 1920s. Married to a wealthy man, Daisy is portrayed as a stereotypical house wife with her good looks and aristocratic life style. Daisy is in love with her husband's money and the simplicity and luxury of her living. It is wondered if Daisy is like a role model in this novel, but throughout the novel, she is perceived to be ditsy, boring, and an adulteress to Gatsby. Fitzgerald offers a suggestion to his readers about the blend of her personalities in this quote from the novel, "She's got an indiscreet voice. It's full of-" I hesitated. "Her voice is full of money." He goes on to say that like money, ‘her voice seems to offer everything, but she's born to disappoint and that she is a person better to dream about than to actually possess.' Daisy like most women of the 1920s, doesn't know the means of a true relationship in the sense that she thinks the only way to attract a man or a man of wealth is to have good looks and a shallow personality, just like she has perfected. When talking to her baby daughter, Daisy says, "I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." In reality Fitzgerald has shown us that she is self-reflecting on herself and possibly all women of the time, by being ‘beautiful little
Jay Gatsby owned two of those. Before going to war Gatsby fell in love with Daisy Buchanan, but came home to find she had moved on and gotten married, but he did not let his feelings go. He had earned his wealth through bootlegging alcohol, committed crimes to afford his house and goes on to throw lavish parties every Saturday night in which no one is invited but they show up to use him. To a character opposite Gatsby, he is seemed to be a mysterious rich man. Fitzgerald has shown his readers that Jay Gatsby wasn't really loved by many and was a crook. What makes him the "Great" Gatsby is his love quest for a woman and his idealistic dreams. He is determined to have Daisy and wants his romantic dream to come true. Not only the readers, but the story's character Nick comes to find out Gatsby isn't as bad as he seems. Nick says, "They're a rotten crowd… You're worth the whole damn bunch put