Examples Of Power In The Great Gatsby

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Power has been known to be the one things to build people up, or tear them to shreds. Although there is power in love and there is power in money too, and these two components often collide in society. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Daisy Fay, a wealthy southern bell has done the unthinkable; she has fallen in love with Jay Gatsby, a handsome young penniless soldier in WW1. When Jay Gatsby had to leave for war, Daisy’s mother would have absolutely nothing to do with her daughter saying goodbye to the mysterious and meager soldier. Daisy needed to marry and fall in love with a man who would give her wealth because with wealth came title and with resources such as these, the beautiful Miss Daisy was destined from birth to …show more content…
Even though Daisy kept her power and knowledge hidden, her actions exemplified how she had the most effect on the people around her, yet somehow little Miss Daisy always walked away with clean hands. Towards the beginning of the novel, the narrator, Nick Carraway, pays his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan a visit when he first moved to West Egg. After dinner with the Buchanans, Nick and Daisy step out after an awkward exchange at the dinner table when Tom’s “girl” kept calling him. Daisy opens up to Nick only to ensure him of what she believes a girl should be when talking to Nick about the night her daughter was born. “She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. ‘All right,’ I said, ‘I'm glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool - that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool’” (Fitzgerald 17). Daisy is telling Nick that she believes girls in this world would be best to play the part of the fool. Daisy knows that if her daughter is playing fool, then her daughter is the smartest person in the room due to people underestimating her, just like they did with Daisy. Daisy seems to be telling Nick, “...I need to be able to relate to my baby and raise her right, and if I don't, I've done wrong by her, because playing the fool is the smartest thing a girl can do in times like these. I'm doing this to protect her because that’s what has protected me…” Daisy is consistent in how she interacts to others, her foolish actions are only makeup for her ever-growing power. Daisy’s voice was said to draw people in, especially men. This only added to her undeniable amount of power. Gatsby and Nick are talking when Gatsby says to Nick “‘Her voice is full of money,’ he said suddenly” (Fitzgerald 120). Money has always been associated with power. From the beginning of time money has been a staple for
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