It is clear that in the first chapter Daisy is presented
as a somewhat vain, fun-loving woman who is aware of her own charms. Note how Daisy and
Jordan are first described in this Chapter:
The only completely stationary object in the room
was an enormous couch on which two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored
balloon. They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if
they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the
house.
Clearly this shows
that Daisy is very aware of the effect of her appearance and the impact of artifice on
others, especially men. Note how she is also presented as something of a flirt, very
aware of how her mannerisms attract men to her:
She laughed again, as if she said something very
witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up into my face, promising that there was
no one in the world she so much wanted to see. That was a way she had. She hinted in a
murmur that the surname of the balancing girl was Baker. (I've heard it said that
Daisy's murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that
made it no less
charming.)
Daisy, then, in
her actions, is very flirtatious, having mastered the art of making men feel special and
drawing them in close to her through her
murmurs.
Therefore, from this first introduction to Daisy,
it is hard to ignore the fact that she is a woman who is very aware of her beauty and
also knows how to use her charms to lead men on - which of course sets the stage for the
rest of the novel.
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