The Great Gatsby Daisy Buchanan Selfish Quotes

1539 Words4 Pages

Life is about making a positive impact on those around you, not trying to accumulate vast wealth. However, it is well-known that members of society are bound to choose riches over one's own or others happiness. To add, it is important to acknowledge, especially when considering selfish women like Daisy Buchanan. Studies show, that often people are unaware that their actions have an affect on those around them. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan is corrupt through her materialistic, obsessive views on life, despite Gatsby’s dysfunctional views on his version of the American Dream. With this, one can prove that Daisy Buchanan is a self-absorbed, vacuous socialite whose decisions lead to the destruction of both Jay …show more content…

Her sequence of lies leads George Wilson to believe, senselessly, that this was all Gatsby’s fault. The shame of the affair eventually compels Wilson to shoot Gatsby and then commit suicide. Daisy, could have owned up to her mistakes and saved Gatsby’s life, but for Daisy Fay Buchanan, self-preservation is far more valuable than personal merit. This in fact proves “the greatest villain in the Great Gatsby is in fact Daisy herself, for her wanton lifestyle and selfish desires eventually lead to Gatsby’s death, and she has no regards for the lives she destroys” (Rosk 47). Nevertheless, Nick Carraway sees right through her disturbing ways and reflects upon the Buchanan’s. After Nick ponders a thought he muttered “They are careless people Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they made” (Fitzgerald 170). Many people see Daisy Buchanan as a poised, pure, and elegant woman who is happily married; however, few like her cousin, Nick Carraway, suffer from knowing her true self: careless, deceptive, and selfish. Daisy is able to use money to get her out of every situation she runs …show more content…

That may be a harmless feeling when viewing somebody’s work from a distance, but when one finds themself in the same room with this person, it can be undermining. When one is in awe of somebody, one will hesitate to criticize their bad qualities. To add, if one were to place somebody on such a pedestal it can be known that one sends a message that they’re not worthy of their time. “Gatsby is blind to Daisy’s selfish, juvenile, and self-destructive personality as he put Daisy on her own pedestal. The purity and optimism in which Jay stares at the ‘green light that burns all night at the end of the dock is, like his own future, metaphorically shrouded in an impenetrable mist” (Bloom, 61). All in all, Gatsby becomes a victim of Daisy Fay and an impalpable victim of the American Dream. His vision is shrouded by the mere thought of their past romance, and he cannot seem to see clearly. Amidst the afternoon, during the tour of Gatsby’s mansion she strolled through, Nick looked over at Gatsby and then thought to himself, “He hadn’t once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes...once he nearly toppled down the stairs” (Bloom 78). This quote emphasizes to the audience, the amount of extreme devotion and interest Gatsby has in Daisy. He is strongly invested in pleasing her, and wants

Open Document