Still on my Daisy killed Myrtle on purpose agenda. Like is there any proof in the book itself? No. Does it make the story so so much more impactful? Absolutely.
No youāre right and you should say it. Is there proof for it? No. But is it suggested? Absolutely.
āWell, first Daisy turned away from the woman toward the other car, and then she lost her nerve and turned back.ā
Fitzgerald is a very deliberate writer and he very specifically tells us that Daisy swerves toward Myrtle, not away. Gatsby offers us a plausible alternative, but also he is clearly deluding himself about Daisy this entire scene. Heās worried that Tom will hurt Daisy and heās sure that sheāll run away with him soon when in reality Tom and Daisy are more united than weāve yet seen them. Gatsby is also shown to be concerned with Daisyās wellbeing over his own and over any concerns for Myrtle. Gatsby could be right, but it would be more consistent with the entire scene if he were bending over backwards to excuse Daisyās actions and make her the innocent victim in the situation.Ā
Itās also consistent with Daisyās characterization overall. Daisy is one of the most ambiguous characters in the book because Tom, Jordan, and Gatsby all have Nick as a confidant at different points but Daisy never really does. The best glimpse we get of Daisy is when she talks privately with Nick in chapter 1. She goes on this little monologue about being cynical and what she thinks of the world and then when she finishes Nickās narration says,Ā āThe instant her voice broke off, ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said. It made me uneasy, as though the whole evening had been a trick of some sort to exact a contributory emotion from me. I waited, and sure enough, in a moment 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.āĀ This is the same conversation where we get her most famous lineĀ āI hope sheāll be a foolāthatās the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.ā Later in chapter 4 Jordan tells usĀ ā[Tom and Daisy] moved with a fast crowd, all of them young and rich and wild, but she came out with an absolutely perfect reputation. Perhaps because she doesnāt drink. Itās a great advantage not to drink among hard-drinking people. You can hold your tongue and, moreover, you can time any little irregularity of your own so that everybody else is so blind that they donāt see or care.ā These three quotes tell us that Daisy is very careful about controlling how she is perceived by other people, and sheās very good at shifting how they think of her. The first indicates that underneath it all, sheās actually more like Tom than most characters (or readers) would initially believe. And the second tells us how she most often presents herself. Daisy puts forth an image of naĆÆve innocence but itās an act to protect herself. Daisy plays the fool but there are indications from the start that she knows a lot more than she lets on. Chapter 1 itās clear that she knows Tom is having an affair, itās just left ambiguous exactly how much she knows about it. Itās never shown that she knows who Tom is having an affair with but it wouldnāt be a stretch to assume she did. After all, the fool is just an act.Ā
And Daisyās facade is the main point of her character. Her controlling symbol is a daisy. On the outside itās white, representing this sort of innocence or perfection. Daisyās surrounded by whiteā white dresses, white curtains, a white house, a white car, white pearls. But a daisyās center is yellowā the color representing wealth in the book. And that wealth is almost always harmful: like the yellow car that runs down Myrtle. Daisyās purity is a veneer. At her core, the only real substance to her is her wealth. Thatās why through all the book, we hear about Daisyās alluring voice. Itās almost magical. Everybody loves her voice. Then at the climax in chapter 7, Gatsby pinpoints what that allure is:Ā āher voice is full of moneyā. Itās not magical at all. Sheās just rich and thatās the sum total of her appeal. And in this book, wealth is used to destroy other people.Ā
So, Fitzgerald very deliberately raises the question throughout the book about how much Daisy knows about who Tomās affair is with. He has Daisy tell us that she pretends to be a fool because thatās how she gets through her marriage, but suggests that she knows a lot more than she lets on, and reinforces this with little asides from Daisy throughout the book. Our initial introduction to Daisy drops the idea that Daisy and Tom are more alike than they first appear, and then the book ends with them as a united front. Fitzgerald also pointedly hints at not only the possibility that Daisy intentionally hit Myrtle, but also paints a pretty clear picture of Gatsby as someone who canāt see Daisy for what she really is. The bookās color symbolism links Daisyās core personality to the car (the murder weapon).Ā
In conclusion, it is very much Fitzgeraldās intention for the reader to see Daisy intentionally running down Myrtle as at least a very tangible possibility.Ā
AAAAHHHH THANK YOU THIS IS ALL SO TRUE.
Also what you say with the idea that Tom and Daisy are more alike than appears, do you reckon that could also indicate that she did it on purpose given that Tom sends Myrtleās husband to Gatsby this effectively killing him?
ooh yes! The ending is Tom and Daisy drawing together so their actions fall into parallel, revealing what Gatsby and a lot of the others missed: that theyāre the same. And with both of them, itās not really a premeditated thing. Myrtle runs into the road and Daisy is highly emotional and just reacts. Wilson shows up at Tomās house with a gun and Tom just on the spur of the moment decides to point him in Gatsbyās direction. Because theyāre careless and selfish more than malicious.Ā
And on the idea of them being alikeā Tom is brutish and violent because he can be. Daisy doesnāt have the same luxury since she doesnāt have the same physical power (being a woman) or the same social power (being a woman in the 20s) so she compensates through manipulation and money and her charm and beauty. But while the expression of it tends to make it look like theyāre opposites, the core nature is the same. The car accident is just the first opportunity Daisy has to express herself violently the way that Tom does.Ā
