‘I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.’
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.
– F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby, Chapter 1. Daisy Buchanan’s first words in the novel, spoken to narrator Nick Carraway upon his arrival at the Buchanan residence. But is Daisy’s happiness a lie, merely a performance? Daisy may feel ‘paralyzed’ by being trapped in a loveless marriage that does not give her emotional satisfaction.