Letter

Dear Gatsby, I have written this letter to inform you that Tom and I are moving away from East Egg. I know you were under the impression that I was going to leave Tom so we could start a new life together, but the reality is that I do still love Tom. When you asked me to say that I never really did love him, I realized how much I really do still care for him. He is my husband, for a reason after all. With Tom I can have a secure and potentially happy life. You and I could only have ended in disaster and I am glad that it ended before it was too late. It would not be fair for me to leave Tom behind without trying everything in my power to save my marriage. Tom has become accustomed to my presence, and I his. As his wife, who am I to deny him the pleasure of my company, or another chance at love? I am afraid the timing was all wrong when you revealed our affair to Tom. I am a woman of quiet nature and I was not quite ready to let everyone in on our little secret. You told me that you loved me and so I have two last requests of you, Jay Gatsby. In taking the fall for my reckless driving you did me a great service. I only ask that you not let any bad feelings you may harbor over the abrupt ending of our relationship cloud your judgment in letting me move on. Perhaps one day we will meet again, if fate allows it. But until then I ask that you fulfill my second request, do not try to contact me in my new life. I want to start over in my new town, if you can understand that. I don’t want anyone here to know about the tragedy with that poor woman while I was driving. So, you can see how it could be bad for me to be associated with you while you are the prime suspect for the accident. Our brief affair did not turn out nearly as well as planned and I just want to forget about it all. To do that, I need to be far away from you. My new neighbors think Tom and I are just the perfect couple, and I would like things to remain that way. You know how silly I am about my image. It is indeed very important to me, and so in turn I hope it will become important to you as well. Image, is, after all one of the only things a woman can cling to in this life. Thank you for everything, Daisy __ Our group thought it would be interesting to see what Daisy would have said if she had deigned to contact Gatsby about what had happened between them. We chose to further the plot of //The Great Gatsby// by drafting a letter what we think Daisy would have said to Gatsby if she had been able to write him a letter before his death. I used language that I thought Daisy would use if she were writing a letter. I also wanted to show the recklessness of Daisy towards Gatsby and her selfishness so I tried to highlight that by her asking Gatsby to aid her in keeping her secret and leaving her alone when it was completely her fault that he was suspected of killing Myrtle, and ultimately in his death. -Lauren Dow