The following post includes a few letters that Daisy sent to Jay Gatsby over the years while he was away at war and later at Oxford. This is an attempt to explore Daisy’s character further and understand her perspective and thoughts on the sequence of events that took place in the story. These letters to Jay Gatsby, the man that Daisy loves, provide a unique vantage point only to the reader as they display Daisy’s vulnerability and thought process while she battles her mind, her feelings, the society, and most importantly, her desires.
30 November 1917
My dearest Jay,
The last I saw of you was yesterday, and yet my heart yearns for you as if it were already a year. Oh, but what does it differ? A day, a year, it differs not to the clock lying in my mind and heart, for the clock stopped ticking now and shall only tick again upon your arrival. Until then, I shall be waiting for you, everyday. Though, I do hope that you find me in the same condition you left me in, but I doubt it. You see, Jay, yesterday, the day you left, something clicked inside me, I could not bear you setting foot out of New York, not without one look, one last hug, one last kiss. So, I packed a bag and attempted an escape to New York to see you for the night, but I was caught by my mother before I even had the chance to step out the front door. Oh, Jay, it was horrible, it still is horrible. My parents are as of now, not on speaking terms with me. I have been prevented from leaving the house, not even to visit my friends. I do not even know how you will receive this letter, if you ever do receive this letter. Whatever the outcome will be, I shall continue writing to you regularly, for you are my lover, my confidant, my husband-to-be, and this shall never be changed, not even by my parents. My parents, I do not understand why they felt this much anger towards my behavior. I am eighteen years old. I am a woman now, I am no longer a girl and should not be treated like one. I should be free to do as I please whenever I please, but it seems unlikely that this will happen any time soon. This whole situation is just very saddening, I am not even allowed to be present at the parties we host in our house anymore, can you believe it? No more orchestra or jazz, no more evening dresses, no more orchids just lying beside my bed. I have nothing now, I truly hope that their steam lets out soon, for it has only been a day and I already know that I will not be able to handle this confinement any longer. It is enough that I am not seeing you, taking my freedom does not make it any better. But, I will stay strong, my love, for you and for me. I will rectify this situation, and send you this letter. I want you to know that until then, I love you, now and always.
Yours forever,
Daisy
3 March 1919
Dear Jay,
Oh, how proud I am of you and your success in the war. Your letters fill me with a state of gaiety I have never felt before. You are a captain in the army now; this is a very high and rewarding status. Soon, you will acquire wealth suitable to your new title. You will be free to do and buy whatever your heart pleases. You can buy a house, a garden, a vehicle, your very own horse and stable. Oh, how proud I am of you. But, Jay, I was wondering about a detail that you mentioned in your letter last. I cannot deny that it was quite disturbing. As little as it was, this detail kept me up all night thinking. You have been moved to Oxford? You mentioned that this has affected your plans to come here, that you will not be able to come and marry me in Louisville as planned. I understand that your move there was a misunderstanding and complication not of your doing. I do understand. What I do not understand is why you are unable to reverse this decision and come for me anyway. You love me, right? Jay, I did not want to pressure you in my previous letters because I had hoped for your near arrival but with these news, I am afraid I will not be able to see you for at least another year or two. How will I be able to handle the pressure of not being married and in a stable home for another two years? All of my girl friends are already married and with a child, Jay. I know this because I attend their parties every week, without a husband, without you. My friends keep asking me how long I am willing to stay waiting for you, and I always tell them that your arrival is near, I always tell them that they are wrong, that you will do whatever it takes to leave the army and come back for me. What am I supposed to say now? I am starting to fear that this move to Oxford may have changed everything. Please do not misunderstand me, Jay, I still love you, and I always will. I am only asking because I want a plan that I can follow. I am not a person who entertains uncertainties, nor was I raised that way. After all, I am a girl, I should have a life, I should have a house, I should have a child by now, I should have everything my friends have and I don’t. Do I not deserve that? Jay, I know what you will say, but these are not things I only should have, these are things I want as well. I want to be the woman hosting these parties every weekend and showing off my husband, the man who is hopefully going to be you. I want to show off my children, a beautiful little fool of a girl and a strong man who looks like you. I want to be the woman in the expensive, gold evening gown, listening and dancing to the beautiful jazz music the orchestra incessantly plays. I want that life very much, Jay. Society wants me to have this life. Life itself wants me to have this life. Im sorry, Jay, I do not know how much longer I can wait before I break down and collapse in front of the desires life has planned for me. But I should tell you, people have already started talking about the fact that I am twenty and still unmarried. I have already gone on several dates with several young men whom I was introduced to at my friends’ parties, and they all seem keen to marry me and giving me the life and wealth they think I deserve. Of course, none of them compare to you. For you are my one and only true love, now and forever. However, I do need a plan, Jay. I need a decision. I need any form of reassurance that you will stay by my side. Your presence by my side, should you choose to come, will be very reassuring to me. Your presence will tell me that choosing you waiting for you was the right thing to do. It will tell me that I was not mistaken, that loving you is right, and never was wrong.
Love, always,
Daisy
20 April 1919
Jay,
I am writing this letter to you with a grave heart. This is my final letter to you, I cannot wait for you anymore. I have waited far too long. I understood when you were young and of no wealth, I understood when you were still starting in the army and attempting to achieve a high status. But, you achieved all you could from the time you left, you have earned your status as captain in the army, your presence in Oxford expanded your knowledge and turned you into an Oxford man, you are very close to gaining wealth, you are finally free to live the life you have always dreamed of, with me. Yet, your absence is noted every single day, in my mind as well as by others. I am no longer able to make excuses for your absence, I am truly sorry. I have succumbed, this society’s plans for me have won. I have lost. Waiting was the battle and you were the prize, but funnily enough, I have waited long and won someone else. Yes, Jay, I am sorry to say that I have found someone else. His name is Tom Buchanan, Tom Buchanan of Chicago, and he loves me. Just last week, Tom showered me with gowns and jewelry, he treated me like a princess. I have never been treated like a princess by a man before, not through money and jewelry at least. As you may have guessed by now, he is a man of great wealth, status, and seems to have a very high position in society. He is also very handsome, and thinks that I am the most beautiful girl in the world. We are perfect for each other. Such words as these are painful for me to express especially to you, Jay, because you still are the only man to ever enter my heart and occupy my mind. I am sorry to tell you this, but I feel as if I owe it to you. I need to be honest, I owe it to our love, the one we had in person and the one through our precious and heart-felt letters. I will cherish these two years, I will remember everything, the words we spoke, letters we wrote, my feelings for you, everything. I am not sure what I will do with Tom, but I know that I cannot wait any longer for you. It is, simply put, too much for my heart to bear. If I am to be wed to Tom in June as planned, I leave you with this, I hope to see you again one day, Jay, I truly do. I also hope that when we do meet, you will have been able to get past this decision of mine, and have been able to understand why I took it. I need you to remember our love, and everything we learned from it. I want you to remember every moment, every look, every touch, every kiss. I want you to know that it meant as much to me as it did to you. I also want you to remember that no matter who I marry, should it be Tom or anyone else, I will always have a special place in my heart for you. I hope that I remain to have a special place in your heart too. I really hope I do.
Until we meet again,
Love,
Daisy
I love what you did here Laila! I was actually hoping to see a post that examines Daisy’s emotions and generally her perspective towards events that happened during the war with Gatsby, especially given that her voice is lacking in the novel. I feel like you introduced a new side of Daisy while also keeping some elements about her personality intact (her materialistic aspirations) – of which I was little unsure of. I wanted to ask why you decided to portray her in a similar manner as Nick’s portrayal (i.e cares about status, money, gowns, and jewelry)? Do you think perhaps there is a chance she does not want these things? Nevertheless, I think while you kept some aspects similar to Nick’s portrayal, you emphasized that this is what ‘society’ wants from her, which is great because it implies that Daisy is shaped by societal pressures of that time. One more thing that I really loved about about the letters is your ability to show Daisy’s perspective while at the same time, keeping her voice intact. You managed to write a letter as though Daisy herself had written it, in terms of language and tone. There is a hint of desperation in your letter that highly resonates with her character in the novel.
This was really good, Laila. It was interesting to read especially after our discussion in class about how Nick being the narrator gives us limited insight to the other characters, such as Daisy. Your post kind of makes me sympathises with her, despite her actions, because of the pressure she felt from society as a woman to get married and her need for security.
What a great post laila!
I loved how u articulated daisy’s thoughts and feelings that we don’t necessarily have a full outlook on since the nick limits it. While reading the novel, I just couldn’t sympathize with daisy’s actions and decisions towards gatsby because all I saw was a manipulative and materialitic girl since all she cared about was money, status, and a stable life in general. However, your post of her letters to him truly changed my mind about the kind of person she is. I truly sympathize with her because she is an 18 year old girl controlled by her parents and pressured by society regarding how she’s supposed to live. So choosing Tom over Gastby was hard on her and put so much pressure on her mental health but at the end, she choose what is best for her and that is all that matters.
Thank you, Laila, for making me like Daisy through your portrayal of her character. Your post gives access to Daisy’s way of thinking and emphasizes her life’s priorities and pressures (to marry rich, throw parties, and maintain her social status).
Your post made me wonder how things might have taken a different turn if Daisy were to find out that Gatsby was actually poor, and what impact her letters notifying him of her impatience would have had on Gatsby’s ideal image of her. Would Gatsby still think that Daisy only ever loved him, and not Tom? Would he still keep reaching for his “dream” if he knew that Daisy had rejected his real self as well as his attempts to reinvent it?
Your post suggests that Daisy was willing to accept Gatsby as he was, without any money, and makes me believe that she really loved him for who he was. The fact that in the novel he lied to her about his wealth from the beginning, however, makes me skeptical as to whether Daisy actually loved Gatsby or the “idea” of Gatsby herself- which would explain why she appears more and more distant and suddenly vanishes from his life after she learns the truth about his past.