The Contribution of George and Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is about the rise, the promise and the failure of American Dream. Some minor characters such as George and Myrtle Wilson have contributed to the development of the novel by providing us a contrast of their society that they are living in to the richer society in Long Island as well as a contrast of ideas in terms of modern American Dream. First of all, George and Myrtle Wilson are husband-and-wife who lives in the Valley of Ashes, as depicted in Chapter 2. They are the by-products of the corruption of the American Dream. As a result, their lives – bordered on hardship – can only be described as sustainable. In contrast, people such as Tom and Daisy Buchanan and Gatsby are the ones who have benefited from the corruption of the American Dream. This is clearly portrayed in Chapter 1 and Chapter 3 respectively on the lavish, excessive and careless lifestyle and the grandeur of residence that the Buchanans and Gatsby possess. The Wilsons’ barely sustainable lifestyle is clearly shown in the beginning of Chapter 2 whereby the type of place that they are living in is described as “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens and the interior of their house is depicted as unprosperous and bare. On the contrary, the Buchanan’s house is narrated as “a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion overlooking the bay, the lawn started at the beach and ran towards the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walls and burning gardens”, while Gatsby’s house is illustrated as “an imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower o... ... middle of paper ... ...ney and fame as she struggles to escape from her poor vicinity. However, this is not done through the hard and honest way as she chooses to associate herself with the rich people in an attempt of gaining wealth. The fact that the still physically-intact marriage of the Wilsons symbolises that both the corrupted and true values of American Dream are co-existing together. By pairing up two people with opposite personality as a couple, Fitzgerald has allowed us to understand and compare the ideas of American Dream through the Wilsons’ personality. To conclude, Fitzgerald has intelligently given various important roles to certain minor characters such as George and Myrtle Wilson so that comparisons and similarities can be made out and understood. This will allow us to make our own judgement and most importantly, to fully understand the underlying themes and intention.
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.
The Great Gatsby is a well written and exemplary novel of the Jazz age, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald desired writing his books about the roaring twenties and would explain what happened during that time frame. The majority of the characters in The Great Gatsby cared more about money, power, and having a good time then the people in their lives. This lack of caring for others resulted in the hardships the characters faced. Especially, Jay Gatsby was one of these cruel characters.
From his lavish parties to expensives cars, Gatsby embodies the American dream because he aims to constantly aims to construct a satisfactory life that includes Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby grew up on a desolate Minnesota farm along with his unwealthy parents with the desire to thrive. Even as a child, he held the mentality of “improving his mind”(173), which evolved into an undying obsession with Daisy. The naïve dream that Gatsby has a child ultimately becomes his fatal flaw, as it causes him to ignore the evil realities of society. In his later life, meeting Daisy, who lived superior to his penniless self, causes him to focus towards gaining money for her
As depicted by Scott F. Fitzgerald, the 1920s is an era of a great downfall both socially and morally. As the rich get richer, the poor remain to fend for themselves, with no help of any kind coming their way. Throughout Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the two “breeds” of wealthier folk consistently butt heads in an ongoing battle of varying lifestyles. The West Eggers, best represented by Jay Gatsby, are the newly rich, with little to no sense of class or taste. Their polar opposites, the East Eggers, are signified by Tom and Daisy Buchanan; these people have inherited their riches from the country’s wealthiest old families and treat their money with dignity and social grace. Money, a mere object in the hands of the newly wealthy, is unconscientiously squandered by Gatsby in an effort to bring his only source of happiness, Daisy, into his life once again. Over the course of his countless wild parties, he dissipates thousands upon thousands of dollars in unsuccessful attempts to attract Daisy’s attention. For Gatsby, the only way he could capture this happiness is to achieve his personal “American Dream” and end up with Daisy in his arms. Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy is somewhat detrimental to himself and the ones around him; his actions destroy relationships and ultimately get two people killed.
Many of the occurrences in The Great Gatsby produced far-reaching effects for several of the characters. Of these occurrences, one of the most influential and important incidents was the death of Myrtle Wilson. While her life and death greatly affected the lives of all of the main and supporting characters, her death had a very significant effect on the lives of Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald focuses on the lifestyle of a group of people who will do anything to accomplish their goals. The characters go through different changes that come to affect their life decisions and will cause them to lie, sacrifice and feel lonely in their lives. They live the American dream and have power but chase a dream that would affect and change their lifestyles. They judge and discriminate against one another not knowing they have a certain symbol in common in their lives. Their desire to accomplish their goals became a type of new life to the characters.
In the novel, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author establishes materialism and wealth as a corruption to the American dream. The American dream embodies the idea of self-sufficient, honest and intelligent individual with a happy successful life. It is also the idea of the pursuit of happiness but Daisy Buchanan a wealthy aristocrat goes after the empty pursuit of pleasure, portraying her character as a disillusionment of the American dream and how much it lost its good values. The wealthy are blinded by all their money, such as the Buchanan’s who forget the real idea of the American dream leading them to having no morals or values. The money gives them the ability to walk all over others, careless of whom they hurt and affect. Daisy Buchanan represents the corruption of the American dream; her careless actions resulted in destroying the ones around her. Although Daisy appears to be full of light and kindness, she is truly self-centered. Fitzgerald develops his social commentary on the idea of wealth corrupting morality and the American dream through the lack of values that Daisy embodies.
Dubbed the ‘roaring 20s’, because of the massive rise in America’s economy, this social and historical context is widely remembered for its impressive parties and sensationalist attitude. However, Fitzgerald also conveys a more sinister side to this culture through numerous affairs, poverty and a rampage of organised crime. By exposing this moral downfall, Fitzgerald reveals to the responder his value of the American dream and his belief of its decline. As a writer, Fitzgerald was always very much concerned with the present times, consequently, his writing style and plot reflects his own experiences of this era. So similar were the lives of Fitzgerald’s characters to his own that he once commented, “sometimes I don't know whether Zelda (his wife) and I are real or whether we are characters in one of my novels”. In 1924, Fitzgerald was affected by Zelda’s brief affair with a young French pilot, provoking him to lock her in their house. A construction of this experience can be seen in the way Fitzgerald depicts the 1290s context. For example in ‘The Great Gatsby’, there are numerous affairs and at one point, Mr Wilson locks up his wife to pre...
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a timeless and universal classic. In the novel, Fitzgerald underlines that most people can not see reality and drift through their own dreams and illusions. Fitzgerald suggests that most people lack insight and only see things for their face value. The details, characters, setting, symbolism, and imagery all contribute to the theme of the novel. The Great Gatsby is a classic because its issues can be related to the past and the present day societies. Today's conflicts at the beginning of the twenty-first century and yesterday's conflicts in the 1800's compare with those of Fitzgerlad's era.
F. Scott Fitzgerald brilliantly wrote many novels as well as short stories. One of his best known works is The Great Gatsby. In the novel, the main character Jay Gatsby tries to obtain his lifetime dreams: wealth and Daisy Buchanan. Throughout the story, he works at achieving his goals while overcoming many obstacles. Fitzgerald’s plot line relies heavily on accidents, carelessness, and misconceptions, which ultimately reveal the basic themes in the story.
On one level The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald comments on the careless gaiety and moral decadence of the period in which it was set. It contains innumerable references to the contemporary scene. The wild extravagance of Gatsby's parties, the shallowness and aimlessness of the guests and the hint of Gatsby's involvement in crime all identify the period and the American setting. But as a piece of social commentary The Great Gatsby also describes the failure of the American dream, from the point of view that American political ideals conflict with the actual social conditions that exist. For whereas American democracy is based on the idea of equality among people, the truth is that social discrimination still exists and the divisions among the classes cannot be overcome. Myrtle's attempt to break into the group to which the Buchanans belong is doomed to fail. Taking advantage of her vivacity, her lively nature, she seeks to escape from her own class. She enters into an affair with Tom and takes on his way of living. But she only becomes vulgar and corrupt like the rich. She scorns people from her own class and loses all sense of morality. And for all her social ambition, Myrtle never succeeds in her attempt to find a place for herself in Tom's class. When it comes to a crisis, the rich stand together against all outsiders.
The Great Gatsby is a short novel by F. Scott. Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby is a fictional book that was first published April 10, 1925. Fitzgerald wanted to showcase the ways of society and class in America, in the Roaring Twenties or the 1920s. When the book was published, not many copies were sold, only 20,000 copies were sold within the first year. Fitzgerald was inspired by his relationship with his wife, Zelda. Fitzgerald and his were known for always drinking too much, they were prone to serious depression and self-destructive behaviour. No one ever accused the couple of frugality. In its time, The Great Gatsby is considered to be a literary classic, and has been a contender for the title “ Great American Novel.” Fitzgerald died at
In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Tom Buchanan and George Wilson are two characteristics that have very different social backgrounds. Tom Buchanan is an entitled, wealthy, young man who is married to Daisy. Tom lives in West Egg, the location of the “old rich”. George Wilson in a poor man who lives in the valley of ashes with his wife Myrtle. Tom and George are similar yet contrast in their attitudes toward women, the ways they show violence, and their reactions to betrayal.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is a superbly written and an intrinsically captivating novel that deals with the decline of the American Dream and how vapid the upper class is. To illustrate and capture the essence of these themes, Fitzgerald uses characters Gatsby, who epitomizes the actual American Dream, and Daisy, who is based on the ideal girl. Yet, as these characters grasp the topics Fitzgerald wants to convey, there is something inherently like missing from the story as a whole. To fill this void, Fitzgerald utilizes minor characters as a means to move the plot along, develop characters further, and build upon the themes present in the novel. One such character is George Wilson.
“The great Gatsby” is an inspiring novel written by the famous American author Scott Fitzgerald. The novel was published in 1925. It is regarded as Scott’s supreme achievement and also as a masterwork in American literature, and it’s entirely justified.