Monday 29 December 2014

Does Daisy, in The Great Gatsby, approve of Gatsby's party?

The party in question occurs in chapter 6. Daisy initially displays a mood of conviviality and enthusiasm, as evidenced by her remarks: 


“These things excite me so,” she whispered. 


“I’m looking around. I’m having a marvelous ——”



She presents the same sort of excitement a bit later, after having done the rounds.



“I’ve never met so many celebrities!” Daisy exclaimed. “I liked that man — what was his name? — with the sort of blue nose.”


Gatsby identified him, adding that he was a small producer.


“Well, I liked him anyhow.”



Nick Carraway, however, later states:



I knew that except for the half-hour she’d been alone with Gatsby she wasn’t having a good time.



Nick repeats this sentiment after a while when Daisy passes a comment about a movie star whom she has seen with her producer. She says: 



“I like her,” said Daisy, “I think she’s lovely.”



Nick, contrarily, observes:



But the rest offended her — and inarguably, because it wasn’t a gesture but an emotion. She was appalled by West Egg, this unprecedented “place” that Broadway had begotten...



In a later conversation with Tom, Daisy does speak in Jay's defense when Tom sneeringly says:



“Well, he certainly must have strained himself to get this menagerie together.”




“At least they’re more interesting than the people we know,” she said with an effort.


“You didn’t look so interested.”


“Well, I was.”



Once Daisy and Tom had left, Nick is joined by Jay and the two have the following talk:



“She didn’t like it,” he said immediately.


“Of course she did.”


“She didn’t like it,” he insisted. “She didn’t have a good time.”


He was silent, and I guessed at his unutterable depression.


“I feel far away from her,” he said. “It’s hard to make her understand.”



It is obvious from Jay's response that he sensed that Daisy did not approve of his effort to impress her. He is clearly distressed by her attitude and attempts to explain, unsuccessfully, the reason for her negativity. It is evident that he wants her to be the same girl with whom he had fallen so desperately in love with five years ago. When Nick tells him that one cannot repeat the past, he stubbornly insists that one can, and desperately declares:



“I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before,...”



From the above, one can clearly evince that Daisy, although assuming a duty to protect Jay, did not approve of his grand get-together. All the other characters: Nick, Tom and Jay, most pertinently noticed her displeasure even though she did not articulate as much.

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