Passage 1

This passage, from chapter one, gives us a sense of the cynicism and disillusionment that
characterized the ‘Lost Generation’ culture of the 1920’s. Daisy’s assertion that ‘everything is
terrible’ reflects the feeling that the progression of society had come to a sort of dead end, and
that the most ‘advanced’ people, the ones who should be an authority on where society is
headed, are echoing the same lost and pessimistic question: “Where do we go from here?” She
backs up her statement by asserting that she knows personally because of the fact that she has
‘seen everything’ and ‘done everything.’ Daisy is implying that there is nothing more to see or
do because it has already been done, and that all the travels and adventures and pursuits of
which she has filled her life have ultimately left her feeling unfulfilled. I believe she speaks for
her entire generation when she captures this feeling. The Great Gatsby is about a generation
whose entire framework of the future – it’s purpose towards some goal, it’s faith that there is
actually a meaningful goal to achieve – has unraveled. There doesn’t seem to be anything left
to look forward to. There doesn’t seem to be anything left to work towards. The flash in her
eyes of ‘defiance’ and ‘scorn’ is a painful reflection of her purposeless and empty existence.
Her statement: ‘God – I’m sophisticated’ is spoken in angry disappointment, as if to say ‘Well,
now I’m gotten here… Why is it nothing like what I thought it would be? I thought that after
everything that I’ve seen and done that I would be happy and fulfilled. Then why do I feel so
sad? Why do I feel so angry?’ Like the generation that she represents, she no longer has any
idea where to look for fulfillment. As the old systems of value deteriorated, they were left in
the wasteland, wandering, with no one to follow and nowhere to go.

Passage 2

This passage, from chapter five, is significant in the question it asks about what is of any ‘real’
value. After years of accumulating wealth and material possessions in order to make something
of himself, Gatsby finally has an opportunity to test his worth in order to win over the one prize
of which he has always dreamed. Though Gatsby has spent his life pursuing money and
popularity, we get a sense that, in the end, he only did so as an attempt to achieve some sort of
higher dream or goal. Daisy is that dream; she is his green light that motivated his life-long
pursuit of money and material things. And now, as he gives her the tour through his mansion
that he has been waiting for most of his life, he finds himself disoriented by the way that his
material things ‘no longer seem real.’ There is a major contrast here between ‘her actual and
astounding presence’ and the artificial value of his possessions. Gatsby is said to have ‘revalued
everything according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes.’ This means
that, without a meaningful response from Daisy, all that Gatsby has made of himself will be
meaningless. It was all for her. None of it has any value unless it is valuable to her, unless it
wins her back to him. Gatsby’s pursuit of his dream of Daisy is symbolic of American society
and our pursuit of ‘The American Dream.’ In the way that all of his possessions did not end up
winning Daisy back to him, Fitzgerald is saying in this novel that the pursuit of money and
materialism will not fulfill us or achieve us the American dream. He is not, however, saying that
pursuing wealth is necessarily meaningless. Money and possessions can have value, he seems
to be saying, only insofar as they help us achieve our higher dreams. Fitzgerald seems to be
saying to us: “As each of you pursue your own Daisies, remember that you are going to need
more than just monetary value in order to fulfill yourselves, in order to prove your own worth.”
So how, then, do we go about proving our worth?

Passage 3

This passage, from chapter eight, is an insightful glimpse into the life and mentality of a supposedly
‘modern’ woman from the 1920’s Jazz Age. Daisy’s actions and feelings are meant to reflect the actions
and feelings of many women in her generation, and this passage captures the loosening of traditional
ideas about how women were expected to behave as well as the pressures that they ultimately had to
confront as they searched for a new set of values to replace the old ones that had been recently torn
down. The idea of ‘moving with the season’ gives the impression that Daisy is not held back in the ways
that more traditional women were accustomed to; she keeps company with ‘half a dozen men,’ and in
the same sentence she is described as ‘drowsing asleep at dawn,’ which implies that she’s been staying
up all night and has most likely been to some degree or other promiscuous with some or all of these
men she has been dating. On first glance, it seems that she has been liberated as a woman from
conventional ideas about sex, but the phrase ‘dying orchids on the floor beside her bed’ signify a darker,
sadder conclusion that accompanies this freedom. Orchids are flowers of rare beauty, and, given Daisy’s
name and the idea of flowers as symbols of feminine appeal, the fact that they are dying on the floor
beside her bed imply that, despite the freedom that she now has in this modern age, she has lost
something significantly beautiful as well. The passage finds Daisy lying drunk in the morning on a
bedroom floor next to dying flowers. This image is sad and symbolic. She is described as ‘crying for a
decision.’ It’s obvious that she is not fulfilled, that she is still looking for something that she does not
have. I think that this could have something to do with the fact that, despite all the running around with
different men, she still wants to commit herself to one person and strive to achieve a more traditional
sense of love despite her sexual escapades. But can she find love? She wants her life shaped
immediately, yes, but by what? Apparently by ‘some force – of love, of money, of unquestionable
practicality – that was close at hand.’ The next line tells us that this was the moment when she met and
married Tom. When we analyze their marriage, it seems clear that it is based more upon money and
‘practicality’ than upon love. If there is ‘love,’ then it’s likely that her definition of love has been tainted
by her newfound ‘sophistication.’ More than anything, it seems that she marries Tom because of
practicality, or, in other words, out of desperation and convenience. It doesn’t seem like love really
plays into it. It seems like she’s slept around enough and now she’s tired and wants to settle down. And
maybe it’s at this point that she gives up on the love and romance that she seems to have had with
Gatsby. Which is why, when Gatsby returns to her and tries to win her back, she’s already too far gone.