Character: Daisy Buchanan (Leaving Cert English): Revision Notes

Character: Daisy Buchanan

Introduction and Background

Daisy Buchanan serves as the central love interest in The Great Gatsby and is also Nick Carraway's cousin. She originates from Louisville and belongs to the established wealthy class known as 'Old Money'. Currently residing in East Egg with her husband Tom Buchanan, Daisy represents the pinnacle of aristocratic American society in the 1920s.

During World War I, Daisy encountered Jay Gatsby when he was a young military officer stationed near her home. Although Gatsby concealed his humble origins and presented himself as wealthy, Daisy promised to wait for his return from the war. However, she ultimately married Tom Buchanan instead, seeking the immediate security and status that his established wealth provided. This decision reveals Daisy's fundamental preference for stability and social position over romantic love.

Fitzgerald based Daisy's character partly on his wife Zelda, and both women exemplified the lifestyle of wealthy Americans who enjoyed material luxuries while maintaining traditional social roles. Despite the changing times, Daisy conforms to the conventional Southern feminine ideal rather than embracing the emerging 'New Woman' archetype of the 1920s.

Historical Context: Gender and the 1920s

The 1920s marked a significant period of social transformation in America. The 19th Amendment, passed in 1920, granted women the right to vote, theoretically expanding their opportunities. However, societal expectations largely remained unchanged - women were still primarily expected to marry, bear children, and focus on domestic responsibilities.

This era became known as the 'Roaring Twenties', characterised by jazz music, Prohibition (though alcohol remained widely available), and the emergence of the 'flapper'. Flappers challenged traditional gender norms with their bobbed hair, painted lips, short skirts, and bold behaviour including smoking, drinking, and dancing the Charleston. These women represented a direct response to restrictive ideas about femininity and motherhood, signalling their liberation from conventional expectations.

The First World War had significantly weakened established social structures and traditional values, creating space for more liberal attitudes towards morality and behaviour. However, conservative gender ideologies persisted alongside these progressive changes. Characters like Jordan Baker embody the flapper ideal with her independence and masculine qualities, while Daisy represents the more traditional feminine role, creating a fascinating contrast within the novel.

Key Characteristics

Beautiful and Charming

Daisy's name itself reflects her delicate and ornamental nature. Her physical appearance emphasises this quality - she first appears wearing a white dress that "rippled and fluttered as if [it] had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house." This ethereal description suggests both beauty and weightlessness, positioning her as an almost otherworldly figure.

Her beauty functions primarily as an asset in social situations rather than reflecting any inner depth. Nick becomes captivated by her charm, noting how her "exquisite beauty" seems to mask her lack of genuine character and her reluctance to take responsibility for her actions. She married Tom partly for convenience and allows Gatsby to shoulder blame for Myrtle's death, demonstrating how her appearance enables her to avoid consequences.

Artificial and Performative

Daisy frequently appears to stutter, creating a sense of playfulness while simultaneously suggesting constant performance. Her responses often seem rehearsed rather than genuine: "I'm p-paralyzed with happiness" she declares upon meeting Nick, and later he observes "a sort of choking murmur and part of a laugh, followed by Daisy's voice on a clear artificial note: 'I certainly am awfully glad to see you again.'"

Nick recognises Daisy's artificiality, noting that she seems to be in 'performance mode' constantly when interacting with others. Later, he observes: "Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids." This emphasis on artificiality suggests that Daisy prioritises maintaining beautiful appearances over engaging with harsh realities - a theme reinforced by the Valley of Ashes imagery that represents the grim consequences of pursuing wealth.

Her maiden surname, Fay, carries fairy-like associations, connecting her with romantic idealisation and supernatural qualities that exist beyond realistic expectations. Gatsby projects his fantasies onto her, ignoring her true character in favour of an idealised version he has created in his imagination.

Sardonic and Cynical

In the patriarchal society of the 1920s, Daisy demonstrates acute awareness of male dominance and her limited options as a woman. Rather than actively rebelling against these constraints, she chooses to remain passive while making cynical observations about her situation.

This cynicism extends to her relationship with Tom. Despite his obvious infidelity, Daisy chooses to remain in their marriage because it provides security and social status. Her comment that she wished her daughter to be "too ignorant and simple-minded to realise the harshness of the reality she lives in" reflects her own coping strategy - willful ignorance combined with comfortable denial.

Bored and Privileged

Daisy's wealthy lifestyle leaves her restless and unfulfilled. Nick initially observes her and Jordan as "stationary and buoyed up floating objects in the room," suggesting both their privileged detachment from reality and their lack of purpose or direction.

This imagery appears repeatedly throughout the novel. In Chapter 7, they are described as "lying upon an enormous couch, like silver idols, weighing down their own white dresses." The comparison to "silver idols" suggests they are objects of worship without genuine substance - beautiful but ultimately hollow and corrupting.

Daisy's exclamations reveal the meaninglessness underlying her privileged existence: "What'll we plan? What do people plan?" Her melodramatic questions, while seemingly trivial, actually betray the emptiness of her life. Unlike Jordan, who pursues golf professionally, Daisy lacks any meaningful activities or goals beyond maintaining her social position.

Fickle and Shallow

Throughout the novel, Daisy consistently prioritises her immediate comfort and security over deeper commitments or moral principles. Although she promised to wait for Gatsby during the war, she chose to marry Tom because "she wanted her life shaped now, immediately... and the decision must be made by some force - of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality."

Her fickleness becomes most apparent in her relationship with Gatsby. While she appears to reciprocate his feelings during their reunion, she ultimately chooses her secure position with Tom over the uncertain future Gatsby offers. This decision leads to tragic consequences - she allows Gatsby to take responsibility for Myrtle's death, then abandons him entirely when their affair becomes inconvenient.

Daisy's Voice: A Central Literary Device

Fitzgerald uses Daisy's voice as one of the novel's most important literary devices, and it receives extensive analysis throughout the text. Her voice is described as having qualities "that the ear follows up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again... [T]here was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found 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."

The voice serves multiple symbolic functions. It represents her charm and social grace, but also embodies the "captivity of commitment" - the way her attractive qualities trap both herself and others in unsatisfying relationships. Nick observes that her voice holds "immense power and enchantment" for various characters, yet it often says one thing while meaning another.

Most significantly, Gatsby realises that her voice is "full of money". This revelation connects her vocal charm directly to her wealth and social status, suggesting that her appeal stems from materialism rather than genuine emotional depth. Nick comments that this quality gives her voice an "inexhaustible charm... the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it," but also notes its artificial and learned nature.

Relationships

With Gatsby

Daisy and Gatsby's relationship represents the collision between romantic idealism and social reality. Their initial romance occurred during World War I when social barriers were temporarily lowered, but their reunion five years later reveals how class differences and personal changes have made their love impossible.

More importantly, Gatsby has created an idealised version of Daisy that the real woman cannot possibly fulfil. Nick observes that Gatsby "had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way." This romantic idealisation makes it nearly impossible for Daisy to meet Gatsby's expectations, as he has elevated her to an almost mythical status that no real person could maintain.

With Tom

Tom and Daisy's marriage represents the ultimate triumph of social convention over individual desire. Both come from wealthy established families and married in 1919, shortly after World War I ended. Their union symbolises her commitment to material security and social respectability rather than passionate love.

Both Tom and Daisy engage in extramarital affairs (Tom with Myrtle, Daisy with Gatsby), yet they retreat to their secure marriage when their adventures become inconvenient or dangerous. Their relationship ultimately defeats Gatsby's passionate but socially inappropriate love, demonstrating how established social structures triumph over individual romantic desires.

Their "convenient togetherness" becomes most apparent after Myrtle's death, when they unite to protect themselves from consequences. The novel's final assessment describes them as "careless people" who "smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness."

Comparisons with Other Female Characters

The novel presents three distinct female characters who represent different responses to 1920s gender expectations. Each woman's approach to navigating patriarchal society reveals different aspects of women's limited options during this period.

Daisy represents traditional femininity - she is married, has a child, and maintains conventional appearances while privately engaging in cynical observations about her restricted role. Her passive acceptance of social constraints contrasts sharply with both Myrtle and Jordan's more active approaches to seeking fulfilment.

Myrtle Wilson embodies a more optimistic and active pursuit of economic advancement through her relationship with Tom. While both women are trapped in unsatisfying marriages and pursue extramarital affairs, Myrtle actively seeks to improve her social position while Daisy passively accepts her existing privileges.

Jordan Baker represents the "New Woman" ideal with her professional golf career, boyish appearance, and independent lifestyle. However, she ultimately remains dependent on wealthy social connections, suggesting that even the most progressive women still operated within restrictive class boundaries.

Key Quotes and Analysis