Daisy Buchanan is one of the main characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. She is the beautiful young woman from Louisville, Kentucky whom the protagonist Jay Gatsby falls in love with. Daisy is portrayed as charming and innocent on the outside but morally flawed and frivolous on the inside. She represents the qualities of wealth, privilege, and carelessness associated with the Jazz Age elites of the 1920s. As such, Daisy serves as an important symbol in the novel, representing ideas of social status, the American Dream, wealth and superficiality.
Daisy as a Symbol of Old Money vs New Money
One of the main ways Daisy serves as a symbol is in highlighting the tension between old money and new money. Daisy was born into a wealthy, aristocratic family from the South. She epitomizes the world of old money inherited over many generations. Her husband, Tom Buchanan, also comes from an extremely wealthy background as the son of a very wealthy Chicago industrialist. Their privileged lifestyle contrasts sharply with Jay Gatsby’s world of new money.
Gatsby was born into a poor family in North Dakota as James Gatz. He reinvented himself as Jay Gatsby and amassed a huge fortune through shady business ventures and organized crime. His lavish parties and extravagant mansion in West Egg represent his flashy new money wealth, which clashes with the established old money set Daisy and Tom belong to in East Egg. Daisy serves as a stand-in for the rarefied world of the old money elite that Gatsby desperately wants to be a part of but remains an outsider to. His doomed attempt to win Daisy back symbolizes new money’s desire for the status and pedigree of old money.
Daisy as a Symbol of the American Dream and Ideals
In addition to the money theme, Daisy also epitomizes the American Dream and ideals of the 1920s for Gatsby. He fell in love with her aura of wealth, charm, sophistication and youth. To Gatsby, the teenaged Daisy who he courted in Louisville represents everything he desires and wants to attain – not just Daisy as an individual woman. After being apart for 5 years and having built his fortune, Gatsby expects Daisy will be amazed at his transformation and choose to be with him now.
Daisy represents the achievement of wealth, success and status in society for Gatsby. By trying to win her back through shows of his mansion, expensive shirts and lavish parties, Gatsby hopes he can fulfill his American Dream. Daisy is the physical embodiment of everything the ideal American Dream stands for – at least on the surface. Gatsby’s tragic dream reveals the corrupt hollowness masking the Dream’s empty core.
Daisy as a Symbol of Upper Class Women in the 1920s
As a young debutante and flapper, Daisy also symbolizes the quintessential upper class woman of the 1920s Jazz Age. She is capricious, fun-loving, fashionable and free-spirited on the surface. Daisy likes to be entertained and delighted by parties, clothes and adventures. However, beneath the surface she is aimless, shallow, bored, cynical and morally weak.
Daisy follows the social customs and expectations of upper class women in that era. She married for money and status at a young age to the wealthy, brutish Tom Buchanan. She reaps the privileges of wealth and repeatedly chooses Tom over Gatsby due to his solid position and assets to support her materialistic desires. Daisy symbolizes the wealthy, pampered women of the time who relied on men and marriages to maintain their status.
Daisy as a Symbol of Moral Corruption of the Upper Class
On a deeper level, Daisy represents the moral corruption, carelessness and cynicism hidden beneath the glittering surface of the rich during the Roaring Twenties boom years. Despite her charm, Daisy is ultimately portrayed as a destructive, selfish and weak-willed character. She is indifferent to the consequences of her actions and indecisive in choosing between her lovers.
Daisy’s hit-and-run killing of Myrtle Wilson while driving symbolizes the recklessness and lack of empathy of the wealthy. She refuses to take responsibility for her actions and allows Gatsby to take the blame for the accident. Her decision to stay with Tom despite her feelings for Gatsby reveal her lack of courage or willingness to break out of the comforting privilege of her social class. Overall, Daisy epitomizes the way the selfish upper class of 1920s America used their wealth and status to their advantage without concern for others.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Daisy Buchanan serves as an important multifaceted symbol in The Great Gatsby. She represents the allure but ultimate hollowness of the American Dream. As an emblem of old money, Daisy highlights the tensions between new and old money in the fast-changing 1920s economy. As a wealthy socialite, she epitomizes the fun-loving but aimless women of the era. And as a morally careless character, Daisy symbolizes the rot and corruption beneath the facade of the upper class. Through Daisy as symbol, Fitzgerald crafts a complex critique of American wealth and society in the Jazz Age. The tragedy of Gatsby’s dream underscores how the selfish recklessness of Daisy and the class she represents leads to the failure of Gatsby’s ideals and the American Dream itself.
