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What does Daisy say about Nick?

When Nick arrives at the Buchanans' home in chapter one, he spends some time catching up with his cousin, Daisy, who he hasn't seen for several years.  At dinner, after Tom leaves the table to take a call from his mistress, Myrtle Wilson, Daisy tells Nick, "'I love to see you at my table [...].  You remind me of a -- of a rose, an absolute rose.'"  However, Nick finds such a comment sort of...

When Nick arrives at the Buchanans' home in chapter one, he spends some time catching up with his cousin, Daisy, who he hasn't seen for several years.  At dinner, after Tom leaves the table to take a call from his mistress, Myrtle Wilson, Daisy tells Nick, "'I love to see you at my table [...].  You remind me of a -- of a rose, an absolute rose.'"  However, Nick finds such a comment sort of ridiculous because he is nothing like a rose.  He realizes that she is only "extemporizing," or speaking on the spur of the moment, but he marks the comment because he is affected by the "stirring warmth [which] flowed from her, as if her heart was trying to come out to you concealed in one of those breathless, thrilling words."  Daisy seems to possess a peculiar kind of magnetism.  She can really say or do just about anything she wants -- however untrue or silly -- because she can get away with it.  This "warmth" that she has seems to draw people to her and excuse her lack of sincerity, even when they realize, as Nick does, that she is only "extemporizing" as a result of the moment.

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