Daisy is read as more victim than victimizer due to her position between which forces?

• A. Cruel power and depersonalization
• B. Wealth and youth
• C. Love and obligation
• D. Freedom and constraint

Answer: (A)

Daisy is read as more of a victim than a victimizer because she is caught between two overwhelming pressures in her world: cruel power and depersonalization. Cruel power refers to the way Tom and the social system exert control over her—men in her circle wield authority, and a wife is expected to stay within the marriage and conform to male dictates. Depersonalization is the effect of a wealth-driven, status-conscious culture that treats people as symbols or objects—their value lies in appearance, pedigree, and how they fit into the social machine—rather than as fully autonomous individuals. Put together, these forces strip Daisy of true agency: she navigates life within a web that rewards her for beauty and wealth but denies her personal autonomy. That combination makes her more a product of the system than a decisive shaper of events, which is why this option best captures why she’s seen as a victim. The other choices miss that specific dynamic—wealth and youth, or love and obligation, or a generic freedom/constraint tension—by focusing on traits or personal motives rather than the structural forces at work.