In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates a variety of themes such as social class, wealth, greed, betrayal, and the American Dream. Among these, Fitzgerald develops the irony of wealth and social stature, while providing a quick glimpse of American life in the 1920s with the joy and sadness within each societal structure. Fitzgerald organizes his characters into distinct social groups showing how each group has its own set of problems to contend with, leaving a powerful reminder of how wealth cannot be the sole cause of happiness. By creating distinct social classes, old money, new money, and no money, and representing them through the establishment of different living societies such as East Egg, West Egg, and the Valley of Ashes, Fitzgerald is able to demonstrate the message of elite …show more content…
Myrtle Wilson is married to George Wilson, she spends her entirety of the book all the way up until her tragic exit, complaining about how she wants to be as wealthy as her peers. Myrtle and her husband live in the Valley of Ashes. The Valley of Ashes is the place where the working class live and the ashes of the overworked spread over the town like a black blanket. On the outside, Myrtle is portrayed as sporadic and constantly wanting more material possession than she owns. Digging a bit deeper into her character, readers can reach the final conclusion that while continuing to use men to define herself and her value (why she is having an affair with Tom) Myrtle will chose money over love any chance she gets. While her husband George provides them with a stable family income and a place to live, she remains unhappy with how little they make in comparison to the luxurious lifestyles her friends live. Throughout the novel the theme of wealth is seen as a must have, but once you obtain all the wealth you could desire, you are left to question whether the illusion of wealth is all it has added up to
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
In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald emphasizes the demise of the American Dream. Through greed, pursuit of empty pleasures and cynicism many characters throughout the novel realize that life is not always as luxurious as it seems. Based on the East and West egg, both communities live very expensive lifestyles.
People say that "money makes the world go around." It may, but in the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald money is what causes greed and death. The novel is filled with multiple themes but one predominate theme that the author focuses on is immorality. The novel was written in the1920s which was a time that drew away from social and moral values and yearned for its greed and empty pursuit of pleasure. Gatsby, gains his wealth through bootlegging only because he wants to show Daisy his wealth. Sadly, his determination for his love is what gets him killed. The author uses different characters throughout the novel to present his theme. Symbols can also be found in The Great Gatsby. An example would be West Egg which represents the recent rich and East Egg which represents the established upper classes. The West Egg and East Egg symbolize the different social status of society.
(p. 36)” This is such a profound statement because when describing why she was “crazy” in marrying George, Myrtle states in particular that “He borrowed somebody’s best suit” (p. 35). In doing so, Myrtle demonstrates her materialistic and meaningless perspective on love, based solely on appearance; when something is meaningless, one tries to find meaning. In Myrtle’s case, however, she isn’t even seeking meaning, just more. Thus, her sense of desperacy is inevitable.
Myrtle Wilson is known primarily as the mistress of Tom Buchanan and wife of George Wilson. She met Tom while riding a subway train to meet her sister. Tom quickly swept her off her feet and this is where their affair began and where Myrtle became infatuated with Tom. From that day on, she spent her life imagining what it would be like to fulfill her own American Dream and live a rich, pampered life with Tom as the new Mrs. Buchanan. She assures herself and those around her that she is miserable with her current husband, George, claiming: “The only crazy I was was when I married him.” Myrtle also convinces herself that she was born to be above the social class she is apart of, saying such things as: “These people! You have to keep after them all the time!” She appears to have brainwashed
Myrtle is the wife of George Wilson, the poor owner of a garage. She is a thick woman in her middle thirties, who “carried her flesh sensuously, as some women can” (Fitzgerald 18). Myrtle, however, doesn’t care about her husband at all. She is in love with Tom Buchanan, a strong football player who can simply be described as “a hulking specimen” (Fitzgerald 10). This relationship not only majorly impacts the plot, it also reveals a truth about both Myrtle and some people as a whole. Tom is married to Daisy, but is in a not-so-secret relationship with Myrtle. Right before the climax of the book, Tom, Nick, and Jordan arrive at George’s garage in Gatsby’s car. Myrtle, who is locked upstairs, looks down and sees Tom with Jordan and assumes that she is Daisy. This feeling of jealousy overcomes Myrtle and causes her to try and run to what she thinks is Tom’s car when they are coming back from New York City, but she gets hit and instantly killed, causing George to go on a search and end up killing Gatsby along with himself. Before this momentous event, however, a simple truth is revealed about Myrtle. Although she is in love with Tom, he is an abusive man, both to Daisy and to Myrtle. Near the beginning of the book, Daisy brings up that Tom hurt her knuckle, which is now swollen, as a result of being the hulking specimen that he is. Later, he breaks Myrtle’s nose just for repeating Daisy’s name, intensifying this characteristic. This is ironic due to the reason Myrtle says she is with Tom in the first place. When Catherine ask Myrtle why she married George, Myrtle replies “I thought he was a gentleman… but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe” (Fitzgerald 23). She continues to say how she wasn’t any more in love with George than Nick, another figure who isn’t portrayed as flourishing financially. Here the reader starts to see a pattern. Despite Tom’s abusive and brutish personality, Myrtle is in
The both of them had a strictly sexual relationship that nobody knew about. Tom and Myrtle were basically having an affair inside their marriage. In addition to that Myrtle felt the need to disrespect Daisy when the time came, because she wanted to feel like the wife number 1 when she was really side chick number 1. "Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!" (p. 120). In spite of the fact that Tom married Daisy, Myrtle felt jealousy and thought that she should have Tom to herself. She was mad that she didn’t marry Tom. Daisy was the lucky one. Myrtle sees the affair with Tom as a way of forgetting her marriage with George and basically a ticket to possible true love. Tom is spoiling Myrtle with all these gifts of animals and gifts that she couldn’t afford. "I think it's cute," said Mrs. Wilson enthusiastically. "How much is it?""That dog?" He looked at it admiringly. "That dog will cost you ten dollars." At this point, Tom doesn’t really want to give her the dog, because does she deserve it? "Is it a boy or a girl?" she asked delicately. "That dog? That dog's a boy." "It's a bitch," said Tom decisively. "Here's your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it." Tom is starting to have a different type of tone with Myrtle and it has her thinking. For the reason that Tom is spoiling her with all these gifts, Myrtle thinks that Tom wants to do more than have an affair. Tom honestly just loves
In The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald money, power, and the fulfillment of dreams is what the story’s about. On the surface the story is about love but underneath it is about the decay of society’s morals and how the American dream is a fantasy, only money and power matter. Money, power, and dreams relate to each other by way of three of the characters in the book, Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom. Gatsby is the dreamer, Daisy cares about money, and Tom desires and needs power. People who have no money dream of money. People who have money want to be powerful. People who have power have money to back them up. Fitzgerald writes this book with disgust towards the collapse of the American society. Also the purposeless existences that many people lived, when they should have been fulfilling their potential. American people lacked all important factors to make life worthwhile.
She has an affair with Tom Buchanan and often goes with him to visit her sister, Catherine, in Queens. During one of their visits, Nick Carraway accompanies them to Catherine’s apartment. At the apartment, the readers see how Myrtle Wilson changes from a poor wife to an elite socialite. For example, the writer states, “With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur” (Fitzgerald 30). In this quote, as Myrtle escapes from her husband and current life, she pretends to be wealthy and sophisticated as if she were the wife of Tom Buchanan. With the help from Tom, she tries to escape the lower-class life she was born with. However, at the end of the novel, she attempts to flee from her husband and gets hit by a car. Although she died before she could achieve her dreams, her chances of marrying Tom and climbing the social ladder were
Myrtle Wilson, a character from The Great Gatsby, is a perfect example of a woman, who failed to gain America dream. Myrtle is a married woman, who is engaged in the love affair with Tom Buchanan. Myrtle’s character is introduced when Tom and Nick visit her household: “ (…) in the moment the thickish figure of a woman blocked out the light from the office door. She was in middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her flesh sensuously, as some women can. Her face
The area that Myrtle resides in is in a way described as the tenement homes that were dirty and old, the only difference is the location of the two. What I believe Myrtle’s purpose was in this book; is to be the epitome of the lower-class women that were not as fortunate in making smart decisions and they suffered greatly by not achieving their American Dream. (Curell) The critics are quick to point out how The Great Gatsby relates to the American Dream but in Myrtle Wilson’s case the American Dream does not plan in her favor and instead it kills her for even attempting it. The affair between Myrtle and Tom are Myrtle knows that her stature in society is in jeopardy and a tactic that I noticed that she uses to perhaps keep Tom is by buying a dog. In the real world buying a dog is a notion that a couple is soon to be ready for a child. Myrtle in this case was still in competition with Daisy and a way to solidify her future with this affair was to get a dog.
Lathbury states, “Wilson’s dull, self-defensive grief is the embodiment of the sterility of the valley of ashes; lacking a dream, his life itself is a kind of death” (79). This shows how George does not aspire for a goal in his life, a poor attribute, as a person without a goal is more likely to detract from achievement. Additionally, George is unable to cope with the loss of his wife, ending with the death of Gatsby as well as himself. Although George’s poor attributes have an effect on their relationship, Myrtle’s traits also happen to be an issue. Myrtle does not have any feelings for George any longer. When talking about her life, Myrtle states, “‘Well I married him’...I thought he know something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe”’ (34). With emotions like this, any person can see that Myrtle does not like George and instead uses him for the little wealth he makes from working hard in his garage. Myrtle does not like George anymore, making their marriage more of a one-way relationship where George would sacrifice everything for Myrtle, but Myrtle would not give away a single object if it meant saving her
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 first time that the reader catches an insight of Myrtle, Fitzgerald develops Myrtle to be a mere object of Tom's’ desire. Fitzgerald does this to extenuate the fact that Tom will not move on past Daisy to be with her. Tom “got some women” that supposedly is a secret but there is a lack of secretism on Myrtles end seeing as she is now calling during evening meals from “New York” just to talk to Tom. This further proves that she is in need of attention, something her husband can not fully give her at any random moment of the day. Myrtle is willing to express herself even when she’s already married. It reveals that she is deceiving her own husband, who is later mentioned in the novel. This allows for Myrtle to be looked down upon by the reader, it also entails her to be seen as an attention seeker. Again, Fitzgerald appeals to present-day behaviors by allowing Myrtle to be viewed as someone who wants to be showcased. Almost everyone can relate that they’ve wanted attention in their life at some point. This connects Myrtle to the reader's past or current feelings. Fitzgerald uses this to let readers feel compassion for Myrtle which emphasizes all she needs is for someone to properly love her, treat her, and show her what she needs to do to become successful in her
A moment later she rushed out into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting — before he could move from his door the business was over. The “death car,” as the newspapers called it, didn’t stop; it came out of the gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment, and then disappeared around the next bend. Michaelis wasn’t even sure of its color — he told the first policeman that it was light green. The other car, the one going toward New York, came to rest a hundred yards beyond, and its driver hurried back to where Myrtle Wilson, her life violently extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick dark blood with the dust. Michaelis and this man reached her first, but when they had torn open her shirtwaist, still damp with perspiration, they saw that her left breast was swinging loose like a flap,