Even with Gatsby being a third time read for me, I still cannot get over how hyperbolic Daisy’s descriptions are. Nick himself seems almost embarrassed at how intoxicating he finds her voice. Her voice is “glowing and singing” even in mundane situations (14). Daisy’s description of Nick reminding her of “an absolute rose” also shows how Nick though being mesmerized, is still objective enough to see how ridiculous she can be. The security and pride in her words are products of coming from old money and never having to struggle to be accepted. I think how women were viewed in this era also plays a part in her way of talking because they were seen as still having to maintain a certain level of taste and happy demeanor.
2 thoughts on “Daisy’s words/voice”
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I find this to also be the reason why Gatsby is in love with her. Gatsby aspires to a lifestyle that he was not born into.He spends much of his adult life lying about about his upbringing.
Gatsby forms an obsession with Daisy because she embodies what he wished to be. Having her as his wife would reaffirm his imagined fantasies.
Fitzgerald writes, “Her voice is full of money”- Gatsby says
“That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of money– that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymal’s song of it… High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl” (76)
I’m not sure I agree with this statement, “The security and pride in her words are products of coming from old money and never having to struggle to be accepted”, just because I don’t know enough about her background, but I do agree that we should be suspicious of her character’s descriptions.