Material Girl in a Material World: The True Daisy Buchannon

Starting today, I will have some guest writers on this blog. I am always interested in reading peoples idea's and the way they see things. This guest writer is close to my heart. He has always had a penchant for writing and I believe this proves it. With his gift of opening eyes to the hidden meaning, I expect to read much more of his work in the future.



Material Girl in a Material World:
The True Daisy Buchannon

     After finishing rereading the great Gatsby in anticipation of the movie coming out on May 10th, I've been constantly chasing the proverbial rabbit around in my head about the unique romance inspired through the eyes of Hollywood. When you watch the movie whether old or new you'll get the feeling that Gatsby and Daisy are tragic star-crossed lovers that through fate are not meant to end like the fairy tales of our youth, but more to the etiquette of a Greek tragedy. The question that has cost me several nights of sleep is simple, "Did Daisy really love Gatsby or the security in which he represented?".

     Some would argue back to when Gatsby was a lieutenant in Louisville, that Daisy was indeed in love with Gatsby so much that she waited for him and only when he wasn't coming home did she finally move on to eventually her husband Tom. But we know this to not be to entire truth. Gatsby tells us in chapter 8 that the only way he won her attention was after misrepresenting himself as a person from a well-off family and that he would be able to take care of her in the way she was accustomed. Once Daisy decided she couldn't wait any longer for Gatsby and the start of her adult life, out goes Jay and in come Tom.  Fast forward a couple years, multiple bottles of illegal Rye, and the probable fixed World Series and there's the new Jay Gatsby that's larger than life. 

     Over the years Jay Gatsby, who was of a higher moral value,  begins a downward spiral slowly crumbling his moral intuition to further pursue Daisy by going as far as participating and coordinating bootlegging of illegal alcohol and fixing the biggest sporting event of the era. After convincing Nick to invite Daisy to his house for tea, Gatsby swoops in and goes on the blinding tour of all the material things he's accumulated over time in hopes of prying her away from Tom. The enormous house, the clothes, cars, over abundant flowers, and let's not forget the unreal  parties of the summer that had New York's socialites'  mouths watering for more. All of this for Daisy's approval. When it seemed that Daisy was leaning toward leaving Tom for all the glitz and glamor of the Gatsby lifestyle, it's revealed that most, if not all of Gatsby's earnings have been less than honorable among society. With this in mind the longstanding security of Gatsby's revenue could be at risk due to legality issues later on in life and the presumption of leaving her husband in that time period, however justified it might be, was frowned upon. Even while knowing that Tom is stepping out on Daisy, she still chooses the safe and easy route of remaining with Tom, breaking the entire world that Jay Gatsby had dream would one day exist.

      In the end, she chooses the one who doesn't appreciate her, but gives her security over the one who would give the world his soul for one moment with her. It just goes to show you that in fairy tales, Cinderella may always get her prince, but in the real world JFK doesn't always get a Grace Kelly.

Jonathan Goodwin