Those Who Save Us Literary Analysis

Gatsby and Daisy had met years prior, but ended up going their separate ways. However, Gatsby remained in love with Daisy and longed for her affection. The two reconcile, and Daisy starts seeing Gatsby outside of her marriage with Tom. In this, Daisy is leading Gatsby on by making him believe he will attain his ultimate dream: a life with her. However, Daisy knows deep down she will not leave Tom for Gatsby. This is proven when a confrontation about the affair sparks between Tom and Gatsby, and Daisy attempts to defend Gatsby and stick up to Tom, but ultimately fails and retreats back to her husband. “Her frightened eyes told that whatever intentions, whatever courage she had had, were definitely gone” (Fitzgerald 135). Daisy’s carelessness shines through in leading Gatsby to believe she would abandon Tom for him, but fails to follow through. She recklessly broke the heart of the man who had been in love with her for many

In past years, as well as, in the twenty-first century, African Americans are being oppressed and judged based on the color of their skin. In, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, this is the primary conflict that plagues Jefferson’s as well as Grant’s everyday life. By pleading guilty to a murder that he did not commit, Jefferson has to choose to die just as he is, a hog in the white’s eyes, or die a man. On the other hand, Grant, who is his teacher, is faced with being looked down upon by his community all because of his race and status. He is graced with the challenge of turning Jefferson into a man before his execution date. It is only a matter of time before they both realize that they cannot change the past and they have

Nick says, "She looked at me with an absolute smirk on her lovely face, as if she had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged" (17). Daisy becomes accustomed to Tom's money and being able to cover up her problems using his wealth. Daisy is not willing to leave her unpleasant and somewhat abusive relationship to be with Gatsby. All of these years, Gatsby has been dreaming of Daisy and his imagination presented her as more perfect than she actually is. Nick notes to the reader that "There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams—not through her own fault, but because

Tom’s infidelity in his marriage clearly expresses his views about his wife, Daisy. In seeking an affair, he conveys that Daisy is deficient and not worthy of devotion. Daisy knows of his affairs, but because of the time period and their social class, she is helpless to do anything. As a woman in the 20th century, it would destroy Daisy to divorce Tom, even though the entirety of New York knows about Tom’s affair.

As we inched up Daisy’s driveway Gatsby’s discomfort became more and more evident. I knocked on the door and a servant answered it immediately, looking into the entryway, I saw Daisy standing at the top of the staircase, she stares at us for a moment before rushing towards us. “Jay” she cried as she leaped into his arms, ”I am so happy to see you, let’s run away together right now the two of us!” “Daisy,” he said softly “I have to know the truth” he paused as if contemplating if he wanted to really say what he was thinking. “Did you and Tom send Wilson to kill me” his eyes burned with the desire, he wanted to hear her answer, he wanted it to be no. “Of course not” she cried “it was Tom who…” she stood silent, not another word was spoken. Suddenly, Gatsby turns and walks away, he stops for a moment “it seems your beauty really is only on the outside” and with that Gatsby walked out the door. Jay saw Daisy in a way he had never seen her before, that Daisy had no love for him, in fact, he wondered if she really loved anyone, except herself.

         In the novel Daisy forces herself to be conformed into the frame of society. Daisy’s true love, Gatsby is what started the beginning of

Daisy grew up spoiled due to the vast wealth she obtained from being ‘old money’, which caused her to become selfish and self-centred. Daisy had become selfish to the point that she has an expensive and materialistic desire or want. When Gatsby shows Daisy his mansion, she gazed in awe as “she admired […] the gardens, the sparkling odor of jonquils […] and the pale gold odor of kiss-me-at-the-gate.”(Fitzgerald,97) Daisy, all along, does not have feelings for Gatsby, but more for his money and expensive possessions, as she revealed her true self during Tom and Gatsby’s argument. Daisy is selfish even if money was not involved, as she does not feel grateful for Gatsby taking the blame for her killing Myrtle Wilson. For instance, when Nick tells Gatsby about Mrytle dying, Gatsby replies “’Yes,’ he said after the moment, ‘but of course I’ll say I was.’” (Fitzgerald, 154) When Daisy cried in Gatsby’s mansion, she was crying about her actions in killing Myrtle, meanwhile she does not care about Gatsby’s act of chivalry. Furthermore, Daisy takes advantage of Gatsby by taking Tom along to Gatsby’s party, when Daisy was personally invited to essentially go alone. When Gatsby saw Tom appearing to his party, Gastby with a light temper has a conversation with Tom. He says “I know your wife’, continued Gatsby, almost aggressively.”

In the novel, Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, the author uses many literary

Daisy sacrifices love and happiness for being wealthy. Nick believes “that the thing for Daisy to do was to rush out of [her] house, child in arms-but apparently there were no such intentions in her head” (25). In making this comment, Nick argues that Daisy refuses to break off her marriage to Tom because she will lose her “membership” to the East Egg social class. Not even Gatsby, who is one of the wealthiest men in the Northeast, can convince her to leave him. In Roberts’ literary criticism, she describes the aspects of Gatsby that Daisy disapproves. Roberts claims that Gatsby “Misread[s] the signs of American gentility … [by moving] to West Egg, instead of the more elegant East Egg (Fahey 74), [and throwing parties that] attract theatre people and gate crashers rather than a social elite” (Roberts) which repulses Daisy. In making this remark, Roberts claims that Gatsby is not everything Daisy could want. His mansion’s location and guests at his party ultimately is not enough to motivate Daisy to leave Tom. Close states that “we can’t be happy without at least one meaningful, close relationship.” Her claim that a close relationship brings happiness rests upon the questionable assumption that people in close relationships are always happy. In fact, some close relationships can bring more despair than joy. Hence, the cause of unhappiness for wealthy people, like Daisy, can be avoided if they choose their overall wellbeing over the amount of money they

One major relationship in this novel is between Tom and Daisy. Even though they are married, they do not have the best relationship. Daisy was in love with Gatsby five years ago, but while he was away she met Tom and got married. She is shallow and

“ An old man, a young man, and life’s greatest lesson.” This is the attention grabbing phrase on the cover of Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie. Where a former college student reconnects with his beloved dying professor. It is set with the foreshadowed last class of Morrie’s life. Once Albom found out of Morrie’s crippling diagnosis of Lou Gehrig’s Disease or ALS, they eventually meet every Tuesday to talk about life. Mitch Albom’s telling of the meaning of life through Morries final days gives thought to the motif of love and living. Each Tuesday is given a main, consequential focus. The understanding of love and living is shown the most in the first, fifth, and ninth Tuesday.

Daisy didn’t love Tom before they got married. She almost backed out a few days before the wedding pointing to a note from Gatsby as her reason. Tom knew he had to win over Daisy so “The day before the wedding he gave her a string of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.” And the next day she married Tom. Tom bought a wife for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. She sold herself to a man she didn’t love for the money. When Daisy sees the large house and out-of-this-world wealth that Gatsby has she become attracted to him. She falls in love with Gatsby's money. When Tom learns of the affair, he tries to put Gatsby's fortune in question. Tom tells Daisy that Gatsby, “bought up a lot of side-street drug stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong.” This information changed how Daisy saw Gatsby. These rumors tainted his fortune; it lost its appeal. Daisy no longer wanted to leave Tom, “Her frightened eyes told that whatever intentions, whatever courage she had had, were gone.” When Daisy questions the validity of Gatsby's fortune, she is no longer attracted to him. Nick even describes Daisy as “frightened” upon hearing this; she almost lost the luxuries life she has. Choosing Gatsby would now mean taking a step down. In the realm

Daisy, like her husband, is a girl of material and class at heart, and Gatsby being her escape from a hierarchist world. Daisy has just grown up knowing wealth, so in her greedy pursuit of happiness and the “American Dream” Myrtle Wilson died, Gatsby's heart and life were compromised, without claiming responsibility on her part. Daisy was “by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville...” (116) Jordan says, describing early affections between Daisy and Gatsby. She goes on to say, “...all day long the telephone rang in her house and excited young officers from Camp Taylor demanded the privilege of monopolizing her that night.” (116) . Daisy was a fancied girl who has Gatsby tied around her finger, Jordan explains that he was looking at Daisy “...in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at some time...” (117). Daisy, abusing Gatsby’s love for her uses it to create security and protection, greedily and selfishly allowing him to take the fault. While Daisy’s beautiful, alluring traits turn her into an innocent, naive flower, she plays the ultimate villain.

Tom takes advantage of this situation and manipulates Daisy to completely depend on him. Daisy has spent her whole life being used to someone telling her what to do, and her relationship with Tom is no different. Even right after they got married, “If he left the room for a minute she’d look around uneasily and say: ‘‘Where’s Tom gone?’ and wear the most abstract expression until she saw him coming in the door” (77). Daisy relies solely on Tom and is “uneasy” without him around. Her dependence on Tom reflects not only his hyper masculinity, but how little he cares about Daisy. Despite this, he knows Daisy will never leave him, and pushes their marriage to the brink by having multiple affairs.

As seen in society today as well as in Fitzgerald’s time, men will have affairs outside of their marriages, and the wife, falls victim to this violation of faith. Daisy falls victim to Tom’s affair with Myrtle: “Daisy’s affection for Tom…was soon shattered by his breech of her trust” (Fryer 51). Matters take an abrupt turn in the novel however, when Daisy’s sudden insistence for honesty emerges. At the hotel in the city, when Gatsby pressures her into proclaiming that she never loved Tom she can no longer bear the anxiety. She refuses to deny her love of Tom.