Why Daisy Buchanan Sucks And We Should Start Imagining People Complexly

“They weren’t discussing her in the way she should be discussed: as a one-dimensional, selfish, tragic character. Instead, they idolized her in ways I couldn’t understand.”

Ah, well, there’s your problem. You either are unable to analyze a complex*, morally gray character on anything past a shallow surface level or refuse to. Ironically, this makes your reading appear as superficial as Daisy haters criticize her for being.

It would appear you are used to squeaky clean Mary Sue types perhaps a la Belle or Ginny Weasley, or heroines the author aggressively pushes you to love like Jo March, Hermione Granger, Katniss, etc. Or maybe you just aren’t used to morally gray types; hey, it happens. Perhaps I assume too much. But whatever the case, that doesn’t mean we should hate Daisy or dismiss her as “one dimensional” which only shows a very poor reading of the book full of complex characters. Daisy’s famous fool quote shows quite clearly that she knows her life sucks and believes if she weren’t aware of her loss of options in life as a woman, that she’d be happier. This isn’t morally upright necessarily but it is wise.

Interesting though, how one of the less despicable characters is the only one that sparks such contempt. The abusive racist cheating husband? Nah. The consummate liar? Nope. How about the “romantic” (ie creepy obsessed guy who feels entitled to daisy’s love and refuses to see her or her feelings because she’s just an object to him)? Definitely not. Maybe because Nick make a a biased audience in favor of Jay in addition to people, even women sometimes, resenting a female character who does not conform to what the hero wants of her.

View Comments (4)

Lizzy Dreadful says:

October 17, 2013 at 12:55 am

I always imagined Daisy guilty not of just breaking Gastby’s heart but of killing apart of him because everything he did was for her. Not to say Gastby isn’t at fault because he is. He idolized someone who wasn’t anything but human and tired to make her his Goddess but, aren’t we all guilty of something?

- Katey Psencik says:
  
  October 17, 2013 at 3:25 pm
  
  Definitely agreed. I would definitely put part of Gatsby’s death on Daisy’s shoulders.
  
  - Common Sense says:
    
    February 22, 2017 at 6:32 pm
    
    That’s right. Blame the woman for the man’s creepy obsession and inability to see reality or see her as anything but an object to be possessed.
    
Common Sense says:

February 22, 2017 at 6:41 pm

“They weren’t discussing her in the way she should be discussed: as a one-dimensional, selfish, tragic character. Instead, they idolized her in ways I couldn’t understand.”

Ah, well, there’s your problem. You either are unable to analyze a complex*, morally gray character on anything past a shallow surface level or refuse to. Ironically, this makes your reading appear as superficial as Daisy haters criticize her for being.

It would appear you are used to squeaky clean Mary Sue types perhaps a la Belle or Ginny Weasley, or heroines the author aggressively pushes you to love like Jo March, Hermione Granger, Katniss, etc. Or maybe you just aren’t used to morally gray types; hey, it happens. Perhaps I assume too much. But whatever the case, that doesn’t mean we should hate Daisy or dismiss her as “one dimensional” which only shows a very poor reading of the book full of complex characters. Daisy’s famous fool quote shows quite clearly that she knows her life sucks and believes if she weren’t aware of her loss of options in life as a woman, that she’d be happier. This isn’t morally upright necessarily but it is wise.

Interesting though, how one of the less despicable characters is the only one that sparks such contempt. The abusive racist cheating husband? Nah. The consummate liar? Nope. How about the “romantic” (ie creepy obsessed guy who feels entitled to daisy’s love and refuses to see her or her feelings because she’s just an object to him)? Definitely not. Maybe because Nick make a a biased audience in favor of Jay in addition to people, even women sometimes, resenting a female character who does not conform to what the hero wants of her.

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