The Great Gatsby Group

Question:

snehababy
snehababy
Student
High School - 9th Grade

In The Great Gatsby, how do the motifs of violence, colors, race, and sports relate to Daisy and Jordan?

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Posted by snehababy on Monday March 2, 2009 at 8:46 PM and tagged with color, motifs, race, sports, the great gatsby, violence.

Answers:

  1. mshurn
    mshurn Teacher
    College - Freshman

    eNotes Editor

    Violence: Daisy herself is not a victim of violence, but Myrtle Wilson dies a violent death when Daisy accidentally runs over her while driving Gatsby's car, and Gatsby dies a violent death as a result of his involvement with Daisy. The violence motif does not relate to Jordan.

    Colors: Daisy and Jordan both wear white dresses in Chapter 1 when Nick first sees them. They lie on a couch under a white ceiling in a room with white French windows covered by pale curtains. When she was young, Daisy dressed in white and drove a little white car. Her face is frequently described as being pale. White is a Fitzgerald motif that is associated with "the coolness" of wealth and privilege.

    Race: Daisy's husband Tom is a racist. He expresses his racist views very clearly in Chapter 1, especially when discussing a book he has recently read, The Rise of the Coloured Empires.

    Sports: Jordan is a professional golfer; that is her only pursuit in life, and she has been known to cheat by moving her golf ball to set up a better shot. Nick vaguely remembers her name being associated with a scandal. The sports motif relates to Daisy in that she is married to Tom, a former college football player. Tom is still husky and muscular, but he takes offense when Daisy calls him "hulking."

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/great-gatsby/chapter-1-summary-anal...
    http://www.enotes.com/great-gatsby/character-analysis
    http://www.enotes.com/great-gatsby/summary

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    Posted by mshurn on Friday April 3, 2009 at 3:19 AM