Thought piece 3 - Jessica

In the ending of chapter five, when the three characters Daisy, Gatsby and Nick are at Gatsby’s mansion they go into a cupboard where Gatsby begins throwing his shirts around the room. This causes Daisy to cry at claiming she has never seen ‘such beautiful shirts before’. Daisy does this because she is broken although the she is clever she has been hurt and has never fully recovered. Her character is unique because she knows how to hold the power in relationships whether it be friendships or more, there are only few she sees as her equal. Daisy cries because she regrets aspects of her life such as her marriage to Tom and ignoring his betrayal. She regrets not going and being with Gatsby when she received the letter on her wedding day. Although it can be argued that Daisy has the lifestyle that was idealised in the 20’s so she should be happy. However, she does not have what she truly wants and that's to love unconditionally and be loved and adored in return. 

When she says that ‘it makes me sad because I've never seen such – such beautiful shirts’ she blatantly lies, because her lifestyle with Tom, it provides her with the ability to the same kinds of shirts in a daily basis. However it presents the regret she has of not going to Gatsby when she received his letter. The shirts that Gatsby throws around the room show his now higher social standing, he throws shirts made of ‘sheer linen and thick silk’ around the room with no such thought to them ripping. He doesn't need to worry about them ripping because he can just buy more. He's rich enough to not care about these pieces of material. She didn't go to him because he was of a lower social standing to her and although they were ‘in love’, as some suggest, it would have been unacceptable. The traditions of the period were that you could only love and marry someone of the same social standing. Daisy regrets not waiting because then she could have married the man she believes she truly loves. Therefore I think her tears are in fact tears of regret.