Daisy's Voice in "The Great Gatsby"

Daisy's voice is one of the most mentioned descriptions in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby". The way her voice is described in each new scene allows the reader to better understand Daisy's emotions and how she affects those around her.

In the beginning of the story, Nick goes to see Daisy at her house. He lets the readers know that he's "heard it said that Daisy's murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming." Daisy asks Nick questions, "in her low thrilling voice. It was a kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again. There was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found it difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered 'Listen,' a promise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour." Daisy tells Nick about her life and as she lets Nick in on the secret of her butler's nose, Nick thinks, "her voice compelled me forward breathlessly as I listened; her voice was glowing and singing." Daisy is obviously a very captivating person but to Nick, "the instant her voice broke off, ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, I felt the basic insincerity of she had said."

Much later on in the story, Nick invites Daisy to his house for tea. He does this for Gatsby who is in love with Daisy and desperate to see her. When she arrives, Nick thinks, "The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain. I had to follow the sound of it for a moment, up and down, with my ear alone before any words came through." Daisy is reintroduced to Gatsby and Nick leaves them alone in the living room. "For a minute there wasn't a sound. Then from the living room I heard a sort of choking murmur and part of a laugh by Daisy's voice on a clear artificial note." Nick returns to the living room to the ex-lovers catching up. "We haven't