Daisy-

Daisy concealed her past life and love from Tom Buchanan. She appeared to be devoted to him and is his eyes, she was harmless. However, by holding back the details of her previous relationship with Gatsby, when he all of a sudden featured in her life again she was forced to bring that part of her life out of hiding and address issues that came up because of it. Daisy hid this as she was in love with Gatsby but her parents would not have approved as he was poor and of a lower class. Daisy created an illusion of perfection, naievity and content but really she was in a relationship where “they weren’t happy, and neither of them had touched the chicken or the ale- and yet they weren’t unhappy either.” Daisy settled for the easy, where she wasn’t happy but she also wasn’t sad, it was comfortable enough for her to live in. It was familiar and comforting for her. Nick goes on to say “there was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture, and anybody would have said they were conspiring together.” This further proves that Daisy will settle for anything that feels comfortable. As she has now been with Tom for this long and so far nothing drastic has infiltrated her views, they now have a natural connection that people from the outside looking in would not second guess the happiness of the two. Daisy’s image is a happy, innocent person so she has achieved this on the outside. Daisy’s illusion that she is portraying, however, is broken by the end of the book. She starts to drift from the image of an innocent young woman slowly through the book but a major factor was when she was driving the car that killed Myrtle. Daisy is presented as a rose and the quote “…shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is…” is used to describe her. Roses at a glance are the picture of beauty and love but coming closer you see thorns that reach out and prick you when you get close. This metaphor is used to express Daisy’s true nature and in this case, the elite status she has is the thorn that makes her unreachable.

Gatsby-

Gatsby’s whole character and personality for the most part of the novel is a LIE. In chapter 6 we find out that Gatsby has created a whole life for himself out of nothing. He changed his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby in hopes of changing his poor farmer lifestyle to a rich businessman lifestyle. His main motive was to achieve the American dream and in order to do this, he needed wealth, a stable job and a wife. By starting completely fresh he assumed he would have the best possible chance at achieving the American Dream. Gatsby met a sailor named Dan Cody, after introductions Gatsby (then still James Gatz) was invited on board as the helpful-hand. After five years their trust had grown so much that when Dan Cody died, his fortune was left for Gatsby. “He was left with his singularly appropriate education; the vague contour of Jay Gatsby had filled out to the sustainability of a man” the man that young James Gatz dreamed of being was now no longer just a ‘vague contour’, he could now start shaping the man into a physical being. At the same time, fulfilling his expectations of achieving the American Dream. He created this life for himself to win Daisy back. Perfecting every detail with such precision that no one questioned it as it was so perfect it appeared to be real. At Gatsby’s party, Nick finds himself in the library that was filled, floor to ceiling, with real books. This fact is told to him by some other party guest who has already checked out the library, “This fella’s a regular Belasco. It’s a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism!”. David Belasco was a well-known set designer whose theatre sets were equipped with so much detail it was hard to pinpoint the real from the not. By comparing Gatsby to Belasco it alerts us of how determined Gatsby is on appearing to be someone he’s not. It is a triumph because, with an illusion so realistic, Gatsby can fool people into thinking he is someone that he perhaps is not.

Tom-

Tom hides his sensitivity and emotions creating an image of a tough bloke. He also attempts to hide his mistress and their affair away from Daisy. Unfortunately for Tom both things catch up on him and as his affair starts to come extremely close to a public announcement his mistress dies and his emotions start to bubble to the surface proving his tough, no emotion image was a facade. We first truly experienced TOm’s sensitive side when after learning about Myrtle’s death he is driving with visible tears on his face. “The god damned coward!’ he whimpered. “he didn’t even stop his car.’ When Tom expresses the idea that ‘he didn’t even stop his car.’ He is telling us that he would have stopped to see the damage caused, as the car kept driving on the driver must not have cared enough to face the consequences of the actions. Tom insinuating he would have stopped means he must have cared for Myrtle enough to face the backlash of such a tragic event. Toms sensitive side also appears after Daisy, encouraged by Gatsby, drops a bombshell, “I never loved him,’ she admits with perceptible reluctance.” Toms voice then questions her with “a husky tenderness” revealing he has loved Daisy and it does hurt him to know that appears to not have reciprocated.