Essay On Daisy In The Great Gatsby

In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, while many of the main characters are not women, there are many supporting characters as well as background characters that are women. The portrayal of each of these women varies as each of these women have different relationships and personalities. For the most part the women or “girls” at Gatsby’s parties are greatly objectified by the male counterparts at the events with direct actions of misogyny as well as more subtle remarks in the language they use while speaking about or to women. That being said, Daisy Buchanan is an example of a woman who defies the objectification from her husband and other men. She does so by claiming the rights to her own life, often despite what her husband,

Daisy can be seen as a symbol for the prosperous future for women while Tom is a symbol for what is keeping women grounded. Daisy is known to be more independent than other women in the novel. She speaks her mind and does not care about the consequences as long as she is doing what is right. Daisy takes her life into her own hands by proclaiming her love to Gatsby; “She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded” (pg.125). Without prior knowledge of Daisy and Tom as characters, some may believe that Daisy is being rude and unapologetic towards Tom, her husband, but as the reader knows, this is not true. Since Tom has been abusing Daisy throughout their entire relationship, it is admirable that Daisy feels confident enough in herself to express her true feelings no matter how it will affect Tom. Daisy does not do what is expected of her. For example, after she proclaims her love for Gatsby, it is expected that she would choose him over Tom, but that is not what she does. Instead she chooses to be with Tom. Although, this is a questionable decision, it is still impressive that she takes her own matters into her own hands and does not let the men around her determine her future. Tom, on the other hand, has proven to be a sort of villain in the novel as he is unfaithful, aggressive and abusive to Daisy as well as to his mistress, Myrtle. The fact that Tom is unfaithful is introduced when Jordan Baker says “Tom’s got some woman in New York” (pg.16, line 17-18). Tom is, also, very controlling over Daisy, for example while Daisy starts going around more often with Gatsby he says “By God, I may be old-fashioned in my ideas, but women run around too much these days to suit me.” This is a prime example of male arrogance. He makes it seem as if women, or specifically Daisy, only go around doing things to please men when this is utterly false.