The inevitable end of Daisy and Gatsby relationship was foreshadowed early on by Daisy’s actions and Nick’s observations. Daisy has always known about all of Tom’s affairs or “spree’s” as he calls them. She shows this early on to Nick after dinner when he has first came to the West Egg. Daisy admits to Nick that “I’ve had a very bad time” (16) and that when her daughter was born “Tom was God knows where” (17).
Even with Daisy and Tom picking at each other and arguing nonstop through dinner, Nick observes as he is leaving that they are still a unit, “stood side by side” (19), as they walked him to the door.Later on after Daisy starts her own affair with Gatsby, she continues to push Gatsby into meetings with Tom, as if to throw him in Tom’s face. The last meeting, Gatsby and Nick go over the Buchanan’s home for lunch at Daisy’s request. They walk in the home and Nick asks where Tom is just as Nick hears him on the phone and Jordan says “that’s Tom girl on the telephone” (116). After Jordan’s statement and Tom goes to leave the room again, Daisy waits till Tom is just out the door and goes up to Gatsby and tells him “You know I love you” (116) even though her actions show she is very upset and confused by “began to clog on the brick fireplace.Then she remembered the heat and sat down guiltily on the couch” (117).
Daisy then decides that they need to go into town to get away from the heat and Daisy arranges for her and Gatsby to ride together in Tom’s car. Tom observes Daisy, “She walked close to Gatsby, touching his coat with her hand” (121) which Tom’s response is to “push the unfamiliar gears tentatively, and shot off into the oppressive heat, leaving them out of sight behind” (121). Again it seems as if Daisy is using Gatsby and trying to hurt Tom as he has hurt her in the past.During the trip into to town Tom stops at the gas station and learns that Wilson, Myrtle’s husband, found out that she has been having an affair with someone. Wilson remarks “I just go wised up to something funny the last two days, that’s why I want to get away. That’s why I been bothering you about the car” (124).
Tom who seems to have a realization tells Wilson “I’ll let you have the car” with this statement it tells us that Tom is ending his affair. When the group goes up to the Plaza room they open the windows and hear the wedding music down below, Jordan remarks “Imagine marrying anybody in this heat! (127) and Daisy responds “I was married in the middle of June” (127). Daisy continues to talk about her wedding to Tom with Tom in front of Gatsby and doesn’t care whether or not this conversation would hurt his feelings. When Gatsby and Tom start arguing over Daisy in the hotel room, Daisy becomes bitter and angry. Gatsby tries to get her to admit to Tom that “she only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me” (130).
During this time Daisy sits there quietly and hears Tom’s deceleration to Gatsby “what’s more I love Daisy too.Once in while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time” (131). Daisy when push come to shove can not tell Gatsby that she never loved Tom she finally says “even alone I can’t say I never loved Tom” (133). Tom continues to besmirch Gatsby’s name stating “You let him go to jail for a month over in New Jersey” speaking of someone that Gatsby was his friend, his “drug-store business was just small change, but you’ve got something on now that Walter’s afraid to tell me about” (134).In this one moment we start to see the beginning of the end of Daisy and Gatsby relationship as Gatsby talks to Daisy to defend his name.
“With every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up, and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly” (134). They leave the town to return back home.Nick goes to wait for a cab and finds Gatsby hiding on the outside of the house. Gatsby is waiting to see if Daisy needs him. “I’m just going to wait here and see if he tries to bother her about the unpleasantness this afternoon” (144). Nick offers to go back up to the house and check.
As Nick looks into Tom and Daisy’s home, he sees them together despite having found out about each other’s affairs and the accidental killing of Myrtle, it goes to show that the two will always stay together. Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite of each other at the kitchen table, with a plate of cold fried chicken between them, and two bottles of ale” (145). This is the behavior of two people performing everyday activities. Nick observes that there is an “unmistakable air of natural intimacy” (145) between the two. Tom and Daisy Buchanan both come from old money and want to uphold their public images and no matter what happens they will always show a united front together.
