a really rough essay about Daisy Buchanan

SPOILERS FOR THE GREAT GATSBY (obviously why are you here if you haven't read it???)

Ive recently been utterly OBSESSED with Zelda Fitzgerald's (im giving her credit since F.Scott stole most of the book from her) 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, which has lead me down the inevitable social media rabbit hole of Gatsby-related-media. Im particularly partial to Daisy Buchanan, which is probably why it surprised me to find out that much of social media hates her. And its not just on places like Tik Tok comment sections, either. The very first New York Times review of the great Gatsby said that she and the rest of the people in west egg possessed a “meanness of spirit, a carelessness and absence of loyalties…dumb in their insensate selfishness, and only to be pitied.” And while this may be a fair assessment when it comes to Tom, the same can not, in my opinion, be said about Daisy. 

One popular argument is that she caused multiple deaths throughout the novel, and while its impossible to say that she didn't run over myrtle, it can be rationalized. Firstly, its important to point out the fact that both Tom and Gatsby had a hand in this as well. If Tom hadn't cheated on Daisy in the first place, myrtle wouldn't have thought that the yellow car was tom's and she wouldn't have ran out after it. Daisy and myrtle were simply vehicles for Tom's retribution. And as stated before, Tom isn't the only other person who contributed to this death. Gatsby tells nick "'Well, I tried to swing the wheel ——' He broke off, and suddenly I guessed at the truth." (Fitzgerald 110) to clarify, Im not suggesting that Gatsby was wrong to try to swerve, obviously, but it begs the question, if Daisy didn't have to struggle to regain control of the wheel, could she have avoided myrtle? and though this isn't really an argument, consider how often daisy would be driving as a housewife in the 1920s. It most likely wasn't a lot. Also consider the fact that if the fight with Tom and Gatsby had never happened, they likely would have avoided this entire situation. She had actively tried to get the two to stop, but because of their selfishness, and Gatsby's unearned entitlement, the fight continued. 

Most if not all of the story is driven by the fact that Gatsby cant move past daisy, and since daisy is involved, people will inevitably blame her. They say that she "teased" Gatsby, that this contributes to the argument that she is selfish and careless. But what was she doing that Gatsby wasn't? If Gatsby is allowed to be stuck in the past, shouldn't she be allowed to have a little time away from her cheating husband? And keep in mind she never sought out Gatsby. He used his best friend to get closer to a girl he knew had a husband and a child. the real story isn't necessarily that daisy is an angel, or that she did absolutely nothing wrong. But its important to acknowledge the narrator's bias. Nick Caraway has ENDLESSLY shown his bias towards Gatsby, like, to a bonkers degree. so the assumption that if the narrator were someone else, like Jordan perhaps, the audience would think very differently of daisy.