Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Is Daisy in The Great Gatsby really a Catholic?

The narrator, Nick Carraway, who is also Daisy Buchanan's cousin, states, "Daisy was not a Catholic" and is surprised when he hears Myrtle's sister, Catherine, tell this lie to him. 


In Chapter Two at the New York apartment where Tom has taken Nick along with his mistress, Myrtle Wilson, to escape the heat and to have a small party, Nick observes that Mrytle has changed into an "elaborate afternoon dress" and, with the "influence of the dress, her personality has also undergone a change." For instance, when Tom orders her to get ice for the McKees, she raises her eyebrows "in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders, "These people! You have to keep after them all the time." Then, she looks at Nick and laughs "pointlessly" in her imagined role as hostess.
When Mr. McKee, the photographer expresses a desire to work on Long Island, but he needs "the entry" from someone of position, mockingly, Tom laughs, and as Myrtle enters with a tray, he tells McKee,



"She'll give you a letter of introduction, won't you Mrytle?...'George B. Wilson at the Gasoline Pump' or something like that."
"Do what?" she asked, startled.



At this point, Mrytle's sister leans over to Nick, "Neither of them can stand the person they're married to." But, she explains, "She's a Catholic and they don't believe in divorce." 
Nick narrates, "Daisy was not a Catholic and I was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie."
 

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