Alyssa

Writing a research paper is no easy task.  It takes hard work and much patience to create a well-written, polished, research paper.  On this page I will show some of my successful research papers.  I will also post some drafts and steps along the way to the finished process.  If there is one thing that I have learned about research papers, it is that working in steps is the key to success!  Never try to write a paper in a single sitting!


Below are several papers and samples of research projects that I have worked on.

This is a final draft of a paper submitted for English 209: Research writing.  The paper focuses on The Great Gatsby.  It specifically argues that Daisy Buchanan was the reason for the downfall of Jay Gatsby.  The paper was written in steps, which will be shown later on as well. This research paper was written in MLA format and will be posted as it was submitted for the class requirement.

Alyssa Sfarnas

Dr. Michelle Brown

ENG 209

March 2012

Daisy’s Role of Destruction in The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is the story of the clashing of different classes in New York during the 1920s.  It is the story of Jay Gatsby, a newly wealthy man who dedicates his life to finding and recapturing the love of his ‘old flame’, Daisy Buchanan.  Daisy is married to Tom, a cruel and brutish man who looks down upon those who are not rich from the decent of ‘old money’.  Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan were former lovers.  The two had planned on marrying one another, but instead, Daisy married Tom Buchanan.  Through a span of five years, love for Daisy consumes Gatsby.  He follows her to New York, builds a house across the water from her, and throws large parties in attempt to impress her from afar.  Despite Gatsby’s valiant attempts to win Daisy’s heart back, his life ends abruptly in heartache and disappointment.  

Daisy Buchanan is, ultimately, the cause and effect of Gatsby’s life.   She is the motivation and the death of him.  I believe that Daisy Buchanan ‘destroyed’ Jay Gatsby.  Through their complicated love affair, Daisy gave Gatsby a sense of false hope that the two would live ‘happily ever after’ together.  Daisy does this in three major ways.  First, she ‘feeds’ Gatsby’s dream of a life together.  Second, she gives him a false sense of a reality together.  Third, and finally, she betrays him, leaving his life devoid of the love that he pursued for the prime years of his life.

Jay Gatsby, from what the reader is told about him, lives his live solely in pursuit to regain the love of Daisy Buchanan.  From the moment Nick Carraway first catches a glimpse of Gatsby, he discovers this yearning for something in the distance.  His first sight of him is that of Gatsby physically reaching for something in the distance.  (Fitzgerald 25)  That distant object is Daisy Buchanan, objectified by the green light on her porch. The green light is described as “minute and far away”. (Fitzgerald 26)  This is an obvious symbol of the dream that Jay Gatsby holds.  The symbol of green is explained by Nick as a dream of an “orgiastic future”.  This implies a very passion-filled dream of the future.  The green light is not only a symbol of Gatsby’s mindless dreaming, but also Daisy’s willingness to be, in the very least, a tease.  (Tanner 471)   At this point in the story, Daisy Buchanan is still a faraway dream that is out of his reach.  However, despite the distance between his house and the green light shining from Daisy’s porch, Gatsby is also portrayed with optimism in this scene.  He is “reaching”/making steps toward this love which he has not forgotten and he hopes that she has not forgotten.  (Sutton 94)  
Jay and Daisy once had a short but passionate love story.  Daisy was only eighteen years old at the time, and the two fell in love when Gatsby, who was a soldier stationed for the time in her hometown of Louisville, began to take her out on dates.  (Fitzgerald 79)  It is stated in the story that “many men had already loved Daisy.”  (Fitzgerald 156)  Although Gatsby thought nothing of this fact at the time, she is very experienced with men and love and obviously knows how to deal with ‘breaking up’ and moving on from man to man.  This also can be interpreted as Daisy having had sex with many men, which would lead the reader to believe that Daisy was not so innocent after all.  It implies, in fact, that she was not only experienced in the ‘dating game’, but also in seduction and knew how to ‘have her way with men.’  

Along with this “incorruptible dream” which Jay Gatsby holds is his self-embellished memory of Daisy Buchanan. According to Leland S. Person Jr. in his article ““Herstory” and Daisy Buchanan”, Daisy’s faults stem from this very fact of Gatsby remembering only the ideal facts about her, and leaving out the faults in his memories and expectations of her.  He claims that he Daisy that Gatsby loved was the Daisy that he met when they were young and innocent.  She was the “first nice girl he had ever known.”  (Person 254)  Person also claims that Daisy is a victim because she becomes heavily objectified by not only Jay Gatsby, but also by her husband. Tom is cruel and harsh and just very cold with Daisy.  Jay ends up pursuing her as more of a thing than treating her as one who loves her.  He argues that she ends up the center of the quarrel of two men who depersonalize her – the ‘winnings’ in a competition, so to speak. (Person 250)  Although Daisy may start out with some circumstances in which she becomes the victim and there are points in the story in which we can sympathize with this viewpoint, she certainly does not end up a victim.  In fact, she seems to use this victimized standpoint, among other things, to take advantage of others, namely Gatsby.  Daisy makes it quite clear to her friends throughout the novel that she is unhappy in her marriage, even so far as miserable.  For instance, during a dinner party at Tom and Daisy’s house, Daisy openly places the blame on Tom for a bruise on her arm as well as calling him a ‘brute’ and describing him as ‘hulking’.  (Page 37)  In another scene, Nick and Daisy sit on the porch of her home and she complains to him about her marriage.  She tells him how she is very cynical about life and generally unhappy in her marriage.  (Fitzgerald 21-22)  However, as soon as she finishes telling him the story, Nick says that he “felt the basic insecurity of what she had said.”  (Fitzgerald 22)  Although Daisy uses her marriage problems to create sympathy for her situation, what she fails to mention is the fact that she had a choice and she made the decision to live a comfortable lifestyle, full of monetary ‘joys’, instead of one of love.  Daisy and Tom are very obviously in an unhappy marriage, but it almost ends up being more of a partnership (for money purposes) rather than a marriage.  (Sutton 37)  “In choosing Tom Buchanan over the absent Gatsby, Daisy has allowed her life to be shaped forever by the crude force of Tom’s money.”  (Person 253)  Daisy is described as almost having to do away with her own personality when she marries Tom.  Person argues that when Gatsby was away, she desperately wanted to make a decision and ‘get her life going’.  She chose Tom, mostly because she would live a comfortable life (money-wise at least) with him.   (Person 253)  

Another way in which Daisy manipulates others is with her voice.  Daisy’s voice is described as one of her most attractive qualities.   It is a trait that is constantly being admired throughout the book.  She has a voice that draws people near to her.  It makes those around her comfortable.  She uses it much like she portrays herself:  uses its charm and innocence to draw people toward her.  (Settle 119-120)  Daisy’s voice is discussed by most of the main characters throughout the book.  When describing it, Gatsby himself states that it is ‘full of charm’ and “couldn’t be over-dreamed – that voice is a deathless song.”  (Bettina 142)  However, although her voice is described early on in these beautiful ways, when Gatsby begins to discover Daisy’s true character, he states that her voice is “full of money.  This simple statement characterizes Daisy and takes her from charming and innocent, to a sneaky ‘enchantress betrayer’.  (Settle 118)  In his article “Fitzgerald’s Daisy: The Siren Voice”, Glenn Settle compares Daisy Buchanan’s voice to that of a siren.  Much the same as sirens used their voices to wreak destruction using the allure of their voices, so Daisy uses her voice to attract and utterly destroy Jay Gatsby.  (Settle 119)      

Daisy and Gatsby meet for the first time in five years at Nick’s home over tea.  The two are overjoyed to be reunited and are described as “trembling” several times throughout the meeting. (Fitzgerald 91)  The two indulge in a love affair, with all seemingly going well.  This is the second way in which Daisy ‘leads’ Gatsby on.  Although Daisy knows very well at this point that she is not going to leave her husband, she continues to hold onto Gatsby on the side, which is, in turn, taking root deeper and deeper inside of him.  The result will be destruction. Throughout most of the book, the reader assumes that Gatsby and Daisy will reunite and live a happily ever after kind of story.  Gatsby seems to assume this as well.  This assumption is made greatly because of the way in which Daisy acts throughout this ‘comfortable period’.  (Sutton 37)   Although Daisy does not commit any blatant acts of betrayal toward Gatsby in this section through the book, she is actually planting the seed for the over-turning of Gatsby’s entire life’s dream.  
Between the climax of the story – the Plaza Hotel scene and the end of the book – Daisy Buchanan shows her ‘true colors.’  Her blatant betrayal of Gatsby begins when the group decides to go into town for the day.   A confrontation begins between Gatsby and Tom.  Gatsby informs Tom of his and Daisy’s former love affair and tells him that Daisy loved him all along.  (Fitzgerald 138)  The moment of truth comes when Jay asks Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him.  She hesitates, but says it with ‘perceptible reluctance’.  (Fitzgerald 139)  She then breaks down, telling Gatsby that she did in fact love Tom.  She loved both of them.  When Gatsby asserts that she is leaving him, Tom inquires if it is the truth from Daisy.  When she agrees with Gatsby, she once again does it reluctantly.  While this is read with sympathy toward Daisy and the difficult decision she is being placed in, the shallow persona she has taken upon herself shines through when Tom begins to explain to her where Gatsby’s money comes from.  When she finds out that it is somewhat ‘dirty money’, she is horrified, and asks Tom to go home.  (Fitzgerald 142)  It was claimed to be the “urbane ethic” of the east allowed a wife to take part in an occasional affair and it was not looked down upon.  Both Daisy and Tom take part in affairs during the course of their marriage.  Tom is the first to initiate the infidelities and he commits them more often than Daisy. Daisy clearly is aware of his indiscretions.  However, when it comes to Gatsby’s ways about making his money, Daisy cannot deal with it.  She is hypocritical and once again, shallow. (Ornstein 142)  I believe that she was most frightened away by this because it threatened her ‘comfort’.  The fact that Gatsby did not come from old money as she and Tom did placed him in a different class altogether, and the more she found out about the lengths in which he had to take to make his money, the more she became frightened and retracted into the life of comfort, not happiness, in which she lived.  
Daisy’s next act of betrayal to Gatsby comes when they depart to go home.  While on their way home, the car in which Daisy and Gatsby are in hit and kill a woman named Myrtle Wilson on the street.  Ironically, Myrtle is Tom Buchanan’s latest affair.  The reader soon discovers that although the two were driving Gatsby’s car, it was actually Daisy who was driving at the time of the accident.  When they all get home, Nick finds Gatsby in Daisy’s bushes.   He is waiting for a signal (flashing porch-light), which he and Daisy had agreed on if Tom tried to hurt her.  (Fitzgerald 151)  Ironically, this image of Gatsby is much the same as the first image of Gatsby in the story.  Alone and seeking the light associated with her.  This time, it is not with optimism.  (Sutton 95)  When Nick catches a glimpse of Daisy, it is inside the house.  She and Tom are sitting at the table ‘conspiring together’ over what happened that evening and what to do next. (Fitzgerald 152) Daisy and Tom – for whatever reason – are still loyal to one another.  It may be just for the simple fact of keeping their reputation in good standing.  Their top priority is proven to be in protecting their money and lifestyle.  After all, their social standing is the breadth of their entire lives.   Whatever the reason, the way in which Tom places his hand over hers makes it obvious to the reader that Daisy has no intentions of following through with her promise to be with Jay Gatsby.  Nick says of Gatsby, “So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight – watching over nothing.” (Fitzgerald 153) This image of Gatsby has a sad and defeated tone and makes it clear that the dream is gone.  Jay is watching over Daisy, trying to hold onto something that has gone as quickly as it came.  He has nothing left to hope for between them.  He truly is watching over nothing. Daisy comes to the window for a moment only to turn off the light, once again signifying the extinguishing of Gatsby’s dream.  Nick attempts to put into words the heartbreak and disappointment that Gatsby must feel at this point.  He says, “He must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream.  He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass.”  (Fitzgerald 142)  Although the reader does not know that this is the way in which Gatsby feels, it most certainly explains the way Nick, at this point, feels about the way in which Gatsby was ‘played’ by Daisy.  He is disgusted at the way in which she toyed with him, and so sympathizes with Jay.  This ironic scene, reflecting the first time Nick finds Gatsby watching Daisy’s light, is the last time that Gatsby sees Daisy.  (Sutton 95)  He is killed shortly afterward.  Daisy allowed her husband to believe that it was Gatsby who was driving the car and who killed Myrtle Wilson.  The fact that Daisy did not do so much as attempt to protect Gatsby is a sure sign of the shallow way in which she lived her life.   (Settle 118)
Daisy’s final and ultimate betrayal comes at the end of the story, when the angry and misinformed husband of Myrtle Wilson murders Jay Gatsby.  After Gatsby is shot and killed, his funeral is described.  When the day arrives, not a signal person who supposedly held great importance in his life attends the funeral.  The most abhorring of the absences is that of Daisy Buchanan.  Not only did Daisy not put forth the effort to attend her important former lover’s funeral, but she also did not do so much as to “send a message or a flower.”  (Fitzgerald 183)   Shortly after the commotion with Myrtle Wilson, Daisy and Tom disappear from town altogether, without a trace.  After the history that Daisy and Gatsby shared, the reader assumes that she would be in utter heartbreak, and at the very least make an appearance at her loved one’s funeral.  She does not.   

Nick describes Daisy and Tom very aptly when he says, “They are careless people, Tom and Daisy, selfish, destructive, capable of anything except human sympathy, and yet not sophisticated enough to be really decadent.  Their irresponsibility is that of pampered children who smash up things and creatures…and let other people clean up the mess.”    (Fitzgerald 183)  This describes the couple – namely Daisy, very accurately.   She is irresponsible and careless toward others.  Her selfish disposition is realized throughout the book.  She holds no regard for the hearts of others, namely those who genuinely love her.  She simply looks after herself, ‘shutting out’ the rest of the world.  This is put into words when Daisy says of her daughter, “I hope she’ll be a fool.  That’s the best thing a girl can be these days…a beautiful little fool.”  (Fitzgerald 22)   Her bitterness toward her own life is revealed, but also a sense of the fact that she Daisy herself has learned to be selfish and not to worry about anything else but herself. The Buchanans most definitely belong to their own world and their own class, and if others disturb that lifestyle, then they simply shut them out and move on.  

Robert Emmet Long, in his book The Achieving of The Great Gatsby, makes some very useful image comparisons between the characters in The Great Gatsby and Almayer’s Folly.  The most important comparison is between the two women in the stories.  Daisy Buchanan and Nina, Almayar’s beautiful daughter, are the center of the men’s dreams.  (Long 92)  For Almayar, Nina embodies the ‘key’ to a new and almost magical world once they make a move to Europe.  For Gatsby, Daisy embodies much the same dreaem of a new life.  However, Gatsby’s dream is based solely on winning back the love of Daisy, whereas Almayar’s intentions toward his daughter are not clarified.  (Long 92)  Another similarity between the women in the story is the ultimate betrayal of the central men in their lives.  Just as both women are the center of the man’s dreams, both women also destroy these men’s dreams by ‘throwing a wrench into their plans’.  (Long 92)   Gatsby and Almayar both see their respective women as what they envision rather than what they really are.  The scene of confrontation is a key similarity between the two stories.  In both respective ‘climax scenes’, the men who once held such high hopes are defeated.  In Almayar’s Folly, this confrontation takes place when Nina must make a decision between her father and her lover, Dain.  She chooses Dain.  The Plaza confrontation scene in The Great Gatsby is very similar.  Daisy is presented with her options and she chooses Tome.  Both decisions end in the defeat and ultimate destruction of the main male characters.  Both Gatsby and Almayar had worked their entire lives around the center of their dreams: Daisy and Nina.  (Long 93)  
Jay Gatsby poured his life and dreams into a woman who threw them all away for her own selfish ‘success.’  Although some argue that Daisy was a victim in the matter, Gatsby’s greatest flaw in his love for Daisy was placing her too high on a pedestal.  He remembered the wonders of her innocence and did not understand the cold, selfish woman she had become until it was too late.  Daisy destroyed Jay Gatsby, not only in the way that she toyed and played with his mind, but also by leading to his death.  Daisy left Gatsby with a false sense of hope all throughout the story.  It began with her green porch-light and ended with her utter disappearance, not even to return for his funeral.  The way in which Daisy can ‘move on’ so quickly is heartbreaking for Gatsby and the reader.  Gatsby’s Daisy died the moment that she married Tom Buchanan and Daisy’s Gatsby began his slow but sure destruction at the very same point.  Although Jay Gatsby made a truly valiant effort at restoring the beautiful love of his past, he comes to realize in the hardest possible way that people change, and love can destroy you.  

Works Cited

Bettina, M. "The Artifact in Imagery: Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby." Twentieth Century Literature. 9. (1963): 140-142. Web. 1 Feb. 2012.

Burnam, Tom. "The Eyes of Dr. Eckleburg: A Re-Examination of "The Great Gatsby"." College English. 14. (1952): 7-12. Web. 3 Feb. 2012.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1953. Print.

Long, Robert Emmet. The Achieving of The Great Gatsby. London: Associated University Press,

1979. Print.  

 
Ornstein, Robert.  “Scott Fitzgerald’s Fable of East and West”.  College English.  18. (1956): 139-143.

 Web. 17 Feb.  2012.    

   

Person, Jr., Leland S.  “”Herstory” and Daisy Buchanan”.   American Literature. 50. (1978): 250-257. Web. 1 Feb. 2012.

Settle, Glenn.  “Fitzgerald’s Daisy: The Siren Voice”.  American Literature.  57.  (1985): 115-124. Web. 16 Feb.  2012.

Sutton, Brian.  “Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby”.  The Explicator.  59.  (2000): 37.  Web.  16 Feb. 2012.

Sutton, Brian.  “Imagery in The Great Gatsby”.  The Explicator.  55.  (1997):  94-95.  Web.  3 Feb.  2012.

Tanner, Bernard.  “The Gospel of Gatsby”.  The English Journal.  54.  (1965):  467-474.  Web. 17 Feb.  2012.

Next, I would like to post an example of some research notes for the same paper as above.  I found these research notes to be extremely helpful as I wrote my paper....

Alyssa Sfarnas

Research Notes

Bettina, M. "The Artifact in Imagery: Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby."  Twentieth Century Literature. 9. (1963): 140-142. Web. 1 Feb. 2012.

• Page 141: Gatsby’s display of wealth and fortune (evidenced through parties, clothes, etc.) are all for Daisy.  They also characterize him TO Daisy.

• Page 141-142: Daisy’s voice is described as ‘full of charm’.  Gatsby says her voice “couldn’t be over-dreamed – that voice is a deathless song.”   He also says that her voice is “full of money.”  This characterizes Daisy, in my opinion.  She is driven by money, and the shallow life that accompanies it.

• Page 142: Daisy’s voice is not only ‘full of money’, but Daisy herself also represents money entirely.  Fitzgerald uses different methods to portray this sense of money that Daisy embodies.  He uses her voice, her house, etc.  

• Page 142:  Daisy betrays Gatsby in the end of the story by turning her back on him.  Nick Carraway speaks of how Gatsby must have felt when she betrayed him:  “He must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream.  He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass.”  

Burnam, Tom. "The Eyes of Dr. Eckleburg: A Re-Examination of "The Great Gatsby"." College English. 14. (1952): 7-12. Web. 3 Feb. 2012.

• Page 7: Nick says that the green light stands for “the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us.”  The green light may also be a signal to Gatsby to ‘go ahead’, like a green light means go.  The fact that Daisy’s porch light is different than everyone else’s is odd in the first place.  It seems to be a symbol of Gatsby’s moving forward to “recapture that past which he can never attain.”

• Page 10:  Burnam suggests that the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy is not as deep as it may appear.  He says that it has more to do with Gatsby’s desire and work all of his life to regain her love, and less of the actual love.  I understand what he is saying.  Sometimes you go through a time period wanted something so badly that when you get it, its not as important or meaningful as it seemed when you wanted it.  He applies the same sort of idea to Daisy and Gatsby.  

• Pages 11-12:  “It is not what Gatsby was, but what had hold of him.  Gatsby sought ‘order’ and that order was Daisy.  When betrayal came, his dream disintegrated.”

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1953. Print.

• Page 25:  “He (Gatsby) stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling.  Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away.”  The line ‘minute and far away’ is a symbol of Gatsby’s progress thus far.  Daisy is still a dream to him.  A far away dream which is still out of his reach.
• Pages 79-83:  Tell of the story of Daisy Faye and Gatsby’s love affair.  (When they were young.)  

• Page 98:  Gatsby speaks of the green light once again.  “Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever.   Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her.  It had seemed as close as a star to the moon.  Now it was again a green light on a dock.  His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.”

• Page 101:   Describes that despite Gatsby’s overwhelming happiness, there must have been qualities in which Daisy ‘fell short’.  After five years apart, it explains, Gatsby had time to embellish her whole persona, so to speak.

• Page 116:  “I wouldn’t ask too much of her,” I ventured.  “You can’t repeat the past.”  “Can’t repeat the past?” he cried incredulously.  “Why of course you can!”  - Gatsby’s false hopes.  

• Page 138- 142: Climax of the story.  Daisy admits her love for Gatsby in front of Tom but also betrays Gatsby for the first time.  

• Pages 146-149:  Daisy hits Myrtle and kills her (with car).  Tom assumes it is Gatsby, because they took his car.  

• Page 150-153:  Gatsby tells Nick what happened while they were driving.  He tells him that he is going to wait and see if she flickers the porch light.  He believes that Tom is going to try to hurt her.  

• Page 152:  “They weren’t happy, and neither of them had touched the chicken or the ale – and yet they weren’t unhappy either.  There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture and anyone would have said that they were conspiring together.”  Daisy and Tom – for whatever reason – are still loyal to one another.  It may be just for the simple fact of keeping their reputation in good standing.  In protecting their money and lifestyle.  After all, their social standing is the breadth of their entire lives.  

• Page 153: Nick says  “So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight – watching over nothing.”  This is sad.  And at the same time it shows that the dream is gone.  Jay is watching over Daisy, trying to hold onto something when really, his dream is entirely gone now.  He has nothing left to hope for between them.  Watching over nothing.  

• Page 159:  Gatsby is still in denial that Daisy loves Tom and chose him over himself.  He still denies it, saying that she only loved him a little and that she only wanted her life to be ‘shaped’ immediately.  

• Page 172:  Daisy and Tom have left town without telling anyone.  Probably to protect themselves but it is coldhearted of Daisy to leave without telling Gatsby, the man that she supposedly loved.  She also left knowing that everyone would think it was Gatsby who killed Myrtle.  

• Page 183: “Daisy hadn’t sent a message or a flower.”  

Long, Robert Emmet. The Achieving of The Great Gatsby. London: Associated University Press, 1979. Print.

• Page 88:  Similarities are recognized between The Great Gatsby and Almayer’s Folly.  Among these are the pride placed in the houses.  

• Page 92: An important similarity between the two works is that of the comparison between Daisy and Nina.  Both women in the story are the center of the man’s dream.  For Almayar, Nina, his daughter, embodies the ‘key’ to a new and almost magical world once they move to Europe.  For Gatsby, Daisy embodies much the same dream of a new life, however, Gatsby’s dream is solely based on winning back the live of Daisy, whereas Almayar’s intentions toward his daughter are unknown.  

• Page 92:  Just as both women are the center of the man’s dreams, both women also destroy these men’s dreams by not complying with their plans.

• Page 93:  Both Almayar and Gatsby see the ladies as what “they envision”, not what they really are.  

• Page 93:  There is a scene of confrontation in both stories in which the men are defeated.  At the end of Almayar’s Folly, there is a confrontation in which Nina must make a decision between her father and Dain.  She chooses Dain.  There is a similar confrontation in The Great Gatsby.  The hotel room confrontation is very similar.  Daisy is presented with her options and she chooses Tom.  Both decisions end in total defeat of the main characters.  They had worked their entire lives around the center of their dreams: Nina and Daisy.  

Ornstein, Robert.  “Scott Fitzgerald’s Fable of East and West”.  College English.  18.   (1956): 139-143.  Web.  17 Feb.  2012.

• Page 140:  Gatsby is trying to hold onto romance that belongs to the past.  He is holding onto memories in false hopes that what he and Daisy lost can be regained.  

• Page 140: “In Gatsby, we see that the charming irresponsibility of the flapper has developed into the criminal amorality of Daisy Buchanan.”

• Page 140:  Major theme is the thirst for money and the problems it brings with it.  The poor wish for money, and the rich flash their money as a status symbol.  

• Page 141:  Tells a little about the background of Daisy’s and Gatsby’s love story.

 

• Page 142:  Ornstein says that deep down, Daisy is still the “nice girl who grew up in Louisville in a beautiful house with a wicker settee on the porch.  She remains ‘spotless’, still immaculately dressed in white and capable of a hundred whimsical, vaporous enthusiasms.”  This suggests that Daisy still has a sense of right and wrong.  However, if she is still “nice” and “spotless”, how could she allow Gatsby to take the blame for killing Myrtle?  

• Page 142:  It is stated that the “urbane ethic” of the east allowed a wife to take part in an occasional affair and it was not looked down upon.  However, when it comes to Gatsby’s ways about making his money, Daisy cannot deal with it.  She is hypocritical.  

• Page 143:  “They are careless people, Tom and Daisy, selfish, destructive, capable of anything except human sympathy, and yet not sophisticated enough to be really decadent.  Their irresponsibility is that of pampered children who smash up ‘things and creatures…and let other people clean up the mess.’”

Person, Jr., Leland S.  “”Herstory” and Daisy Buchanan”.   American Literature. 50. (1978): 250-257. Web. 1 Feb. 2012.

• Page 250:  Daisy has a great deal of power over Gatsby and his happiness.

• Page 250:  Person believes Daisy to be a victim in the story more than the ‘bad guy.’  He says that Daisy is a victim of both Tom and Jay.  Tom is cruel and harsh and just very cold with Daisy.  Jay ends up pursuing her as more of a thing than treating her as one who loves her.  He argues that she ends up the center of the quarrel of two men who depersonalize her – the ‘winnings’ in a competition, so to speak.

• Page 251:  Daisy does not measure up to Gatsby’s idealistic woman that he has envisioned her to be, but Gatsby also does not measure up to the perfect world that Daisy envisions.

• Page 253:  Daisy is very ‘submissive’ to Tom.  “In choosing Tom Buchanan over the absent Gatsby, Daisy has allowed her life to be shaped forever by the crude force of Tom’s money.”  Daisy is described as almost having to do away with her own personality when she marries Tom.  Person argues that when Gatsby was away, she desperately wanted to make a decision and pretty much ‘get her life going’.  She chose Tom, mostly because she would live a comfortable life (money-wise at least) with him.  

• Page 253:  Tells about when Jordan tells Nick of the night before Daisy and Tom’s wedding and how she is ready to call the whole thing off when she hears from Gatsby.  She is very much in love with Gatsby.  “He is as much an ideal to Daisy as she is to him.”

• Page 254:  The Daisy that Gatsby loved was the Daisy that he met when they were young and innocent.  She was the “first nice girl he had ever known.”

Settle, Glenn.  “Fitzgerald’s Daisy: The Siren Voice”.  American Literature.  57.  (1985): 115-124. Web. 16 Feb.  2012

• Page 118: Daisy is referred to as an ‘enchantress betrayer’ and is compared to Ella Maye, who deceived Gatsby out of a large sum of money as well as betrayed and killed Cody, who owned the yacht that Gatsby travelled around the continent on.

• Page 118:  Daisy goes back on her word many times regarding Gatsby, which confuses and hurts him.   One of these times is when they are young.  She promises herself to Gatsby for marriage and then marries Tom Buchanan instead.  A second time is when the group is at the Plaza Hotel.  Daisy professes her love for Jay Gatsby in front of a small audience of friends and then shortly afterward, denies it and relinquishes her previous statement.  

• Page 118:  Another instance of Daisy’s hidden vicious nature is when she and Tom ‘conspire together’ after Myrtle’s death. Daisy is the one who hits Myrtle while driving, but she allows Gatsby to take the blame.  Settle states that she may not have even told Tom that she was the one driving.  When Myrtle’s husband finds out the truth, he kills Gatsby.  This is the ultimate image of Gatsby’s destruction by Daisy Buchanan.

• Page 118:  Daisy commits her final act of ‘ultimate social betrayal’ when she is absent at Gatsby’s funeral.  For someone who supposedly loved this man all of her life, this is a very shallow act, proving that she is focused on her own selfish, shallow ways and simply wants to live comfortably.  

• Page 118-119:  Daisy is compared to a siren.  Sirens wreak destruction using the allure of their voices.  Daisy’s voice is a central characteristic of her.  

• Page 119: “Like the seductive attractiveness in the voices of the Sirens, it is the voice of Daisy, more than any of her other qualities, that most noticeably defines her characterization.”

•    Page 119-120:  Daisy’s voice is described in much detail throughout the book.  It is a trait of Daisy’s that is constantly described.  She seems to have a voice that draws people near to her.  It makes people comfortable.  It is a part of her charm.  She uses it much like she portrays herself:  uses its innocence to draw people toward her.  

Sutton, Brian.  “Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby”.  The Explicator.  59.  (2000): 37.  Web.  16 Feb. 2012.

• Page 37:  Gatsby is described in the book by Nick as having an ‘incorruptible dream’.  This dream is to win Daisy’s heart back and to pick up from where they left off.  

• Page 37: Throughout most of the book, the reader assumes that Gatsby and Daisy will reunite and live a happily ever after kind of story.  Gatsby seems to assume this as well.  This assumption is made greatly because of the way in which Daisy acts.  She is openly very miserable in her marriage, and ultimately, in her current life.  However, when the time comes to make a change, Daisy proves her loyalty.  Not necessarily to Tom, but to the comfortable lifestyle in which she wishes to remain.  Not only is her marriage corrupt, but so is she.  

• Page 37:  During a dinner party at Tom and Daisy’s house, Daisy openly places the blame on Tom for a bruise on her arm as well as calling him a ‘brute’ and describing him as ‘hulking’.  The two are very obviously in an unhappy marriage, but it almost ends up being more of a partnership (for money purposes) rather than a marriage.
• Page 38: A quote from the text stated by Tom: “A lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers, you know.”  Statements like these portray the attitude of Daisy and Tom.  They think of themselves as a different type of society altogether, which keeps them from associated too much with those ‘below’ them.  

Sutton, Brian.  “Imagery in The Great Gatsby”.  The Explicator.  55.  (1997):  94-95.  Web.  3   Feb.  2012.

• Page 94:  Sutton describes four main images associated with the ‘rise and fall’ of Gatsby in relation to Daisy Buchanan.  

• Page 94: First image: Nick’s first sighting of Gatsby.  Gatsby is reaching out his arm toward Daisy’s green porch-light.  This is the beginning (sort of) of his quest to win Daisy.  He is still optimistic, hoping for a brighter future.  “Reaching”/making steps toward this love which he has not forgotten and hopes that she has not forgotten.

• Page 94:  Second image:  “Gatsby’s brief moment of triumph”.  Gatsby and Daisy’s first meeting since they were young and in love.  Five years have passed.  The meeting goes well and the two seem truly happy to be united.  

• Page 94:  Third image:  The beginning of the downfall.  Tom and Jay’ confrontation.  Gatsby tells Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him.  She complies, but is visibly very reluctant to do so.   Tom begins to remind her of some of their past memories and she ‘cracks’.  She says that she cannot say that she never loved him.  

• Page 95:  Fourth and final image:  Ironically is much the same as the first image of Gatsby in the story.  Alone and seeking the light associated with her.  This time, it is not with optimism.  This part comes after Daisy has hit Myrtle Wilson with Gatsby’s car.  Jay hides in the bushes near her house to wait for a signal (flashing porch-light) which he and Daisy had agreed on if Tom tried to hurt her.  Sadly, when Nick enters the house, Tom and Daisy are ‘conspiring’.  She comes to the window for a moment but only to shut off the light.  This is the last time that Gatsby sees her.  He is killed shortly afterward.  

• Page 95:  Ironic: “In the end, Gatsby is betrayed by his old flame, and his life is extinguished by a man who is, figuratively speaking, in the dark.”

Tanner, Bernard.  “The Gospel of Gatsby”.  The English Journal.  54.  (1965):  467-474.  Web.   17 Feb.  2012.

• Page 471:  The use of green implies several things.  First of all, the most literal sense is explained by Nick himself.  He says that it is a hint of seduction toward ‘some orgiastic future.’  

• Page 471:  Green is also explained as a sort of “green card.”  Daisy uses green to be different. She has a green porch-light, whereas all of the other houses are the same.  She uses green to ‘invite’ Gatsby’s quest toward her.  She also mentions to Nick at a party to ‘present a green card’ if he wants to kiss her.  This evidences her willingness to be, in the very least, a tease.  

Annotated Bibliographies are also extremely useful in the research writing process.  Although they are not always fun to create, they are very helpful in keeping your sources straight.  All of these steps help in the organization of the final paper.  Here is a sample annotated bibliography page...

Alyssa Sfarnas
Dr. Brown
ENG 209
Annotated Bibliography

Bettina, M. "The Artifact in Imagery: Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby." Twentieth Century Literature. 9. (1963): 140-142. Web. 1 Feb. 2012.

Daisy’s voice is described in more depth and examples from the actual work are given.  Her voice is described as ‘the epitome of her charm’. (Bettina 141)  The feeling of betrayal is also described in the way in which it would have felt from Gatsby’s point of view. (Bettina 142)  Imagery is described in detail.
(JSTOR)

Burnam, Tom. "The Eyes of Dr. Eckleburg: A Re-Examination of "The Great Gatsby"." College English. 14. (1952): 7-12. Web. 3 Feb. 2012.

The author suggests a very simple, but I believe a very accurate truth through his statement that Daisy serves as a sort of ‘emotional vacuum’ to Gatsby into which he pours his entire life. (Burnam 10)  Every aspect of his life is dedicated to her and to winning her love back.  “Ironically,” the author states, “his defeat is also at her hands.” (Burnam 10)
(JSTOR)


Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1953. Print.

The primary source for the paper.  This is the basis for my research topic.  The Great Gatsby is the story of Nick Carroway, who narrates the story of his move and integration into New York.  He soon discovers Jay Gatsby, who becomes the center of the story.  I intend to focus on Daisy Buchanan, wife of Tom Buchanan, throughout my research paper.
(Personal Collection)

Long, Robert Emmet. The Achieving of The Great Gatsby. London: Associated University Press, 1979. Print.

This book does a good job in describing details surrounding the story.  The explanation of certain scenes are present, as well as the descriptions of wealth in the story, which play a large role in my research paper.
(SMITH LIBRARY - DUE MARCH 8) [[Can you renew prior to the 8th?]]

Ornstein, Robert.  “Scott Fitzgerald’s Fable of East and West”.  College English.  18.   (1956): 139-143.  Web.  17 Feb.  2012.

The prominent theme of wealth and corruption are discussed in this article.  The effect of this corruption by wealth and the desire of power is evidenced through Daisy Buchanan   (Ornstein 142).  She was born of wealth but also did not want to lose a cent of it.  This drives her to ultimately betray Gatsby later on when he wants her to leave her husband.  However, this article also implies that Daisy is innocent in her ways and that the problem between her and Gatsby is not only entirely her own selfish way, but is also because she does not want to get ‘caught up’ in the type of business that Gatsby is involved in.  He states that she is almost afraid of it and decides against even an affair with Gatsby because of it.  (Ornstein 142)  However, it is then stated at the end of the article that Tom and Daisy Buchanan are “careless people.  Selfish, destructive, capable of anything except human sympathy.” (Ornstein 143)
(JSTOR)

Person, Jr., Leland S.  “”Herstory” and Daisy Buchanan”.   American Literature. 50. (1978): 250-257. Web. 1 Feb. 2012.

Person takes a differing approach to the character of Daisy Buchanan.  He suggests that she is not a villain or cruel to Gatsby in any way, but is simply the victim of the men around her.  Between Tom’s rigid way and Gatsby’s ideals of the standards he envisioned for her, Person believes that Daisy is stuck in a losing situation, which is construed by many as a villainous stance.  (Person 251)  Person also refers to the phrase in which Daisy’s voice is said to be ‘full of money.’  He suggests that this negative statement is formed because Nick and Gatsby are attempting to find some sort of reasoning to the sad ending that is forming to their former quest, namely Gatsby’s quest to ‘win Daisy’.  (Person 255)
(JSTOR)

Settle, Glenn.  “Fitzgerald’s Daisy: The Siren Voice”.  American Literature.  57.  (1985): 115-124.   Web. 16 Feb.  2012.

Daisy is referred to as an ‘enchantress betrayer’ and is compared to Ella Maye, who deceived Gatsby out of a large sum of money as well as betrayed and killed Cody, who owned the yacht that Gatsby travelled around the continent on.  (Settle 118)  Daisy also betrayed Gatsby, and although she did not physically murder him, she betrayed him in several different ways.  One of these ways was in the fact that she promised herself to Gatsby for marriage and then married Tom.  The instance is also recognized when Daisy openly admits her love for Gatsby while in Tom’s presence and then ‘takes it back’, so to speak.  (Settle 118) This is an evidence of the way in which she completely turns her husband against Gatsby, and still comes out as the ‘winner’.  She is very manipulative of the situations at hand.  A third evidence of Daisy’s betrayal of Gatsby is in the simple fact of her absence at his funeral.  (Settle 118)  After the supposed love that they shared, the fact that she did not even do so much as attend his funeral is shocking and disappointing.  It adds
an aspect of ‘shallowness’ to her character.  
(JSTOR)

Sutton, Brian.  “Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby”.  The Explicator.  59.  (2000): 37.  Web.  16 Feb.
2012.

Sutton establishes the idea that Daisy truly does ‘lead on’ both Gatsby and the reader in the apparent reuniting of she and Jay together.  He points out that throughout the book, and through her constant complaining and apparent misery in her marriage, the reader believes it to be obvious that she and Gatsby will end up back together, as they rightly should have been.  Her shallow character and corruption are unveiled when she turns her back on Gatsby and ultimately destroys both his dream and his life.  (Sutton 37)  Daisy’s true intentions of ‘doing nothing at all’ about she and Gatsby’s rekindled love are also uncovered throughout the text.  The said truth that she never intended to leave Tom or her marriage ruins Gatsby and the driving force that kept him motivated throughout his entire life.  (Sutton 37)
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Sutton, Brian.  “Imagery in The Great Gatsby”.  The Explicator.  55.  (1997):  94-95.  Web.  3   Feb.  2012.

Sutton interlinks four different scenes in the book to relate Gatsby’s ‘rise and fall’ in his love for Daisy Buchanan.  (Sutton 94)  The first is the significant symbol of the green light on Daisy’s dock.  The second is the first meeting between Daisy and Jay since they were together in the past as young lovers.   The third comes when Tom and Gatsby have a confrontation over Daisy’s love.  The final is much like the first, although the circumstances are entirely different.  Gatsby is hiding in the bushes, waiting to see if Daisy will turn the lights on and off.  (Sutton 94)  Sutton points out that all four images have light in common.  He believes that the significance of this light is much like that of a flame in that Gatsby is ‘destroyed by an old flame and his life is extinguished by a man who is, figuratively speaking, in the dark.’ (Sutton 95)
(JSTOR)

Tanner, Bernard.  “The Gospel of Gatsby”.  The English Journal.  54.  (1965):  467-474.  Web.   17 Feb.  2012.

Daisy’s use of green is explained.  It references her porch light, her ‘green card’ at Gatsby’s party, and her upholstery.  It is stated that it refers to a sort of ‘seduction toward some unattainable orgiastic future.’  (Tanner 471)  In other words, she is placing false hope in Gatsby with no intentions of following through with them.  
(JSTOR)