Daisy Does Not Love Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald is based upon three characters involved in a love triangle. (However...meaning behind this) Daisy, a beautiful yet insecure young woman is married to Tom, but also accepts the courtship of Gatsby, her first true love. Set in the 1920s, tangled into the web of lovers are complications such as materialism, greed, adultery, and power hunger. Though Gatsby and Tom have confessed their love for Daisy, she is incapable of returning her love to either character. Because she intrinsically desires to be the center of attention she focuses her energy on seducing men. The unbounded love of just one man cannot bring Daisy contentment. Thus Daisy is not fulfilled by Gatsby s love and does not in return love him back.

Daisy s incessant need to be loved by everyone around her drives Daisy s (very) first action. Nick describes her looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see...(I ve heard it said that Daisy s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.) (13) Daisy is a master of the art of flirtation. She instinctively (is trained to immediately) works to attain the attention of any man that enters her life. She employs tactics such as speaking softly causing people to lean toward her and direct their concentration solely towards her. Her facial expression and tone of voice are clearly exaggerated as she speaks to Nick because he has such a strong reaction to it. He infers from her mannerisms that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see. Daisy s behavior has a hypnotizing effect on her victims. It is no surprise that Gasby has undying love for Daisy; however, she has forgotten about him for almost five years.