F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a great American novel, which criticizes wealth in the American dream. Nick Carraway is the narrator who observes characters such as Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom primarily. Jay Gatsby wants the perfect American dream. He has worked most of his life to get the fame and wealth that will impress Daisy Buchanan. Daisy is his love. In Gatsby’s mind, she is the only girl for him. He is so in love with everything about her. Daisy, however, refuses to accept her love for Gatsby and ultimately chooses Tom in the end. Tom Buchanan is an arrogant jerk who cannot seem to relive his glory days as an elite football player. He tries to feel this void with mistresses, one being Myrtle Wilson. Myrtle wants the life that Daisy …show more content…
Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s mistress, desires to be Tom’s wife. She said that her husband, Mr. Wilson, “wasn’t fit to lick [her] shoes” (34). Her dream was to marry Tom so she could be wealthy and live the life Daisy has. Myrtle thinks she is too good for her low-class life and husband. Mr. Wilson is a nice man though who truly cares about his wife enough to where he was willing to forgive her cheating once he found out. He wanted to take her away somewhere far away from Tom so they could save their marriage because he really loves her. However, Myrtle feels trapped and does not want this so she starts running away to find Tom. But her American dream literally kills her in the end when Daisy runs her over in Gatsby’s gaudy car, and she was not able to make it to him. The quote, “It was the man in that car. She ran out to speak to him and he wouldn’t stop.” (159) explains why Myrtle was going out in the street in the first place, to get to Tom, who she thought was inside that car since she saw him in it prior to this event. But Myrtle was never fit for their lifestyle. She spent most of her efforts to blend in with Tom’s crowd, but she always failed because she would overdress or say things that were not normally spoken. The quote, “Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume some time before, and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream chiffon, which gave out a continental rustle as she swept about the room.” (30) displays how Myrtle acted because she envisioned Daisy floating around her and Tom’s mansion like a goddess therefore she found it pertinent to act and dress just like that. But Myrtle did not have everything that Daisy did, nor did she have the proper etiquette like the rich. She tried too hard to fit in that she embarrassed herself because she was unable to pull it off as well as Gatsby did. Myrtle wanted wealth to be like Tom and Daisy, but
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Show MoreMyrtle having an affair on her husband with Tom shows she dreams of having money and being a part of the upper class social group. Myrtle wants the life that Daisy has with Tom, this is clear when they are at the apartment that Tom keeps. Fitzgerald shows Myrtle as being jealous of Daisy because when Tom gives her a puppy as a gift she talks about Daisy, Tom says sternly never mention my wife again.
Myrtle creates a drama scene to make sure that Tom is what she wants. She is not completely sure that she wants Tom, but to make sure, she makes a drama scene by being jealous. For example, when Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby went into town, she saw them driving the car and she watched Tom from a distance as she saw the car coming up. Myrtle
wilson's love for myrtle is very real, but her love for him isn't, she takes him for granted because he lives in valley of ashes and because he's a greasy mechanic. for an example early in the book when tom takes Nick carraway to the valley of ashes to see Mr. Wilson he ends up seeing Myrtle who he originally planned to see and while Mr.wilson's goes to get drinks she secretly talks to tom about the affair and moving together in an apartment in new york. She’s taking him for granted because he is oblivious to what's going on. Even though they are both lower class she feels that she is better than him, and thinks she can do anything behind his back because he doesn't know better, she doesn't love him. In chapter 2 Myrtle stated that “ married him because I thought he was a gentleman...
The theme of carelessness represented by Myrtle Wilson, Tom Buchanan, and Daisy Buchanan is crucial for the development of the plot of this novel. Myrtle Wilson is a prime example of carelessness within the novel. She knows that Tom is a married man, and is very violent, yet, she continues to see him. Myrtle is focused on what
Knowing that Daisy is the true reason behind Myrtle 's death tom did not want to put her in harm 's way because she was his wife and person he wanted to spend his life with. Tom could not bare to go through what george was going through so he lied to protect his love, Daisy. Love was not the only motivator for action, there was also money. Money was a motivator for action for many characters throughout this novel, but the person most driven by money was the Great Gatsby himself. James Gatsby, or Jay Gatz was not wealthy growing up like every other person he surrounded himself with.
What she doesn't understand, in any case, is that Tom and his companions will never acknowledge her into their circle. (Notice how Tom has an example of picking lower-class ladies to lay down with. For him, their frailty makes his particular position considerably more prevalent. Strangy, being with ladies who seek to his class improves him feel about himself and enables him to sustain the dream that he is a decent and imperative man.) Myrtle is close to a toy to Tom and to those he speaks to.
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.
Just like Daisy, Myrtle chooses money over love. She cheats on her husband George with Tom. Myrtle was a woman from the lower class who desired to be a part of the higher class. Tom spoiled Myrtle and gave her the lifestyle she always wanted. She belittles her husband and talk bad about him because he is not at the top of the social ladder where Tom is.
Fitzgerald in the novel, uses careless individuals who would destroy everything and everyone and yet still manage to retreat back to their money. Daisy Buchanan, the ‘golden girl’ is rather dishonest and deceitful throughout the novel. As she starts having her affair with Gatsby, she creates unrealistic expectations in Gatsby head about their future together. As Gatsby is having drinks at the Buchanan’s, Tom leaves the room and Daisy kisses Gatsby and declares, ‘I don’t care!’ At this point, the audience realizes that Daisy is and always was in love with Gatsby and that she was prepared to leave Tom.
Myrtle replies with, “I’ll meet you by the news-stand on the lower level.” (Fitzgerald 30). This is explaining how Myrtle wants to go see how he lives and wants to be with him. She doesn’t want to be with George anymore. Although Tom makes time for his multiple affairs while being married to Daisy, he does not take the time to keep Daisy
The actions Tom takes near the end of the story show how hypocritical Tom really is. For some reason, Tom is irritated that Gatsby and Daisy seem to have feelings for each other, but his affair with Myrtle is completely fine with him. To Tom, there is nothing wrong with him cheating on Daisy, but Daisy wanting to be with Gatsby is a horrid thing, even
‘I want to get one of those dogs,’ she said earnestly.” suggests Myrtle enjoys spending money (Fitzgerald 27). When she snuck off with Tom, she lived a lavish lifestyle because he has the money to support it. Could this be the reason why she was in a relationship with him? She was married to George, who was a deranged and penniless soul who owned a garage in the Valley of Ashes, “a certain desolate area of land… where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens”.
Finally, these women proved to be fairly similar in their particular role in life to achieve happiness. Myrtle desired to live the same life that Daisy did: she wanted a life full of money. Myrtle lived her dreams in the small apartment that Tom kept for them in New York. When Myrtle changed her dresses, at the same time she was also changing her ‘fake’ characters. In some way, she achieved her goal, she ‘reached her dream’ for an afternoon, a better lifestyle, a life like Daisy 's. There was a big difference between Daisy and Myrtle but one thing was common, their unhappiness.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is a reflection of the American Dream. Written in 1925, the book tells the story of a man named Jay Gatsby, whose main driving force in life is the pursuit of a woman called Daisy Buchanan. The narrator is Gatsby’s observant next-door neighbor, Nick Carraway, who offers a fresh, outsider’s perspective on the events; the action takes place in New York during the so-called Roaring Twenties. By 1922, when The Great Gatsby takes place, the American Dream had little to do with Providence divine and a great deal to do with feelings organized around style and personal changed – and above all, with the unexamined self .
Myrtle was a “gold-digger”, but she also believed that he would genuinely love her and pick her over Daisy, even though Tom gave no indication of doing so. Like Daisy, breathed out wealth, Myrtle had breathed out vitality and sensuality, hoping for Tom to chose her as his love and for him to give her riches and luxury. As for Daisy, much like Myrtle, was also chasing both money and love, at different points in her life. Daisy, initially wanted love, and she displayed that, by first waiting for Gatsby and then once again when she was newly married with Tom. Over time, like with Myrtle, this dream of love evolved to of riches further on in her life.