In the American metropolitan areas during the 1920s, the lavish lifestyles of the American aristocracy led to a decline in moral values among the upper class. The upper class were generally selfish, dishonest, and condescending. Furthermore, these characteristics are demonstrated in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel focuses on the narrator Nick Carraway recounting his experience in Long Island, New York in 1922. Nick Carraway is a friend and a relative of an East Egg couple, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, both of which are the old money. Old money is a group of rich people who inherited their fortunes and possess numerous social connections. Carraway then meets Jay Gatsby, who was in a relationship with Daisy before being sent …show more content…
When the hostility between Gatsby and Tom increases during their conversation in the Buchanan’s house, Tom decides that they will all go to town to diminish the tension. Vehicle represents the status and the masculinity of the owner; hence, most upper class men dislike sharing their vehicles with others. Correspondingly, Tom Buchanan suggests to drive Gatsby’s car to town and sneers “I’ll take you in this circus wagon” (Page 128) in an effort to humiliate Gatsby. While driving to town, Tom stops at Wilson’s garage for some gasoline, and he promotes Gatsby’s car as his to Wilson. At that night, Myrtle Wilson was ran over and killed immediately by a yellow vehicle. Afterwards, George Wilson recognizes that the “death car” was the same one that Tom drove this afternoon. However, Tom explains that he just arrived the scene in a blue coupe and has not seen the yellow car all afternoon, thus proving himself innocent of Myrtle’s death. Moreover, George Wilson discovers an expensive dog leash in Myrtle’s possession. Although Tom bought Myrtle the dog leash, the clueless George Wilson assumes that the driver of the “death car” and Myrtle’s lover are the same person. Wilson reaches conclusion as he believes that Myrtle was familiar with the car’s driver because she was trying to stop the car and talk to the driver. As a result, Tom Buchanan misleads George Wilson to assume that the owner of the …show more content…
Shortly after the Myrtle Wilson’s death, George Wilson speculates that the car owner must be the person who had an affair with his wife and killed her in the car accident. Furthermore, Wilson realizes that Tom Buchanan must know that person because Tom was driving the his car. Thus, Wilson rushed immediately towards Tom Buchanan to discover the identity of the car owner. Upon Wilson’s inquiry, Tom Buchanan reveals that Jay Gatsby is the person that George Wilson is finding. However, Gatsby is innocent because Daisy Buchanan is the person who killed Myrtle Wilson, and Tom Buchanan is the one who had an affair with Myrtle. In addition, Tom Buchanan could have saved Gatsby from death since George Wilson will kill anyone that Tom Buchanan tells him is the person Wilson is finding. “He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn’t told him who owned the car” (page 187) shows that George Wilson is insane at this point, and his only goal is to kill the “death car” owner. Nevertheless, the dishonesty of Tom Buchanan and the absence of investigating the truth because of Gatsby’s affair with Daisy direct George Wilson’s target to Jay Gatsby. In the end, George Wilson kills Gatsby; nevertheless, Tom Buchanan is the one who really killed Jay
Being a good friend sometimes means overlooking the obvious. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel set in the 1920s. It details the story of the narrator, Nick Carraway, an aspiring bondsman who has moved to the West Egg section of Long Island from Minnesota in search of business. Nick is considered a man of "new money." He has established and now manages his own riches. He meets a particularly mysterious man, his neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Through Gatsby, he meets people from the East Egg of Long Island, who are considered to be of "old money," wealth or business that has been inherited through generations. Over time, Nick and Jay become great friends. Nick helps Gatsby learn about himself and his aspirations in life, and vice versa.
Tom knew Myrtle better than any of the main characters. He had met her on a train headed for New York. When the train reached the city, she went with him in a taxi, and their affair began. Tom never made much of an effort to keep their relationship secret. In fact, he almost paraded her around in the presence of his acquaintances. They made frequent trips into New York so that they could be together. Myrtle was Tom's escape from his own life in East Egg. While Daisy provided him with a wealthy, acceptable social image, she was not much more to him than a mere possession. His affair with Myrtle offered him a chance to defy his social expectations. Their relationship was important to him because of this opportunity to escape. When Myrtle died, it shook him deeply, especially because he believed Gatsby had been driving the yellow car. After leaving George Wilson's garage the night of the accident, he managed to drive slowly until he and Nick were out of sight. Then he slammed his foot down on the accelerator, driving much faster. He began quietly sobbing, privately mourning her death. He immediately blamed Gatsby for bringing their relationship to an abrupt halt. "That God damned coward!" he cried. "He didn't even stop his car." His feelings of anger and hurt were greatly intensified by the day spent in New York....
Tom knew that Myrtle was going to be at the shop and he knew she would see Miss Baker, mistaking her for his wife. This is why he didn’t take Daisy in his car, he did not want anyone to actually see Daisy so that when she planned to hit Myrtle with the car nobody would know who she was. After they had got gas, they met up with Daisy and Gatsby at the Plaza hotel. This is when Tom called out Gatsby for his affair with his wife and let out all of his secrets. Even after finding out everything, Tom still had confidence that Daisy was going to stay with him allowing her and Gatsby ride back home together, “You two start on home, Daisy, in Mr. Gatsby's car… Go on. He won’t annoy you. I think he realizes that his presumptuous little flirtation is over,” (Fitzgerald 141). Gatsby had allowed Daisy to drive his car, “.. but of course I’ll say I was , when we left New York she was very nervous and she thought it would steady her to drive… It all happened in a minute, but it seemed to me that she wanted to speak to us, thought we were
The Great Gatsby – For the Love of Money. F. Scott Fitzgerald's most famous novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), is about many things that have to do with American life in the "Roaring Twenties," things such as the abuse of alcohol and the pursuit of other pleasures, including that elusive entity, the "American dream. " Mainly it is the story of Jay Gatsby, told by Gatsby's friend and neighbor, Nick Carraway, a bonds salesman in New York. Three other important characters are Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, and Myrtle Wilson. Nick is distantly related to Daisy, whose wealthy husband, Tom, went to college with Nick.
...by] had [not] once ceased looking at Daisy…he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes” (91). All Gatsby wanted to do was to impress her and to love her, but it seemed as though all she cared about was the size of his wallet. Ultimately, Daisy claims that she loved Gatsby primarily, but she did love Tom once and Gatsby’s daze is ruined by her confession. Additionally, she then allows Gatsby assume full responsibility for killing Myrtle Wilson even though she was operating the car when they hit her which lead to Gatsby’s murder. She did not even have the decency to attend his funeral and she and Tom simply “retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness” and moved away. Gatsby deeply loved Daisy and wanted to believe that she loved him too, but the feeling was never truly reciprocated by her.
She became used to him being unfaithful to her that she suggests to him after leaving him during Gatsby wild party “ and if you want to take down any addresses here’s my little gold pencil” (105). Tom and Myrtle relationship caused problems more in Myrtle life rather than Tom’s because unlike Tom’s wide, Wilson was unaware about her unfaithfulness and reacted way differently by becoming sick. In Nick’s perspective, he explains, “He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically sick” (124). Wilson behaves in way by having her locked in a room until he gets the car to move away but soon enough for jealousy to strike among Myrtle about Tom and his wife which later causes her death. Her death occurred because of the greatly amount of envy she has towards Daisy and her lifestyle with Tom. The feelings that she felt showed upon her by having “…one emotion after another crept into her face like objects into a slowly developing picture” (124). This single small affair between Tom and Myrtle became something bigger than expected by a heart broken husband, dishonesty, and death among a mistress. This crime is much relatable to many affairs in the world that ends really bad divorces and trust issues from the dishonesty from their significant
The Great Gatsby “The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, depicts the vast social difference between the old aristocrats, the new self-made rich and the poor. He vividly interprets the social stratification during the roaring twenties as each group has their own problems to deal with. Old Money, who have fortunes dating from the 19th century, have built up powerful and influential social connections, and tend to hide their wealth and superiority behind a veneer of civility. The New Money made their fortunes in the 1920s boom and therefore have no social connections and tend to overcompensate for this lack with lavish displays of wealth. As usual, the No Money gets overlooked by the struggle at the top, leaving them forgotten or ignored.
The 1920's was a time of great economic prosperity and many people became rich and wealthy. Some people inherited "old money" and some obtained "new money". However, there was the other side of prosperity and many people also suffered the nightmare of being poor. In the novel eThe Great Gatsbyf, Jay Gatsby is portrayed as a wealthy character who lives in a mansion. However, Nick Carraway, the protagonist of the novel and next door neighbour of Jay Gatsby, is an average man who does not have the fortunes that Gatsby has. He is gtoo poorh. Nick Carraway is part of the middle class in society while Gatsby is in the upper class of society.
The car pulled up to Wilson’s garage. Instantly, anger filled my body. Myrtle should be alive. Myrtle should be here. But instead, that man- this man- let her go and get herself killed. I knew who it was. Gatsby. He was one with the yellow car. He was the one driving. God knows, he wouldn’t let Daisy drive.
Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy leads to his death when he allows Daisy to drive his car when they go home from the city. Gatsby was so devoted Daisy that he would not let her take the blame for hitting and killing Myrtle. When no one confessed for the crime, George Wilson started to go from garage to garage trying to find the owner of the yellow car that killed his wife. Eventually, George arrived at the Buchanan residence, where Tom insinuated that Gatsby was the one who was driving the car and who was Myrtle’s lover. While George was at their house, Daisy did not come forward and reveal that she was the one driving the car, letting George believe Gatsby was at fault. Gatsby was shot and killed in his pool by George Wilson the next day as a result of Myrtle’s
George Wilson, who is married to Myrtle, and Tom Buchanan, married to Daisy, are most responsible for Gatsby's death. Wilson went up to Tom asking who owned the yellow car that killed his wife. Tom revealed that it was Gatsby’s car, knowing that Wilson had intentions of killing whoever owned the car, yet Tom didn’t add to the fact that Daisy was driving. Gatsby did have a relationship with Daisy, and Tom knew about it. Tom allowed Daisy to go in Gatsby’s car back to West Egg to prove that he did not care if Daisy and Gatsby were together, had Tom not let Daisy go in Gatsby’s car, both Myrtle and Gatsby would be alive.
George Wilson is the naïve husband to Myrtle Wilson, the woman having an affair with Tom Buchanan, who is the "brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen"(Fitzgerald 16) husband to Daisy Buchanan, the woman whom Jay Gatsby, the main character, is in love with: a very removed yet significant role in the story. Evidently playing the role of the common man, in a story revolving around wealth and possessions, George Wilson is the owner of an auto body shop and is described as a "spiritless man, anemic and faintly handsome"(29). Wilson's common man image helps to further develop the theme of Wilson is deeply in love with Myrtle to a point where he is paranoid of losing her. "`I've got my wife locked in up there,' explained Wilson calmly. `She's going to stay there till the day after tomorrow and then we're going to move away"(143).
Myrtle Wilson takes on the task of gaining social status and wealth in a corrupt way. Myrtle Wilson betrays her husband to climb the ladder of wealth. Tom Buchanan becomes used by Myrtle to acquire glistening mounds of wealth. “Myrtle Wilson does not have many material items. She has a loyal husband, but Myrtle wants everything else… She feels she deserves more; she feels that she deserves more; she feels she deserves Tom, his money, power, and influence” (Dawson). Myrtle Wilson’s intentions become obvious during The Great Gatsby. If Myrtle Wilson wanted love, she could have looked to her husband, George Wilson, who truly loved her. Her dream of wealth, however, dominated her desire of love. Myrtle could have easily ended her relationship with Tom due to his frequent violence if it was simply about love. Myrtle could endure the violence if it meant she could achieve her American
Throughout time women have been written as the lesser sex weaker, secondary characters. They are portrayed as dumb, stupid, and nothing more that their fading beauty. They are written as if they need to be saved or helped because they cannot help themselves. Women, such as Daisy Buchanan who believes all a women can be is a “beautiful little fool”, Mrs Mallard who quite died when she lost her freedom from her husband, Eliza Perkins who rights the main character a woman who is a mental health patient who happens to be a woman being locked up by her husband, and then Carlos Andres Gomez who recognizes the sexism problem and wants to change it. Women in The Great Gatsby, “The Story of an Hour,” “The Yellow Wall Paper” and the poem “When” are
They are three people that are responsible for Jay Gatsby’s death. One of them is directly to blame, since he pulled the trigger. The other four took part in this murder. The one who pulled the trigger was George Wilson. George was really emotional because of his wife’s murder. George really loved his wife, and he was really in grief. George thought that Gatsby was myrtle lover. He said “It was the man in that car. She ran out to speak to him and he wouldn’t stop.”(Fitzgerald159). George thinks that Myrtle knew the owner of yellow car. Since Wilson had found out about the offer, he must have thought that Gatsby was driving the car and ran over Myrtle, when in reality was innocent. George should have found out who was driving the car rather than who own it. George killed Gatsby because of lie told by Tom Buchannan.