When dreams become a reality, it is never what you expect. Gatsby’s dream now had a possibility of being true he had Daisy, but not the Daisy he had dreamt about. Daisy falls short of Gatsby’s expectations it is quite obvious, that is not going to stop him from obtaining his dream. Gatsby looks up to the American dream and follows it so he can be the picture perfect man that Daisy desires. He cares a lot about how people see him, and his appearance towards others. When he throws his parties, he wants to prove that he is no longer James Gatz but indeed Jay Gatsby. There are many reasons for one to try and prove themselves to others but most are societal pressures. Society is pressuring the outcasts to desire what they cannot have. The desire
Myrtle is materialistic, and she does not appreciate how George couldn’t afford his own suit to get married in. She looks at Tom as someone who can afford to buy their own suit not just for his wedding but every party. Myrtle is attracted to not only Tom’s appearance but his money as well. Myrtle describes the first time she met Toms as, “He had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes and I couldn't keep my eyes off him but every time he looked at me I had to pretend to be looking at the advertisement over his head.” Myrtle is willing to ruin everything she has in life even though it may not be much, for a man who only wants her for her body. She believes that Tom is the ideal picture perfect man that represents the advertisement of the American Dream. Myrtle is considered to be lower class, as she doesn’t have a lot of money. People who are upper class are the ones that have money, drive fancy cars, and have nice, big houses. Myrtle isn’t one of those people, but desires to be one of them. This later on causes destruction, and destroys Myrtle. It also destroys Gatsby, neither one of them get what they thought the American Dream would give them, love, money, success, popularity. It all just an invasive illusion that will not come
Gatsby’s true dream is made abundantly clear throughout the entire text; winning Daisy back and reigniting the flaming love they once had. Gatsby’s dream of having Daisy divides him from his power at one critical point in the text, “Then I turned back to Gatsby-and was startled by his expression. He looked-and this is said in all contempt for the babbled slander of his garden-as if he had ‘killed a man.’ For a moment the set of his face could be described in just that fantastic way” (134). As Gatsby is arguing with Tom over Daisy and whom she loves, he loses himself to his temper and emotion. He embarrasses himself and soils the image of himself that he's built up for others to see, and loses his perceived power. Gatsby also shows a lack of personal integrity, esteem, and power when he requests for Daisy to say she never loved Tom at any point in time, such as when he says, “‘Daisy, that’s all over now,’ he said earnestly. ‘It doesn’t matter any more. Just tell him the truth-that you never loved him-and it’s all wiped out forever’”
Myrtle Wilson came from a working class family with a low social standing. Due to her family’s lack of money, Myrtle’s options were limited to marrying men of equal or lower economic status than herself. As a result, Myrtle married George Wilson, a poor car mechanic. In her relationship with George, Myrtle lacked control due to her status as a woman and was thus forced to listen to her husband. However, because of her lower status, Myrtle did learn to use her physical attributes to her own advantage. In other words, Myrtle knew how to exaggerate her physical beauty in order to attract men such as Tom Buchanan; who would pay her with money and expensive gifts in return. Thus, “there is a clear connection between the material disadvantages” Myrtle faced and her lack of morals; given “the paucity of her allotment of the fundamental decencies” (Voegeli). In other words, because of her lack of economic backing, Myrtle Wilson grew up as a woman of lower class with less options in life; which limited her social power and drove her to act unlike any high class lady. Thus, Myrtle’s only option for increasing her status was through material services such as her relationship with Tom Buchanan. All in all, Myrtle Wilson’s economic status limited her to the life of a low class woman and her power others in her
Gatsby’s explanation of this dream focused on money and social status. He has always yearned for this, even when he was a child. Fitzgerald frequently emphasises Gatsby’s desire, throughout the entirety of this novel. Though, Fitzgerald accentuates this desire when Nick discovers the truth of Gatsby’s past. During this elucidation, Nick explains that “his [Gatsby’s] parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people-his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all.” (Fitzgerald, 98) This shows the reader Gatsby’s lifelong determination for wealth and power. Even in his adult life, he strives for more than what he has. In John Steinbeck’s essay, he explains that “we [Americans] go mad with dissatisfaction in the face of success” (Steinbeck, 1) This is exactly how Gatsby feels, he is not content with his success, the amount of money he has, or the height of his social status and is constantly wishing for more than he has. Though, once he meets Daisy he no longer strives for wealth, but rather for her. As shown in this novel, even though Gatsby has achieved all he had wanted when he was growing up, he will not be content until he is able to call Daisy his
When the book begins, it is assumed that his dream is fortune and “fame,” but as the book continues, it reveals his dream is love. He has a love, Daisy for many years, she is the reason he lives where he does and has the parties he has, just to impress Daisy. Daisy never even showed up to one of his parties until the end. Gatsby bought a big house right across the river from Daisy’s house and and throws extravagant parties to get her to come, all he wants was love. Although he never truly achieves it, he is able to work hard to try to achieve it. That is a part of the american dream, it may not be attainable and Gatsby might be working hard for something that just is impossible for him to achieve . “―I thought of Gatsby‘s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy‘s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could barely fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night” (p. 180,
In the beginning, Gatsby was a poor army boy who fell in love with a rich girl named Daisy. Knowing from their different circumstances, he could not marry her. So Gatsby left to accumulate a lot of money. Daisy, not being able to wait for Gatsby, marries a rich man named Tom. Tom believes that it is okay for a man to be unfaithful but it is not okay for the woman to be. This caused a lot of conflict in their marriage and caused Daisy to be very unhappy. Gatsby’s dream is to be with Daisy, and since he has accumulated a lot of money, he had his mind set on getting her back. Throughout the novel, Gatsby shows his need to attain The American Dream of love and shows his determination to achieve it. You can tell that Gatsby has a clear vision of what he wants when Nick says, “..he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I gla...
Same Goal, Different Route in The Great Gatsby A more thorough investigation of The Great Gatsby is necessary to uncover a well-disguised theme by Fitzgerald in this work. Upon a simple read through one would probably not notice the great similarities of Jay Gatsby and Myrtle Wilson, but the two characters seemed to have the same agenda for their lives. While Gatsby took the route of acquiring money at all costs to join the upper class of society and to be acceptable in the eyes of a woman, Myrtle chose to make her way up in society at the cost of her marriage by attaching herself to money. The underlying question is who had the most success. As a young man, Jay Gatsby was poor with nothing but his love for Daisy. He had attempted to
His American Dream was to repeat the past and be reunited with Daisy but had no idea that his past was already far behind him. He perceived a debt of lies just to fit in with Tom’s social class. Fitzgerald never let Gatsby reach his dream because he never realized that if he truly loved Daisy he’d let her decide if she wanted to be with him and back out of her marriage, but he didn’t. Gatsby only thought about what was best for him, not what was best for him and Daisy. Even though Tom was a swindler didn’t mean he didn’t have a spiritual attachment towards Daisy, even when Tom ran off to have his little sprees he always returned back to her.(132). Gatsby just wants Daisy because she a shimmering thing that’ll look good on his arm, something like a trophy he could show off. He’s too haunted by his past to give it up, he actually thinks repeating his past would be an accomplishment to him but in reality moving on with his life would’ve been his biggest achievement and that’s why he couldn’t achieve his ultimate dream.
Like the author Garrison Keillor once said “ I believe in looking reality in the face and denying it” ,but in this tale , isn’t very wise. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, some of the character are in disillusionment, but the one that is constantly in it is Jay Gatsby.Although, people can do this, Gatsby tries to recreates the past and never considers Daisy’s reality.Through Gatsby’s choices, Fitzgerald displays his argument that people should accept reality .
Gatsby is a dreamer, he dreams that one day he and Daisy will be able to be together once again. To achieve this dream, Gatsby has made himself a rich man. He knows that in order to win Daisy back, he must be wealthy and of high social stature. Gatsby is rich, has a beautiful mansion, nice things, things like shirts “They’re such beautiful shirts. . . It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such-such beautiful clothes” (pg.98).Gatsby believes his dream will come true because of all the money and nice things he has.
The Great Gatsby has the large idea of the "American Dream" and emphasizes the different social classes of the 1920s. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the contrast in the different settings of East Egg, West Egg, and The Valley of Ashes to show the theme of social class and to expose the false reality that the "American Dream" presents upon society and its morals. Illusion vs reality was shown in The Great Gatsby through the false imagery in which the characters portray themselves. Tom deceives others about his status with wealth and love while, Daisy misleads Gatsby about her never-ending love for him. Jay is equally deluded about the status of his relationship with Daisy while, keeping a facade about his double life which ultimately lead to destruction.
Nick presents this quote while speaking of Gatsby’s unwavering obsession with Daisy. Gatsby has not fallen in love with Daisy, but instead finds love in his blinded image of passion and romance. The concept of being in a relationship with Daisy has thoroughly consumed his thoughts, actions, and being to a point where his perception of the world is off-balance. Gatsby seeks a utopia of love, yet the harsh realities of life will never grant him his sole yearning.
Myrtle was born in and lives in the lower, working class, which is why she is used a direct representation of the lower class by Fitzgerald. Myrtle is a woman who lives in the “valley of ashes” in the book, which is supposed to show her poverty. She always thinks that she is better than the lower class and dreams to escape it. There are two ways she plans on escaping it: through her relationship with Tom or through actual hard work. These both seem to the reader like ways that might possibly be successful for Myrtle to complete her dream. When the character is first introduced as Tom’s mistress, it appears as though this relationship might actually go somewhere serious and this might be her escape route when it says that they would “get a divorce” from their current spouses “and get married to each other right away” if it were not for Tom’s wife who “[doesn’t] believe in divorce” (33). This builds the expectation that Myrtle might actually have a way out of the lower class, which heightens the situational irony at the end of the novel. Another thing that builds hope for Myrtle is her hard work and “vitality that [is] so remarkable in the garage” (30). This makes the reader think that by pumping gas and working hard she might actually make it out of the lower class. Both of these possibilities are destroyed when “her life [was] violently extinguished” when she gets hit by a car, ironically driven by Daisey (137). This is such a tragic turnaround that no one expects it, which is how Fitzgerald uses situational irony to make his readers realize the falsehood of the American dream. Fitzgerald wants his readers to snap out of their own dreams in believing that they can do anything they dream of. Gatsby also comes out of poverty, he also is used to represent the lower
Myrtle’s perception of reality is blurred. She fails to recognize her social standing as someone of the lower class, and instead brings upon a self lead pretentious charade that she is of the upper class. She has an acquired habit of stating that various aspect in her life are under her expectations. She insists that she only “married him because (she) thought he was a gentleman”, and that he “fit to lick ...
...be who they want to be. Tom is completely different around Myrtle and Daisy. He knows he can be more dominant around Myrtle since she is poor. He knows he cannot be that way towards Daisy since she comes from money herself. The idea of the American dream is totally destroyed in The Great Gatsby because of the way the characters interact in the story.
At first glance, The Great Gatsby is merely a classic American tragedy, portraying the story of a man's obsession with a fantasy, and his resulting downfall. However, Fitzgerald seems to weave much more than that into the intricate web of emotional interactions he creates for the reader. One interesting element is the concepts of greatness each has. For Daisy, it lies in material wealth, and in the comfort and security associated with it. Daisy seems to be easily impressed by material success, as when she is touring Gatsby's mansion and seems deeply moved by his collection of fine, tailored shirts. It would seem that Tom's relative wealth, also, had at one time impressed her enough to win her in marriage. In contrast to that, Gatsby seems to not care a bit about money itself, but rather only about the possibility that it can win over Daisy. In fact, Gatsby's extreme generosity gives the reader the impression that Gatsby would otherwise have never even worked at attaining wealth had it not been for Daisy. For Gatsby, the only thing of real importance was his pursuit of Daisy. It would seem that these elements are combined, too in the character Myrtle.