What Are The Similarities Between The Great Gatsby And Daisy's Life

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In both texts, as the characters try to attain wealth and a high status, it negatively impacts their lives. Daisy is lost in materialistic wealth which brings her to the decision of marrying Tom. “She only married you [to Tom] because I[Gatsby] was poor.”(Fitzgerald 137). When Daisy meets Tom, she notices that he is old money and will be able to provide the life she is accustomed to live. She loves having access to Tom’s wealth and lifestyle but she is not content with her marriage. Tom’s affairs drive Daisy to move the family city to city thinking Tom will change but his scandalous habits remain the same. This demonstrates that Daisy’s life changes as there is no happiness within her. She is caught in the idea that wealth will help keep her …show more content…

“The chauffeur¬¬ – he was one Wolfshiem’s protégés – heard the shots…leaves evolved it slowly, trading, like the leg of a compass, a thin red circle in the water.”(Fitzgerald 169-170). Gatsby’s method of gaining money and earning a high stature, brings him to his sorrow and death, not love or happiness. When Daisy finds out how Gatsby earns money, she is speechless and decides to stay with Tom, even though Gatsby takes blame for the death of Myrtle, who Daisy kills. In return of Gatsby kindness, Wilson kills Gatsby, thinking it was him who ran over Myrtle because he has had enough of the rich and spoiled people who think they can get away with their actions. This implies that even though Gatsby does everything in his power to gain wealth and stature to become happy, he does not succeed. Furthermore, Mathilde’s dreams of being wealthy made it impossible for her to love her husband. “…she was finally married to a minor clerk in Ministry of Education…[she lives in an apartment where she notices bad things that] gnawed at her and made her furious.”(Maupassant 208). Mathilde wants to marry a wealthy man so can live to have a good reputation in society but her parents arrange her to marry a low-ranking …show more content…

Mathilde is unable to look beyond the wealth and realize if she loves her husband like he loves her, she could live a better and happy life instead of always dreaming of wealth leading her to misery. Similarly, Daisy is incapable to look past money and understand that if she did not care about money and reputation, she could have a better and grateful life. Both women fail to comprehend that something’s need to be done without thinking about wealth and status. Moreover, Mathilde’s greed for high stature leads to her misery. “ [Matthilde] ‘I lost it’. ‘I brought you another just like it and we’ve been paying for it for ten years now’… [Mme. Forestier] ‘But mine was only paste.’” (Maupassant 217). Mathilde’s achievement of wealth and status have a negative impact on her life as she spends most of life working as a maid to pay off the money that her and Mr.Loisel borrow to replace the lost necklace. When Mathilde finds out the Mme. Forestier necklace was a fake, she realizes if she was paying attention, she would have known that no one lends a real diamond to anyone but she is unable to notice the fake jewelry because she needs it be real. Her dreams of wealth and status lead to her

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