The Great Gatsby: Character & Key Quotes: Daisy Buchanan

Character Overview: Daisy Buchanan

Daisy is depicted as a charming, beautiful, yet ultimately hollow and superficial character, representing the decayed morality of the wealthy.
Daisy is often associated with the colour white—which typically symbolises purity—but the destructive consequences of her actions imply the presence of corruption beneath the facade.
Fitzgerald uses Daisy to illustrate the perversion of the American Dream. Her pursuit of money and status leads to moral corruption and the ultimate tragedy.

Key Quotes and Analysis:

Character Portrayal:

“Her voice is full of money.” This iconic quote from Gatsby illustrates Daisy’s association with wealth, suggesting that even her voice—a fundamental aspect of her identity—mirrors her obsession with material wealth.
“I did love him once – but I loved you too.” Daisy’s confession to both Tom and Gatsby demonstrates her conflicted emotions and the transient nature of her affections, highlighting her fickleness and self-centred nature.

Character Traits and Actions:

“They’re such beautiful shirts, she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds.” Daisy’s emotional reaction to Gatsby’s shirts underscores her materialism and the depth of her superficiality: she is moved more by Gatsby’s wealth than the sincere emotional reunion.
“She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw.” Even in her willingness to hurt Tom, Daisy’s attention is focused on how her actions impact her own life and welfare.

Symbolism and Themes

“Daisy gleamed like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor.” Daisy’s comparison to a precious metal underscores her as a symbol for the unattainable American Dream pursued by Gatsby.
“Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean towards her.” Daisy’s soft voice forces others to pay close attention to her, echoing her manipulative behaviour and self-centered nature—themes central to the novel’s exploration of selfishness and the emptiness of the elite.