Daisy’s Cage and Leash: Analyzing Metaphorical Accessories in The Great Gatsby

“But she didn’t say another word. We gave her spirits of ammonia and put ice on her forehead and hooked her back into her dress, and half an hour later, when we walked out of the room, the pearls were around her neck and the incident was over. Next day at five o’clock she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver, and started off on a three months’ trip to the South Seas.”

(Fitzgerald 76)

InF. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the intricate bond between Tom and Daisy and their imminent marriage takes center stage. On one side stands Tom Buchanan, a wealthy, upper-class man determined to marry his beloved. On the other side, Daisy emerges as a hopeful young woman caught between the weight of societal expectations and her own desires for love and a fulfilling future. As the story unfolds, Fitzgerald employs metaphorical accessories that symbolize confinement, depicting Daisy’s hesitation about marrying Tom and foreshadowing the challenges they will face as a couple. Fitzgerald describes Daisy’s imminent matrimony using metaphor—linking symbols of her preparation to those of incarceration through words that emphasize a lack of choice. To prepare Daisy for her nuptials, Daisy’s maid and bridesmaid “hooked her back into her dress.” The dress represents a bodily cage that ties her to this marriage, as putting on the dress is one more step to composing her for the wedding. The significance of other women “hook[ing] her” in the dress implies that it was their methodical action that forced Daisy into the wedding. Daisy’s ambivalence about the wedding was smothered by the intimate experi- ence of getting strapped into the dress, her closest associates trapping her in this ritual. Thus, as uncertain as Daisy is, she concedes to the wedding—sacrificing her individual autonomy for the sake of society—while influenced by the silent insistence of the women around her.

Furthermore, the symbolism of Daisy’s necklace serves as a metaphorical leash, highlighting the imprisoning essence of her fiancé and underscoring the risks she confronts in their imminent marriage. When Daisy puts the “pearls around her neck,” the imagery of a string around a person’s neck alludes to the constricting leash of a future with Tom. Correspondingly, the pearl necklace is a symbol of wealth, as it is worth an exorbitant amount of money: $350,000. Though expensive, it is still pearls strung on a thread—delicate and breakable. Thus, these pearls represent how fragile the idea of Tom is to Daisy, while simultaneously tying her to him. The opulent necklace, intended to show off and decorate Daisy, shows the proprietary nature of their relationship. The wealth and security that the necklace denotes create pressure that pushes her to marry Tom. The pearl necklace manifests Daisy’s captivity: the entrapment of wealth that society encourages her to pursue. Thus, Daisy takes a significant risk with her future by marrying Tom because although society views it as a rational decision, her conflicted emotions about him make it a hazardous choice, ultimately setting the stage for perilous marital tension hereafter.

In this excerpt, Fitzgerald draws out Daisy’s compulsion to marry through the physical and emotional imposition of accessories by those closest to her. Despite her mixed feelings about Tom Buchanan, societal norms dictate that it is unacceptable for Daisy to refuse the union due to his wealth and the prevailing belief in the 20th century that a woman’s role was to marry. Fitzgerald utilizes various metaphors to symbolize the societal pressures that push Daisy into marrying Tom for his financial security, trapping Daisy in a wedding that foreshadows a shaky relationship for the Buchanans.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott), 1896-1940. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner’s sons, 1925.

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Alice T. is a junior who loves precipitation, poetry, and publishing papers—including this one! Inspired by her admiration of fashion, she crafted this essay to investigate the novel’s extravagant dress and pearls.

Jonathon T.