Examples Of Myrtle In The Great Gatsby

Myrtle Wilson shows that the American dream of changing social class cannot be achieved by cheating the social ladder through the use of associating oneself with a higher up person.

First is that Myrtle, unlike Tom and daisy, was never born into great wealth or fortune. Instead she was born into the middle class world of blue collar workers and visions of getting ahead in life. In the story, it is shown that Myrtle lives in the valley of ashes which Nick describes as “a desolate area of land” (p.21) as well as a “solem dumping ground” (p. 21). Because Myrtle has never achieved a high social status, she does not know quite how to reach it. However, because she lives in such a dreary place, she has no chance of getting out. She is too accustomed

Some may use Gatsby’s case to argue that a person can change their social class and achieve great amounts of wealth, however Myrtle, never tried to work hard for what she wanted. Unlike Gatsby, Myrtle simply wanted one man, Tom, to do all the work for her. From buying her things, to taking her places, Myrtle made Tom do all the work for her. Myrtle would even call Tom’s phone late at night as stated on page twenty when Jordan told Nick, “Tom’s got some girl in New York… She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time.” It was never clear what Myrtle had called about, but it can be assumed that she did not call to exclaim to Tom how she had bought him a present. In fact she most likely was asking Tom to send her and George more money so they did not have to sell their shop. Myrtle asked Tom for things numerous times throughout the story, so asking for money on the phone would not be too far out of reach. In fact, when driving through the valley of ashes, Myrtle made Tom pull over to a man selling puppies, exclaiming, “I want one of those dogs” (p. 27), which was followed by her saying, “I want to get one for the apartment. They’re so nice for the apartment.” (p.27). Tom eventually broke down, buying her the dog, and the dog wasn’t the only thing he bought for her. As stated, Tom also bought Myrtle an apartment just so they two of them could be alone. Because Myrtle doesn’t work hard for what she gets, she would never make it in the upper class. She expects everything to be given to her, a belief given to her by tom. It is no surprise that her death is caused by her expectation that Tom is driving the yellow car and will stop to pick her up. Instead she is met with the cruel reality that she can’t get what she wants. Myrtle shows that people must work for what they want, and by just using a person of