Bear Grylls says that “a man's pride can be his downfall, and he needs to learn when to turn to others for support and guidance”. People possess flaws that are not always obvious and similarly do animals. For instance, the Dodo species is a heavy and slow running bird that becomes extinct because of its flaw of not being a fast runner, thus emphasizing the fact that survival of a species depends on its abilities. Similarly, character flaws influence in Francis Scott Fitzgerald novel The Great Gatsby that Jay Gatsby’s immaturity and the sacrificing mentality, Myrtle Wilson’s greediness and Gatsby’s wealth eventually lead to their downfall.
Firstly, Gatsby’s immaturity causes him to lose Daisy. Tom, Daisy’s husband, knows that she regularly visits Gatsby, but he does not get to know their affair. Thus, Tom provokes Gatsby to say, “your wife doesn’t love you, she [has] never loved you. She loves me” (Fitzgerald 130). Daisy tries to prevent Gatsby from revealing their relationship to Tom, but she fails. This disappoints Daisy and makes her lose faith in Gatsby. Thus, she replies Tom “how could I love him?” (Fitzgerald 132). Gatsby becomes shocked by this incident because he realizes that his childish action has made him lose Daisy. Gatsby should have realized that Tom’s provocation is an attempt to separate him from Daisy. This in turn causes Daisy to side with Tom, revealing how Gatsby’s immaturity leads to his downfall. Furthermore, despite Daisy’s action Gatsby still does not give up his love for her and after the conversation between who does Daisy loves the most, Tom sends Daisy and Gatsby back to Long Island in Gatsby’s yellow car. When they reach the Valley of Ashes, Myrtle runs over their car and dies instantly. M...
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...atsby. In addition, Gatsby also takes the blame of Myrtle’s death in order to protect Daisy, which results in Gatsby’s death. Similarly, Myrtle loses both her self-respect and life because of her greediness. At first, she starts a relationship with Tom to be rich and her overconfidence that Tom loves her more than Daisy leads Tom to hit her. Further, she also tries to run away from her husband, which causes her death revealing how thoughtless she is. Lastly, Gatsby’s wealth leads him to lose Daisy when Daisy comes to realize that Gatsby possesses illegal money. Gatsby wealth also leads him to his death. Gatsby uses his money to throw parties, hoping that he will attract Daisy. Tom realizes this and does revenge on Gatsby by telling George that Gatsby Killed his wife. This concludes and clearly shows how Fitzgerald uses flaws in his novel, The Great Gatsby.
On the last page of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the second to last sentence is left unfinished ending in “And one fine morning --” (180) after alluding to themes used in the beginning of the book. This ending shows three primary characteristics of Gatsby that will eventually lead to his downfall. The first characteristic that Jay, the narrator, mentions is the platonic conception that Gatsby has of himself and, especially, Daisy. Next Jay brings up Gatsby’s longing for Daisy and Gatsby’s need to constantly surround himself with others to combat his loneliness. Finally, Jay mentions Gatsby’s blinding hope for his future adding on to Gatsby’s platonic conception of the world. It is these unfortunate characteristics that lead to Gatsby’s idyllic view of the world. Due to his platonic conception of the world, Gatsby becomes blinded from reason and responsibility to fix his persistent loneliness by taking risks and creating enemies that eventually
Tom had money, Daisy knew this. She acknowledged that his money was inherited and that held the love in their relationship. She found that Gatsby grew up underprivileged, and he was supposed to inherit money from a man by the name of Dan Cody, but that opportunity fell through. Gatsby attempts to depict his life as though he inherited his money, but “even Daisy appears unable to cope with the reality of Gatsby’s lower class background”(W) Everyone that attends Gatsby’s lavish parties realize, “Gatsby is never truly one of the elite—his dream is just a facade”(W). As hard as Gatsby tried, everyone could see through his fabrications and lavish parties, most importantly Daisy. She knew his true background and didn’t love him because of it. She wanted a man whose money was inherited, not earned like Gatsby’s. “Both Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, Daisy's husband, possessed wealth. Gatsby at least used his wealth to seek out beauty and claim it for himself. Buchanan the lecher lacked any larger goals. In the end, Daisy chooses to remain with Buchanan, and Gatsby is murdered by the deranged husband of Myrtle Wilson, Buchanan's mistress, who had been accidentally run down and killed by Daisy. Buchanan serves as Gatsby's executioner; he allows George Wilson to believe that Gatsby had killed Myrtle” (Trask). Since his love for Daisy was steadfast, Jay Gatsby took the blame for killing
Cruelty plays a major part in developing an author’s portrayal of different characters, as well as the connection between these characters and what they represent. As a young writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald grew up in Minnesota, and in many ways his life is paralleled by the background of Nick Carraway, the narrator and a character in his book The Great Gatsby. In this novel, Fitzgerald uses many strategies to develop each character - among these is the cruelty of one character towards another. The most significant act of cruelty in the book is Daisy Buchanan’s role in Myrtle’s death, and her actions following this death. By connecting her to the high class, the author articulates his outlook and attitude towards the ideologies and values of the
She stays with a man who is cheating on her to her complete knowledge because he is an extremely rich man. Daisy has been wealthy her entire life, and she does not want to experience life as any lesser than rich. John T. Gillespie and Corinne J. Naden support Nick’s feeling by writing, “She [Daisy] has no inner resources to direct her life and is thus tossed about by outside influences” (Gillespie and Naden). The point of what Gillespie and Naden are saying is that Daisy is incapable of making decisions for herself that may benefit her wellbeing, therefore she remains in a situation (or a relationship in this case) that is horrible for her. By not leaving Tom, the affair between Myrtle and Tom continues, which has a negative impact on Myrtle. Myrtle’s husband, George Wilson, finds out about the affair and becomes engulfed in anger. He locks Myrtle inside and decides that he and Myrtle are going to move away and get out of New York. After getting into a heated argument at a hotel with Gatsby, Tom, Nick, and Jordan, Daisy and Gatsby are driving past George Wilson’s house, in Tom’s car, where Myrtle is being
Even though at first when they finally got together after all those years and everything seem great and romantic but good things always come to an end. The affair effected Gatsby in his life by having him back the old love he first had for Daisy even hoping for a lifetime future together. His dream is very much vivid about his romantic hopes about Daisy in his mind, “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams, not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion” (95). He seems to be falling deeper in love with her even maybe more than the love she really had for him even though through the end of the chapters her love that she claims to have for him seemed not truly. In New York, the truth comes out more about she feels about Gatsby by being questioned and feeling guilty when Tom gets to the fact that she loves him and not Gatsby but Gatsby rejects his sayings and tells Daisy to say how she truly feel about him. Over all the excitement, Daisy tells how she truly feel about the whole love affair, “I did love him once but I loved you too” (132). It is possible that the leading of Gatsby’s death was caused from Tom’s jealousy of his wife’s confessed love for Gatsby. Tom would had told Wilson that Gatsby was the driver of the car that killed Myrtle and her secret
I grew up with divorced parents whose marriage ended because of lies and an affair. The lies built on top of each other, one lie cover another and another and another. Both partners untruthful about what they knew or what they were doing. Eventually, the lies and unfaithfulness destroyed my parents marriage and damaging further relationships among family members. Just as the lies of Daisy, Tom, and Myrtle within their marriages have a downfall effect on the characters in the book. With Myrtle’s death, caused by Daisy who was so stressed out to find that her husband had discovered her affair with another man, she didn't see Myrtle and she drove back into town. Daisy’s actions ultimately killed Myrtle and furthermore caused destructive actions of Myrtle's husband, Wilson, who then shot and killed Gatsby as revenge. The lies caused the collapse of the characters relationships just as it does in real
“‘He wants to know,’ continued Jordan, ‘if you’ll invite Daisy to your house some afternoon and then let him come over.’” (Fitzgerald 78). This quote demonstrates that Gatsby is trying to see Daisy without Tom so that he can talk to her and get her to be with him instead of Tom. This is Greedy because Gatsby doesn’t care that Tom might love Daisy or that Daisy might love Tom, he just wants Daisy to fall in love with him again. This causes the ruin of Gatsby because Tom tells George that Gatsby is the person that ran over Myrtle. Once George knew who ran over Myrtle, he then went to Gatsby’s house and shot Gatsby before killing himself. Due to Gatsby’s greed, he caused his own death. Greed is a villain because it causes Gatsby to almost ruin Daisy’s marriage and also causes Gatsby’s
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
Tom suspects that Gatsby and Daisy are having a relationship, but has no evidence to prove it. However, whenever Tom would leave the room, Daisy would immediately run into Gatsby’s arms to show her affection. To their dismay, Tom sees this: “She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw” (Fitzgerald 126). This leads to a confrontation between Gatsby and Tom, where Gatsby boldly declares that “Your wife [Daisy] doesn’t love you …She’s never loved you. She loves me” (Fitzgerald 139). Gatsby feels untouchable, and his confidence in Daisy’s love for him allows him to declare this to Tom. However, Tom slowly gains control of Daisy, reminding her of the experiences they shared together. Realizing this, Gatsby becomes desperate, and attempts to force Daisy into saying things she doesn’t believe, but Daisy tells Gatsby the truth: “’Even alone I can’t say I never loved Tom… It wouldn’t be true’” (Fitzgerald 142). Gatsby is delusional because his only thought is proving to Tom that Daisy doesn’t love him, and fails to realize that he is slowly losing Daisy. He is once again so absorbed by Daisy that he fails to realize what is going on around him. Even after Daisy runs over a woman murdering her in cold blood, Gatsby is willing to take the blame for her, and states “of course I’ll say [to the police] I was [driving]” (Fitzgerard 154). Gatsby still loves Daisy after she commits murder, which is a testament to his obsession and delusion over her. Gatsby is willing to go to prison and lose everything because Gatsby still believes that Daisy loves him despite Tom proving
When news of Gatsby’s death was revealed, Daisy “...and Tom had gone away early that afternoon, and taken baggage with them” (Fitzgerald Chapter 9). Blamed for the murder of Myrtle that was caused by Daisy, Gatsby had died in vain. In the end, Daisy left the responsibility on him and betrayed him by leaving with Tom again. “Daisy hadn’t sent a message or a flower” on the day of Gatsby’s funeral (Fitzgerald Chapter 9). This can be seen as Daisy betraying Gatsby because as a lover, who supposedly loved him, she did not do anything to show that she was mourning over his death and showing gratitude that he took the blame for her. As Nick said, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald Chapter 9). Tom and Daisy only cared for themselves. To them, love is nothing without wealth. The lies Gatsby had led to Daisy’s betrayal and broke apart their love in the
A lot of characters in the book lie, cheat, and try to get wealthy. They didn’t realize that they were loosing themselves in their lies. In conclusion secrets can have away of coming out in the end and hurting the people who keep them as well as the people around them. They all kept secrets and once they came out it hurt them emotionally and physically. Daisy kept her relationship with Gatsby a secret away from Tom and Myrtle keeping her secret relationship with Tom away from her husband. That all added up in the end and helped result in the death of Myrtle and the death of Gatsby.
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.
Gatsby, Myrtle and Tom lie to themselves and others through their words and actions. Gatsby and Myrtle attempt to be social climbers; Gatsby loves the idea of Daisy and Myrtle loves the idea of Tom and what he can provide for her. They both try to appear as someone they are not: Gatsby tries to appear as a successful man who comes from a wealthy family while Myrtle longs to appear as an upper class woman. Their lies have tragic results since Myrtle, Gatsby and Mr. Wilson all die needlessly. However, Tom, who seems to be successful, lies because he is selfish and thinks only about fulfilling his personal needs. Clearly, The Great Gatsby demonstrates that deceiving others, for any reason, inevitably leads to tragedy for the individual and others who touch their lives.
The passage in which Myrtle Wilson is killed exemplifies the recklessness of Daisy and Tom. Daisy sees Myrtle running out into the road and at first swerves toward the other car and seems to change her mind and just collide with Myrtle and continue on. Afterwards, Tom and Daisy just pack up and leave, without even attending Gatsby’s funeral. Nick seems to think they used their position in society to escape any mess they had gotten themselves into. Later on in the book, Nick says, "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness." That quote supports the way Daisy and Tom acted with the Myrtle incident. In this passage they retreat back into both their money and carelessness by running away.
Myrtle is, as Daisy, impressed with Tom's wealth and appearance, but, like Jay Gatsby, is stuck in a fantastic, idealized perception of her object of affection. Even when abused and trampled over by Tom, Myrtle continues to adore him, just as Gatsby continues to dote upon Daisy after being obviously rejected by her. As far as ethical considerations, Gatsby tends to prove himself a sincere and caring person, while Daisy and Tom just destroy the lives of two people and then leave town to escape the consequences of their actions.