In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald explores the social hierarchy of the 1920s in America. He specifically looks at the newly rich and their attempts to enter high society, the effects of that attempt on those in high society, and the resulting effect on relationships.
Daisy is a prime example of someone who has high status due to her family wealth, upbringing, and social graces but lacks true depth. Because she was raised with this high status, she does not realize this about herself until she meets someone who does not share her background.
In this essay, this concept will be discussed in relation to Daisy and her relationships with two other key characters: Nick and Tom. Both of these men are outsiders in relation to Daisy and Tom, which makes for an interesting dynamic when the three of them are together.
Read on for more information about these characters and their place in high society.
He is closer to Daisy than Tom
Although Daisy is Tom’s wife, Nick is closer to her than Tom is. This is made clear when he says that she calls him for things that she would tell no one else for.
Their friendship began when they were children and went to the same schools together. When they were adults, Daisy came back to New York and sought out Nick for company.
They both acknowledge that their relationship is more of a close friendship than a romantic one, which makes it even more significant that she came to him in distress over Gatsby’s death.
She calls him “my dear friend” and admits that she doesn’t tell many people things, but she trusts him. This shows how close they are as friends, even though there are hints at something more than that.
Even so, he still considers her a close friend and was concerned about her well-being after Gatsby’s death.
He does not share the same values as Tom
Nick is a young, middle-class man who comes from a working-class background. He grew up in the city and has some familiarity with the kinds of people who live there.
However, he went to an Ivy League school and is very educated. He also comes from a well-to-do family, which is why he was able to go to an Ivy League school.
He shares this information with us early on in the story when he tells us that his father was very successful in his business and that his mother came from a rich family. This is why they were able to have such a nice house and life when he was growing up.
His childhood seems rather happy, save for one incident when his father hit his mother. After that, they divorced and his mother moved away with him (7).
Nick disagrees with Tom about inheriting money from Daisy
Although Tom and Nick are close friends, they disagree on a major issue: whether or not Nick should tell Daisy that he loves her and wants to marry her.
When Nick confesses that he loves Daisy, Tom tells him that it would be a bad idea to tell her this, because she doesn’t love him and she will never love him.
He says that if she did love him, then she would have told him so by now. It would have been obvious to him because he’s wealthy and powerful, so he knows when his wife is happy or not.
Furthermore, he tells Nick that if he were in his position, he wouldn’t want his wife to know that she couldn’t make up her mind – it would be too embarrassing for him. He concludes by saying that if Daisy loved anyone else, then it must be someone else’s fault for making her fall out of love with him.
He sees the differences in their marriage
Throughout the entire story, Nick observes the differences in Tom and Daisy’s marriage. He sees that they are very different people, that they live separate lives, and that their marriage is not a happy one.
He notes how Daisy is always talking about her youth, her past with Jay Gatsby, and how she misses those days. This hints at how unhappy she is in her marriage to Tom, who is not as special to her as Jay was.
Throughout the story, Nick becomes closer to both of them. But even he does not realize the extent of their disconnect until it is too late. By then it is too late for him to tell them the truth about their marriage because they both die during the war.
This shows us that even though we may see signs of a person’s unhappiness, we may never know the full truth until they do.
He does not share the same social status as Tom
While Nick is from the same region as Daisy and Tom, he does not come from a wealthy family. Instead, he comes from an average middle-class family where the father works hard to earn a decent living.
He mentions that his father worked at the gutter factory which suggests his father was a blue-collar worker. By mentioning this, Fitzgerald suggests that Nick grew up in a home with little money and perhaps went to public school instead of private school like Daisy and Tom did.
He also mentions that he went to college but did not mention what field he studied in or what degree he earned which suggests that he may have not earned a high degree like Tom did. All of these things suggest that although Nick was invited to the party, he does not share the same social status as Tom and Daisy does.
Nick was a soldier during World War I8) He is less confident than Tom9) Nick stays close to home more than Tom10) Nick has different interests than Tom
All of these things show that Nick is less confident and less experienced than Tom. While this does not make him any less of a person, it does make him less fit to be with Daisy.
Daisy is very beautiful, and she was very popular in high school. She states that all the girls were jealous of her and all the boys wanted to date her.
This shows that she is very confident in her looks. She also mentions that she was always busy, which shows that she had interests outside of dating people. Both of these things show that she is not as shallow as people may think she is.
By the end of the novel, it seems like Nick has learned a little more about himself and his confidence has improved a little bit.
