Divorce in the 1920s was an uncommon occurrence and carried with it a heavy stigma. Since divorce was so uncommon, many spouses did not have a way out of their marriages, leading to impetuous decisions and often dire consequences. F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates the consequences of this social norm in the novel, The Great Gatsby, with the marriages of Tom and Daisy; and Myrtle and George. Fitzgerald uses Tom and Daisy’s marriage to depict how the stigma of divorce can lead to problems between spouses. One such problem that arises from this norm—people end up feeling jealous of others—leads to many arguments and disagreements. After Tom finds out about Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship, he confronts Gatsby, which leads to them having a full-blown …show more content…
“‘She never loved you, do you hear?’ [Gatsby] cried. ‘She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!’” (130). Gatsby takes it so far as to force Daisy to “tell [Tom] the truth—that you never loved him—and it’s all wiped out forever” (132). Gatsby desperately wants to return to the past where Daisy only loved him. In retaliation, Tom says “Why—there’re things between Daisy and me that you’ll never know, things that neither of us can ever forget” (132). Although the cause of this argument seems to involve Tom and Gatsby fighting over a woman they both love, Fitzgerald uses this argument as a representation of the potentially milder consequences of the stigma of divorce. Daisy knows about Tom’s affair with Myrtle Wilson but has no choice but to remain in the marriage, as divorcing Tom would ruin her image. She feels her only way to escape lies in running away with Gatsby. On the surface level, the cause of this disagreement seems to involve Tom loving Myrtle, or Daisy wanting to run away with Gatsby; however, Daisy feeling trapped in her marriage and not having a way out ultimately leads to …show more content…
Fitzgerald uses Myrtle Wilson’s death to demonstrate how feeling trapped in an unhappy marriage can lead to extreme consequences, such as death. Fitzgerald first writes about Myrtle’s unhappy marriage with George when Nick meets Myrtle for the first time. “‘I married him because I thought he was a gentleman,’ she said finally… ‘The only crazy I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake’” (34-35). Fitzgerald reveals that Myrtle regrets marrying George and decides to have an affair with Tom. Similar to Daisy, Myrtle cannot divorce George because of the shame that would ensue. Myrtle sees cheating on her husband with Tom as the only way to escape from her unhappy marriage. However, George finds out about Myrtle’s affair and locks her up. “‘I’ve got my wife locked in up there,’ explained Wilson calmly. ‘She’s going to stay there till the day after to-morrow, and then we’re going to move away’” (136). After George traps Myrtle in a room, she now not only feels emotionally trapped in her marriage but also trapped physically in a room as well. Myrtle manages to escape from her marriage by having an affair with Tom, but she ends up physically trapped in a room by her husband. Naturally, Myrtle tries to break out and run away, and “she rushed out into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting—before he could move from his door the business was over…where Myrtle Wilson, her
Tom soon becomes aware of this relationship, and that Daisy may leave him. To stop this possibility he confronts Gatsby about his past, revealing that everything Gatsby had mentioned about his past was fictitious. Unchanged by these accusations, Gatsby ideally expects Daisy to confess to solely loving him, although she admits that she had not only loved Gatsby, but Tom as well, “‘I love you now[Gatsby]--isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.’ She began to sob helplessly.
When Tom confronts Gatsby about the affair he tells him that ,“Your wife doesn’t love you,” and that “she’s never loved you. She loves me.” (Fitzgerald 130). Shortly after Daisy confesses to Gatsby saying, “I did love him once (Tom)—but I loved you too”(Fitzgerald 132). Even after this confession he still manages to convince himself that Daisy’s marriage “‘In any case’...
Her husband Tom is having an affair with another woman Daisy doesnt know but of course, has her ways and knows what happened. Daisy and Gatsby have had a past history of being in love but it doesn't end up working out. But later they came together and showed the love they have for each other hasn't gone away. “Can’t repeat the past?…
Later associating Myrtle and George’s relationship, Fitzgerald falls in love with a woman named Zelda and is informally engaged to her, but she declines to marry him due to his financial instability. As the realization finally kicks in about their upcoming marriage, Myrtle later says, “I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in, and never told me about it” (Fitzgerald 27). Myrtle becomes disappointed with George’s lack of social status and wealth, and realizes that she has made the mistake of marrying for love, not money. She eventually turns to Tom, who is much wealthier than George, and has an affair to feel better about her stifled marriage.
Jasen Hurley Ms.Battista Junior English Accelerated 3 February 2023 Money Can’t Buy True Love “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life” (F. Scott Fitzgerald). The concept of trying to fit in and the stress of being loved is significant enough to take away one's life. F. Scott Fitzgerald knows how so, as in The Great Gatsby where Jay Gatsby finds the true meaning of love. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald develops Gatsby and Daisy’s pursuit of love as complicated through symbolism and conflict to demonstrate how love can be influenced by external factors.
Gatsby has been trying to get her back for years and he does not want to give her up now. On page 172 of “The Great Gatsby” Fitzgerald wrote “But she and Tom had gone away early that afternoon and taken baggage with them.” After the events of the deaths of Myrtle and Gatsby Tom took Daisy and their daughter away from the conflict. Tom did love Myrtle, but he did like Daisy because unlike Myrtle Daisy has the social class that he likes. As a result Tom and Gatsby both want to protect Daisy, but their ways of doing it are different.
Myrtle is accustomed to living an underprivileged life where feminine power engulfs her, but Tom is too egotistical to allow Myrtle to speak with such authority to him. Similarly, Gatsby’s need for assurance from Daisy pressures her into revealing to Tom that she never loved him (Fitzgerald 132). Deep down, Daisy knows that she truly did love Tom once, but Gatsby’s assertiveness and persistence drives her over the edge to telling Tom that what the two of them shared meant nothing to her. Daisy’s attribute of being a pushover is revealed immensely because she refuses to stand up for herself. Daisy is used to enabling Tom to constantly control all aspects of her life, and that leaves her powerless in society.
Not only had Myrtles been caught cheating, yet her cheating actions had led to the death of her innocent husband, who sought to work hard and provide for her. Due to the affair between Tom and Myrtle, Wilson lost the woman that he loved so much. It is clear the affair between Tom and Myrtle was the reason for Myrtle's death when Myrtle ran into the street, waving her arms to stop Tom, when it was really Daisy and Nick. The quote, “A moment later she rushed into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting”(p. 137) proves the point because it verbally pictures Myrtle running into the street in hopes for Tom to save her.
When Gatsby confronts Daisy about her love for him, Daisy is unable to deny that she didn’t love Tom. She quotes that she “loved [him] now—isn't that enough? I can't help what's past,” (132). Her love for Gatsby causes her to act without thinking. She doesn’t care who she hurts.
Tom’s comment about Daisy and him having many memories that will never go away was intended to antagonize Gatsby because Gatsby regrets not pushing to date Daisy at an earlier time. Daisy says to Tom,”’Even alone I can’t say I never loved Tom,’ she admitted in a pitiful voice. ‘It wouldn’t be true’ Of course it wouldn’t,’ agreed Tom. She turned to her husband. As if it mattered to you’ she said’”(133).
Gatsby looks at daisy as if she is a perfect cut diamond. In fact, he doesn’t even care that she is now married; he just wants his love to be back with him and only him. Gatsby goes as far to try and cut Tom out of the picture. After many affairs together, Jay and Daisy’s love for each other cannot go unnoticed, even to Daisy’s husband, Tom. The not so Great Gatsby made it clear to Daisy that the only way to really love each other was if she admitted that Tom was not a part of her past, but she just could not say the words he was looking
It all happens so fast, and she gets hit by “Tom's car”. This incident causes Myrtle’s demise. One quote from the book says, “A moment later she rushed out into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting — before he could move from his door the business was over”(Fitzgerald 137). Myrtle cares about the affair she has with Tom a little too much, but he just cares about the power he has over women. Deep inside, he doesn’t care about anyone but
After all the time that Gatsby and Daisy have been apart they never seemed to stop loving themselves. Whenever Gatsby would come around daisy would always distance herself from Tom, her husband. He was a very handsome man from old money, making him very wealthy, but nothing could make Daisy love him the way she loves Gatsby. With Gatsby, Daisy, Tom and Myrtle there becomes a problem with the Love situation. There’s cheating involved.
While George is trying to work hard for his dream, Myrtle is slinking around trying to seek fulfillment with a man who isn’t hers. Jordan Baker, a friend of Daisy’s says in chapter one that, “Tom’s got some woman in New York. ”(20) The person they are speaking about is Myrtle, and Tom takes Nick to go meet her the following day. While both Myrtle and George are trying to achieve the American Dream, they both end up falling short; George in his untimely suicide after murdering Gatsby and Myrtle being killed by a moving car.
While Daisy cheats with Gatsby, Tom discovers their affair leading to a confrontation between her two lovers, he voiced, “Go on. He won’t annoy you. I think he realizes that his presumptuous little flirtation is over” (Fitzgerald 135). Tom is confident in his relationship with Daisy even after the confrontation, because of the power he has over Daisy’s well established and comfortable life. After bringing Gatsby down by emotionally manipulating and triggering him throughout their argument, Tom was able to regain the male dominance over his wife and her lover, as well as amplifying the higher role a man has in his family.