In the novel The Great Gatsby, the author, F.Scott Fitzgerald, writes about a filthy land named the Valley of Ashes. This valley is located between West Egg and New York which represents what is truly inside the rich. Fitzgerald uses the Valley of Ashes to show the reality of the illusions that the upper class makes to warn his readers about the dangers of what facades mask. The illusion that is made when Daisy is described is that she is a beautiful, nice, and honest women of the upper class who lives in East Egg. However Myrtle, who lives in the Valley of Ashes, is said to be the total opposite. Fitzgerald describes Myrtle as a “thickish figure of a woman...She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus …show more content…
Throughout the novel we learn that Jay Gatsby is not who he claims to be. Fitzgerald allows us to know Gatsby's real past, “I suppose he'd had the name ready for a long time, even then. His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people—his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself...So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end”. He came from a low income family and was never satisfied with what he had. James Gatz, Gatsby’s original name, was determined to be better than his family, he wanted to be something more. He meets Daisy and has to lie to her about his past because she needs someone who can support her. He then goes to the war, and leaves Daisy, who then has to move on and get married. Gatsby eventually becomes a well known man and is apart of the upper class, but he still could not succeed in getting his only love back to him. Even after he found her again and they “fell in love”, she was still not his. Therefore, James Gatsby, in reality is just like those who live in the Valley of Ashes, he come from nothing and fails at getting what he truly wants. When the illusions of the characters are looked over they are just the same as the
“This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys”(Fitzgerald 2). Tom and Nick a driving through a place between West Egg and New York, which is an industrial zone where the lower class lives. Here alone we can see how the poor class lives their daily lives in filth, but the rich live in shiny clean houses.
Myrtle appears as the total opposite character to the Daisy. She is ‘thick, faintly stout” (Fitzgerald 29), but “sensuously” and “immediately perceptible about her vitality” (Fitzgerald 29). She is the woman from “the bottom” who wants to be acceptable as a lady from the upper class. She is terribly vulgar, but she is more alive and natural than Daisy is. The unpleasant scene in their apartments, where Carraway appeared because of Myrtle’s invitation, is full of the philistine contentment and boasting.
This line reveals that Myrtle is not one of beauty or features that make her superior. Myrtle is characterized as a larger women who is exploding with anger . She is a demanding lady who tries to put on a front and fake wealth. Myrtle is from a lower hierarchy being from the Valley of Ashes . She is very poor but puts on a front being in an affair with Tom who is very wealthy. By Fitzgerald using imagery, readers get a realistic look at the physical appearance she is composed of as well as her tenacious attitude. With Fitzgerald using figurative language we deeply feel the contrast of two different ladies and the lifestyles they live.
Gatsby’s adopted persona affects the people he loves and the general public negatively through stress and confusion. Nick Caraway, Gatsby’s neighbor, narrates the story of how James Gatz uses a pseudonym to become a different person. He recounts, “And it was from Cody that…the vague contour of Jay Gatsby had filled out to the substantiality of a man” (Fitzgerald 107). The character of Jay Gatsby became more of a reality rather than imaginary after the death of Dan Cody, Gatsby’s wealthy mentor. Gatsby mimics his late idol because he wants to be part of the wealthy elite class. Fitzgerald directly contrasts “vague contour” and “substantiality” to emphasize the intricate development of Gatsby’s character underwent. In a sense, Gatsby is lying to everyone about who he is. Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, have an impassioned argument about how Gatsby earns his money through drug cartels. Nick narrates, “I glanced at Daisy who was staring terrified between Gatsby and her husband and at Jordan who had begun to balance an invisible but absorbing object… on her chin” (Fitzgerald
Throughout the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Myrtle is a victim of her own desperation. This sense of despair stems from her marriage to George Wilson. As soon as she marries George she knows she made a mistake and she pays for that mistake every second of her life. This despair that originates from her marriage then translates into her cheating on her husband with a married man, Tom Buchanan and completely ignoring him. Due to her obvious desperation, Tom is able to boss her around on numerous occasions and makes her do what he wants because of her desperation.
In chapter seven, Myrtle had “her life violently extinguished” by Daisy and Gatsby, who had hit her with their car (Fitzgerald 145). Myrtle thought it was Tom in the car, but the “yellow car” he was driving earlier wasn’t his (Fitzgerald 148). This is significant because George, who seems to be the most honest and hardworking character, has lost it all because of Tom’s affair. This supports how The Great Gatsby is criticizing the social structure of the 1920s because the rich are stepping on the poor, and the poor are working hard with little or no reward.
Unlike those cheesy romantic heroes from soap operas and films, Gatsby believes that by attempting to be someone he is not and by faking his identity, he will be able to win Daisy`s heart . Nick Caraway, the narrator of the novel, informs readers about Gatsby`s past and his first reaction to Daisy. He tells readers, “…he let her believe that he was a person from the same stratum as herself…that he was fully capable to take care of her. As a matter of fact, he had no such facilities…” (Fitzgerald 149). Gatsby basically lies about his social status to win Daisy`s heart, which shows how his relationship is based on dishonesty and lies rather than trust. Gatsby changes himself in order to make room for Daisy in his life. A romantic hero never lies beca...
Barbara Millicent Roberts always said “Be who you want to be.” In the book, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Myrtle Wilson tried this, acting like she was in a high class whenever she was with Tom Buchanan, and the consequence of this was of her being killed. The point of this essay is that if you attempt to live above the class you are currently in, you will be punished.
Jay Gatsby is not a real person. Instead, he is a persona created by James Gatz, with the simple dream of recreating himself and becoming successful. Eventually, he becomes extremely wealthy, and although he has reached his goal, Gatsby remains focused on one person: Daisy Buchanan. Some critics argue that Jay Gatsby 's devotion to Daisy Buchanan in Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby is obsessive and dysfunctional; I believe that some of his actions, although ultimately tragic, prove Gatsby to simply be a man blinded by love.
The Valley of Ashes in the book The Great Gatsby is a very important place. Main characters such as George Wilson and Myrtle reside here. The Valley of Ashes is exactly what it sounds like; it is a dirty place
In The Great Gatsby, the Valley of the Ashes illustrate the inequality between its inhabitants and that of West Egg and East Egg, in terms of social standing and income, as well as the hopelessness of poverty resulting from the inability of its inhabitants to rise up the socio-economic ladder. Thus, the valley represents the failure of the Dream that America promises, which is the ideal of equal opportunities for all, associated with the New World.
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,
F. Scotts Fitzgerald uses his description of Myrtle to tell the reader of her social class and structure. During the novel the narrator states “She had changed her dress to a brown figured muslin which stretched tight over her rather large hips as Tom helped her to the platform in New York. At the newsstand she bought a copy of Town Tattle and a moving
In The Great Gatsby, many individuals are involved in a struggle to find themselves and who they want to be. Personal identity is a very challenging thing to define. Everyone has an image in their mind of who they want to be. These images are usually very different from the actual identity of a person. In this novel, Jay Gatsby’s search or struggle for a new identity for himself is an ongoing journey. He has dedicated his entire life creating an image to impress Daisy Buchanan and to set himself into her society. This image does not necessarily depict who he is in reality.
forever” (40). Corruption is further shown through the gossiping and spreading of rumours: “Well, they say he’s a nephew or a cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm’s. That’s where all his money comes from” (37). The attendants’ immorality is also shown through the consumption of alcohol at a time when the Prohibition Act banned it: “The bottle of whiskey – a second one – was not in constant demand by all present” (39). In her drunkenness Myrtle becomes increasingly arrogant and starts ordering people about: “I told that boy about the ice […] these people! You have to keep after them all the time” (36). Myrtle’s comments show she is a petty and small-minded woman. One could infer that they give her a false sense of superiority and make her feel more equal to Tom. For Myrtle, the whole purpose of the apartment party was to show off what she had gained through her affair with Tom. Moreover, questionable means through which she achieved it make it clear that morality of infidelity means nothing to her. Fitzgerald details the corrupt behavior and immorality of the apartment party in preparation for the climax of the party scene. This occurs when Tom punches Myrtle after she shouts Daisy’ name: “‘I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dais-’ Making a short deft movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” (41).