This question could be interpreted in two ways, both in
terms of plot and of theme. When Daisy Fay meets Gatsby in Louisville during World War
I, he is a young officer in uniform, one of many dashing young men of rank who vie for
Daisy's attention. His uniform gives him standing and respectability in her eyes. Gatsby
does not overtly lie to Daisy about his personal circumstances, but she is misled by his
appearance. Nick explains:
. . . he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of
security; he had let her believe that he was a person from much the same strata as
herself--that he was fully able to take care of her. As a matter of fact he had no such
facilities--he had no comfortable family standing behind him . . .
.
Gatsby's uniform creates a
false appearance in that it masks his poverty and lower-class roots in North
Dakota.
Daisy is also misled by appearances when she
chooses to marry Tom Buchanan. His great fortune and membership in the upper class of
American society make Daisy believe that life with Tom will be a good life. It is not.
Although she enjoys the luxuries Tom's money provides, Daisy's life becomes endless days
of superficial activities. Hers is a hollow life without purpose, and Tom's infidelities
cause her pain and anger. In Chapter I she argues with Tom privately when Myrtle Wilson
calls their home; in Chapter VII her resentment boils over when she tells Tom, "You're
revolting." The emptiness of Daisy's life is first suggested in Chapter I when Nick
comes to dinner at the Buchanan estate. When Jordan Baker suggests they should "plan
something," Nick recalls her response:
"All right," said Daisy. "What'll we plan?" She
turned to me helplessly. "What do people
plan?"
Daisy's life with Tom
Buchanan does not turn out to be what she had expected it to be. Once again, appearances
have been deceiving.
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