Beautiful Fool

Daisy is certainly painted to be a beautiful, rich woman, but she is certainly not the fool that she wants her daughter to be: “‘She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. ‘All right,’ I said, ‘I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool — that’s the best thing a girls can be in this world, a beautiful little fool’” (Fitzgerald 17). This might seem delightful, but it does not apply to Daisy as she is not oblivious to the burdens of men. Daisy however profits from her interactions with men as a source to gain materialistic value. This raises the question of is Daisy really the beautiful fool she models for her daughter to be or is money the source of her happiness? Through Daisy’s actions and qualities like her golden voice, her selfishness and her willingness to do anything for status and wealth it is evident that she is not a fool. These qualities closely identify Daisy with Nellie from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets due to their tendencies to manipulate men to acquire their deepest desires of wealth and status, defying the reality of the American Dream.

An example of Daisy’s tendency to manipulate men is her voice; she charms men with her “voice made of money” to guarantee her high level position in society and satisfy her need for materialism. Her voice is the subject of many of Daisy’s descriptions and one of the very first qualities that Nick notices about her. Daisy’s voice is one of her most defining characteristics: “‘Her voice is full of money,’ he said suddenly. 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 cymbals’ song of it… high in a white palace, the king’s daughter, the golden girl… .”   (Fitzgerald 120). This metaphor expressed by Nick Carraway claims Daisy’s attraction to money. Money is something that multiple of the characters of The Great Gatsby yearn for creating this illusion that Daisy is pursuing money from Gatsby, and Gatsby is pursuing money to please her. Nellie does this by chasing Pete; he is blinded by how in love he is with her like Gatsby is with Daisy. This gives these two female characters the advantage of manipulating these men. Comparable to Nellie is Daisy who pursues Gatsby while she is married to Tom Buchanan. This untraditional behavior is a way to get back at Tom for cheating on Daisy with his New York mystress. Daisy admits to not be preoccupied by this which indicates her deep-rooted selfishness.  

“Daisy is not as innocent and charming as we envision her to be in the very first chapters. Instead, she is more identical to Nellie who is willing to manipulate men to get what she wants through her charming manipulative voice, her selfishness, and her infringement on boundaries all to preserve her status and wealth.”

Similarly to Nellie, Daisy is very selfish and fits this perfect model of a woman pursuing wealth and status. When Daisy is faced with the ultimatum of choosing between Gatsby and Tom she chooses the most lucrative alternative: Tom Buchanan. Tom is the most rewarding alternative as he provides her with greater wealth and stability. Just like Daisy, Nellie is an opportunist who steals Pete from Maggie, and manipulates him to withdraw his money:  “The woman of brilliance and audacity stayed behind, taking up the bills and stuffing them into a deep, irregularly-shaped pocket. A guttural snore from the recumbent man caused her to turn and look down at him” (Crane 86). Nellie takes advantage of Pete’s status and steals money from him while he is almost unconscious and drunk. Just like Daisy’s token voice, Nellie is perceived as “a woman of brilliance and audacity.” This characterizes her charming ways aiding her shrewd interactions.  Additionally, Daisy is very egoistic and prides herself in joking about others perceptions of her: “‘Are you in love with me,’ she said low in my ear, ‘or why did I have to come alone?’” (Fitzgerald 85). When Nick arranges Gatsby’s meeting with Daisy she makes this unnecessary comment to charm and to upraise herself. This comment is strange because of Nick and Daisy’s relationship as cousins. Her selfishness further illustrates this egotistic and uplifted version of herself which differentiates her from a “beautiful fool”. 

The most astonishing part of Daisy’s pursuit is to the extent of which she goes to preserve her wealth and status. The first sign of this is the neglect of her own little “beautiful fool”. She is so unpreoccupied by her daughter that she is not truly aware of her own accomplishments: “I waited but she didn’t say any more, and after a moment I returned rather feebly to the subject of her daughter. “I suppose she talks, and — eats, and everything’” (Fitzgerald 16). This neglect is deeply rooted in her distance from Tom Buchanan. Had she truly loved her husband she might be more inclined to raising her daughter. The biggest length that Daisy went to preserve her wealth and status was to run over Myrtle. This allowed her to keep her husband and preserve her status because it was public knowledge that Tom was having an affair with a woman from New York, and she knew Gatsby would take the blame. Nellie and Daisy are both factors in the downfall of the tragic heros in the novels  due to their lack of concern for others. Nellie steals the one thing that Maggie values, which is Pete.This abandonment slowly draws her to the streets, and she becomes a prostitute to survive. Daisy participates in Gatsby’s downfall similarly: she withdraws herself from his life and lets him take the blame for Myrtle’s murder. Gatsby is prepared to sacrifice anything for Daisy and suffers a tragic death in his swimming pool on his first swim. 

Clearly, Daisy is not as innocent and charming as we envision her to be in the very first chapters. Instead, she is more identical to Nellie who is willing to manipulate men to get what she wants through her charming manipulative voice, her selfishness, and her infringement on boundaries all to preserve her status and wealth. Daisy is very comparable to Nellie from Maggie: Girl of the Streets as she robs Maggie of Pete and takes advantage of every situation to preserve herself. Nellie and Daisy are the contrary of the American Dream; through their opportunist values they reach security with the least effort and without pursuing their happiness. The American Dream is the “equal opportunity of success through hard work”. Daisy waves this requirement and finds a shortcut which is available to her. This defies the definition of the American Dream of equality because it is due to her charming ways and beauty that she is given this opportunity to maintain wealth and status.