Ambitions: Myrtle and Daisy had chased both love and money, at different point in their life. For both of them, it is their ambition and dreams that they seek to fulfill themselves with. Regardless of their backgrounds, they remain the same in their wants towards something they don’t have, or in Daisy’s case, choosing what they want over everything else, regardless of how much they already have of it. Myrtle had married Wilson, not for the money he had owned, as he did not own any, but simply because she “thought that he was a gentleman”. However, Myrtle’s ambition was money, because when Wilson neither produced riches nor at the very least, gave her the love initially wanted, she turned to Tom to receive them both. 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. But the most crucial difference between Myrtle and Daisy lies in the fact that Daisy was capable of seeing that
Do you define your love for someone off of how much you think they love you? In Tom and Daisy’s relationship, they love each other, but Tom repeatedly has sexual interactions with other women. In the beginning of The Great Gatsby, Daisy was in love with Gatsby, but when Gatsby left to go into the military and she met Tom during his absence. The above-average man during this time period was able to have affairs with other women and not get called out for it due to the lack of right women had at this time. The wives of these men would stay because that’s the acceptable option to choose for their social class.
The only thing Myrtle achieves was a changed personality as the narrator Nick Carroway states, “ The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur.” Myrtle did not know how else to obtain the American Dream she believed that if she acted like the rich people of East Egg she would be treated as one. This is not the case as Barry Edward Gross a critic wrote, “In trying to be something she is not, in immersing herself in her blatantly material world, Myrtle loses the best part of herself, her sensuous vitality.” If Myrtle would have stayed herself and not tried so hard people would have liked and appreciated her more, following the American Dream changed her whole perspective on life, giving it a new meaning. It is ironic that Myrtle and Gatsby’s dreams are similar, Fitzgerald did this to prove that the American dream is flawed.
Myrtle says that she regrets marrying such a poor man and how she is above George. As a result of her social class aspirations, she has an affair with Tom Buchanan in hopes of marrying him and thus becoming wealthy. However, later in the book, she runs in the middle of the street thinking that Tom was in Gatsby's car (Myrtle saw Tom in Gatsby's car earlier) but it was actually Daisy and Gatsby in Gatsby's car. Daisy was driving fast and reckless and she then proceeded to hit Myrtle, violently killing her. Therefore, her greed and drive to rise in social class and her idealistic dream of rising in the social ladder led her to have an affair with Tom Buchanan.
“I think it is all a matter of love; the more you love a memory the stronger and stranger it becomes” (Vladimir Nabokov). 2. This quote parallels the way Gatsby built up the memory of Daisy and him for five years. 3.
“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” (Thoreau). The men in The Great Gatsby are not fishing as an outdoor sport, but they are after the same thing, respect. Men take pride in the respect they recieve. A man’s pride is something that is taken very seriously.
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.
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.
Myrtle downright ignores her own husband, “walking through her husband as if he were a ghost” and approaching Tom with a smile on her face (Fitzgerald 25-26). Though Myrtle and her husband have been married for a long time, Myrtle never got the money and status she wanted. As soon as she met Tom, all she could see was the money that surrounded him. In fact, she even changed her clothes around Tom, “attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream colored chiffon, which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about the room” (Fitzgerald 30). Myrtle often tries to come off richer than she is, proven by her various outfit changes in a small party where she wants to “prove herself a woman of Daisy's status through a melange of color, fashion, and commodities” (Goldsmith).
Tom cared more about his affair with Myrtle than his own wife. Neither Tom nor Daisy truly wanted to be in the relationship. George had his life all mixed up not knowing that Myrtle is being unfaithful to him. These instances of dishonesty from all of these characters against each other result in their own twisted realities due to unfaithfulness and dishonesty.
In the beginning, Daisy finds out that Tom, her husband, is having an affair with Myrtle Wilson. Daisy is gradually drifting away from Tom and into Gatsby’s arms. During Tom’s transition, he is having a lack of who he wants, Daisy and Myrtle. His lust for Daisy’s attention and affection becomes obvious when their group travels downtown. First, Tom tries to impress Daisy when Tom asks to switch cars with Gatsby: ‘“Well, you take my coupé and let me drive your car to town’”
The author explains that Gatsby did all in his effort to get better for Daisy, but ended up dying in the midst of it. The author depicts this by stating, “Furthermore, his success obviously doesn’t last – he still pines for Daisy and loses everything in his attempt to get her back” (Wulick). The author also brings in the idea of George and Myrtle Wilson trying to achieve the American Dream. It is mentioned that George wants a better life just as much as Myrtle does. However, Myrtle seeks a better life through Tom and having him buy her materials.
“I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it.” Garrison Keillor, a well known author, storyteller, humorist, radio actor, voice actor, and radio personality, believes in not facing reality by denying it. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows how Gatsby denies the fact that he can’t have Daisy, and Myrtle doesn’t face reality by wanting to be with Tom. Through Jay Gatsby’s and Myrtle Wilson’s behaviors, Fitzgerald agrees that both characters deny reality.
George Wilson, a poor car mechanic had been lucky enough to marry a “stunning women” like Myrtle, and he refused to let her leave. He would have given up a part of his life if Myrtle had left, leaving him with the title of a selfish man. He didn’t care whether or not Myrtle was happy, he just wanted her with him at all times. Tom on the other hand had a different perspective on life, but he still was a selfish man. He had been associated with a numerous amount of affairs, and still felt as though it was Daisy’s fault for her wanting to leave him.
Daisy growing up was wealthy, and when she married Tom, they moved out to the East Egg to live with other rich people who do nothing all day. In The Great Gatsby, it says, “Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money [...] and let other people clean up the mess” (Fitzgerald 170). Daisy’s selfish and careless; she does not care what happens because she has enough money to fall back on. She killed Myrtle but lets Gatsby take the blame; she went to hide away in her house so that she would not be in trouble. Daisy is unhappily married to Tom but, having an affair with Gatsby; Daisy wants the stable, familiar life she has with Tom but, also wants a man that will treat her right and a life that she will enjoy with Gatsby.
In the book The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald portrays and image of love versus infatuation. The relationships between the characters shows the struggle of an emotional connection in a world driven by societal pressures and money. Gatsby’s and Daisy’s relationship with each other is intertwined with each other’s love and lust, and is complicated with their other relationships, such as Daisy’s and Tom’s marriage. Gatsby is the “fool” in love throughout this whole endeavor and his week with Daisy, because of his constant search for love to fill the void in his life that no amount of success can. Gatsby’s complete infatuation with Daisy started out with them meeting five years back, and surfaced into a love affair.