Daisy Flashcards
What does she say when she gives birth?
“I hope she’ll be a fool — that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” - Zelda was accounted to have said this
Ceiling
“frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling” - wants people to view their marriage as perfect and pure
Murmur
“Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean towards her”
Laugh
“absurd, charming little laugh”
Face
“Her face was sad and lovely” - contradictory, hints to elusive nature
Voice
“There was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget”
“her voice glowing and singing”
“Her voice is full of money”
manipulative
Refers to her child as
“the baby”
Simile describing appearance
“flower-like way”
Connotations of Daisy’s name
- ‘Daisy’ - flower, beauty, fragility, association with white
- ‘Fay’ - from the medieval word ‘fairy’. Again, this is associated with delicate beauty and shows Daisy is associated with magic/dreams and therefore is unattainable - “she could not help tumble short of his dreams” - Liks to American Dream
Critic - White
Darren Morton - the colour white shows Daisy is a ‘blank canvas’ which men project their desires on to.
Ronald Berman agrees and says she is “part idea”
Jordan + Daisy’s dresses
“dresses rippling and fluttering as if they had been blown back in after a short flight”
“fluttering”/”flight” - connotations of softness, fragility
This image is interrupted by the onomatopoeic “boom” of Tom shutting the windows - juxtaposition of masculine and feminine - early hint of male dominance in novel
What does she compare nick to
a “rose. An absolute rose” - meaninglessness compliment emphasised further by repetition.
Nick admits its emptiness: “I’m not even faintly like a rose” yet still falls under her spell
“White”
associations with purity, suggests that she is idealised by men rather than seen as sexual (contrast to Myrtle’s brown muslin dress)
Fitzgerald never says that she and G sleep together - wants to focus on emotional affair
