Have you ever done something to just fit in? Maybe you pretended to be smarter than you are, richer than you are or never reveal how you really feel about things because you are insecure and afraid. Some people act like something they aren’t because they want to try to make themselves look better than everyone else to fit in. Does being someone you really aren’t work out in the end? Fitzergerald drives home these points in many ways, including plot events and even by the different kind of characters throughout the story.
Daisy might seem like a nice, good girl, possibly because of the way she looks. But the reader ends up finding out that Daisy really doesn’t care about other people. She only cares about herself by making herself look good, as demonstrated on page 16, “Daisy took her face in her hands as if feeling its lovely shape, and her eyes moved gradually out into the velvet dusk.” Daisy knows she’s better then everyone else. Looks are not the only thing in which Daisy feels superior. Money becomes a major factor in the way Daisy feels about herself and others. On page 149 it says “she vanished into her rich house, into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby-nothing,” -she left Gatsby because he forced her to make a choice. She realized Tom had more money and that she used to love Gatsby, but not anymore. All she wants is the money so she chose Tom so that instead of being define by society based on her personality, she will be judged only by her wealth- another mask.
Myrtle, on the other hand, is a little different. She is married, but she’s having an affair with Tom. She ends up falling in love with Tom and according to page 34 her marriage to George was for the wrong reason, even though it was love. She says, “The onl...
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...ike his true self, the one she had fallen in love with before everything, things would have worked out in the end.
In the end of the book, no one gets what they want. Daisy stays with Tom in the end because of his wealth and because the real Gatsby she fell in love with is no longer there- he is simply a poser now. Myrtle had no hope of marrying Gatsby because he did not love her and only used her for sex. She couldn’t appreciate what was real, like the love of George. Daisy spends the whole book worrying about outward appearances and how other people see her rather than worrying about who she really is. Gatsby is by far the most guilty of pretending. He lost the love of his life because he was worried about impressing her and her friends rather than just being himself. Fitzgerald definitely lets us know that being yourself is the best way to go.
...ites about not only the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy but also about the affair between Tom and Myrtle. Tom and Myrtle's affair shows how the amount of money one has does not change the way they may act or feel for another person. Throughout the novel, the author also explains how the wealthy or rich people are able to get away with bad behavior or unethical practices because they have the power to do so. During the time after World War I, the people who had money were the people who had power. Fitzgerald offers his audience the proof through his story that there is only a slight possibility that a person can be both wealthy and ethical. He shows his audience how sometimes being poor is not always the worse thing and that it is easier to be poor and ethical rather than being rich and ethical.
She was materialistic and only saw the lavish lifestyle, and lived void of a good conscience. She ran off with Tom because she saw his wealth. Even with endless dresses, and polo horses, Daisy still wanted more. Reunited with Gatsby after meeting in Nick's house, she walked with Gatsby to his house. It was only when she realized the huge mansion across her own house belonged to Gatsby, that she truly wanted to be back with him. Walking in the house, hand in hand, ignoring Nick who follows behind, it seemed the two were reunited by love. In his bedroom, "he took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel. (Fitzgerald 92)" Gatsby is clearly extremely wealthy, able to afford whatever suits his interest, and he was in the mindset that he would buy anything for Daisy. Daisy seeing this, "suddenly, with a strained stained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. 'They're such beautiful shirts,' she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds (Fitzgerald 92)." She doesn't cry because she has been reunited with Gatsby, she cries because of the pure satisfaction all his material wealth brings her. When Tom's wealth was not enough, she ran off to something more
He never wanted to give up on her, so he tried to recreate their past in hopes of rekindling a love they once had. “Gatsby's gospel of hedonism is reflected in his house, wild parties, clothing, roadster, and particularly in his blatant wooing of another man's wife. Daisy, a rather soiled and cheapened figure, is Gatsby's ultimate goal in his concept of the American dream. However, he falls victim to his own preaching. He comes to believe himself omniscient-above the restrictions of society and morality. His presumption extends to a belief that he can even transcend the natural boundaries placed upon human beings. He will win back Daisy by recapturing the past” (Pearson). Gatsby lies about his lifestyle including the parties, clothing, and almost all of the other aspects he reveals about himself, to impress his teenage love, Daisy, who also happens to be Tom’s wife. He believes he can win Daisy back from her husband by throwing lavish parties, and putting on a deceitful lifestyle in an attempt to lead her in believing he qualified to be one of the elite. “The book's chief characters are blind, and they behave blindly. Gatsby does not see Daisy's vicious emptiness, and Daisy, deluded, thinks she will reward her gold-hatted lover until he tries to force from her an affirmation she is too weak to make. Tom is blind to his hypocrisy; with "a short deft movement" he breaks Myrtle's nose for daring to mention the
When he first meets Daisy, Gatsby becomes infatuated with his idea of her, or rather, the false persona that she creates of herself. In fact, Gatsby reveals that “she was the first ‘nice’ girl he had ever known” (155). Gatsby was so impressed with Daisy mainly because of her wealth and her status; it is what he wants. However, Daisy chooses Tom Buchanan over Gatsby, solely because of his social status. As a result, Gatsby revolves his whole life around her: he becomes wealthy, creates a new image of himself, and buys a house across the bay from Daisy. For instance, he fabricates lies about how “ [he is] the son of some wealthy people in the middle-west” (69) and how “ [he] was brought up in America but educated at Oxford” (69) in order to impress her. These lies end up altering others’ perspectives of him - not necessarily in a positive way - and impacting his life as a whole. Daisy unwittingly transforms Gatsby into a picture-perfect image of the 1920s: lavish parties, showy cars, and a false illusion of the attainment of the American Dream. Despite Gatsby’s newfound wealth and success, he never fully accomplishes his dream: to get Daisy. Gatsby’s final act for the sake of Daisy has no impact on her feelings towards him. When Gatsby claims that he crashed into Myrtle and killed her, Daisy carelessly lets him do so, which ultimately results in his death. To make
In life, we ask ourselves the question what we are? In addition, we also ask ourselves how our perspectives allow us to see this world? These questions are an opening idea’s, which requires the person answering it, to be fully aware of his or her life, and then have the ability to judge it without any personal bias. This is why, in the book that was and is in a sense is still talked about in class, The Great Gatsby, which is a book that follows a plethora of charters all being narrated by, Nick Caraway, a character of the book The Great Gatsby. Nick Caraway is the character in the book which judges and describes his and other character’s actions and virtues. Now we speak of a character whose name is Jay Gatsby or other whys known as James Gatz, which is one of the characters that Mr. Caraway, seems to be infatuated with from the start of the book. This character Jay Gatsby develops a perspective, which in his view seems to justify his actions by the way that he saw the world that he was living in. In this essay, I will explain why the ambitions of a person, can lead them to do things that are beyond there normal character.
Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby is a character introduced as “passive, security-minded and pragmatic” who lacks the gall to leave her husband for Jay Gatsby. Although she does not own Gatsby, Daisy appears to possess ownership of him as it is argued in, Psychological Politics of the American Dream, that women are treated as commodities traded among men, however this fails to account for the fact that Daisy is equally as manipulative as Tom specifically towards Gatsby. Once the truth about Gatsby is revealed, Daisy beings “drawing further and further into herself” as the illusion of a new, wealthy life with Gatsby is shattered.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was published in the year 1925. It is romantic novel between a lot different characters that you get to know in the novel. It is like one big love circle. Daisy Buchannan is married to Tom Buchannan but before their marriage Daisy was in love with a man named Jay Gatsby. Gatsby had to go fight in the war and Daisy never heard or saw of Gatsby again. Only on the day of her wedding Gatsby wrote her a letter explain why he couldn’t see her and that he was coming home, but sadly it was already to late. Daisy was to marry Tom Buchannan and nobody could stop it. Daisy is now in marriage she doesn’t want to be in and she finds out later hat Tom has a mistress in the city. Another side of the novel is about the narrator Nick Carraway. Nick is first cousins to Daisy and they grew up together. Nick knows Tom from Yale they both graduated the same year. Nick moved from the west to West Egg to start over and he shortly discovers that he is neighbors to The Great Gatsby himself. Deeper into the novel Nick and Gatsby become acquainted and become very good friends. Gatsby lets Nick know that him and his cousin Daisy have a past and he would like to schedule to see her but he doesn’t want Daisy knowing that she is going to see him. Nick is told to invite Daisy over for tea and Gatsby just so happens to drop by. This plan is put into full affect and
She became used to him being unfaithful to her that she suggests to him after leaving him during Gatsby wild party “ and if you want to take down any addresses here’s my little gold pencil” (105). Tom and Myrtle relationship caused problems more in Myrtle life rather than Tom’s because unlike Tom’s wide, Wilson was unaware about her unfaithfulness and reacted way differently by becoming sick. In Nick’s perspective, he explains, “He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically sick” (124). Wilson behaves in way by having her locked in a room until he gets the car to move away but soon enough for jealousy to strike among Myrtle about Tom and his wife which later causes her death. Her death occurred because of the greatly amount of envy she has towards Daisy and her lifestyle with Tom. The feelings that she felt showed upon her by having “…one emotion after another crept into her face like objects into a slowly developing picture” (124). This single small affair between Tom and Myrtle became something bigger than expected by a heart broken husband, dishonesty, and death among a mistress. This crime is much relatable to many affairs in the world that ends really bad divorces and trust issues from the dishonesty from their significant
Daisy knows very well that tom is cheating on her, but doesn’t care because it's more convenient to stay in her unhappy marriage. Even though she wants to be with Gatsby, she wants to keep her social status and being with Tom makes this all the easier. Now, this is quite the opposite of Myrtle. She has a loving husband who would do anything for her, but her social status is all she cares about. Myrtle is willing to hurt George and ruin their marriage in order to climb up the social ladder. Neither of these women have respect for themselves. Both Daisy and Myrtle allow Tom to treat them
Characters in The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald are often described differently than they actually act throughout the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Daisy is told to be “by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville”. She was said to have great beauty, and its even said that she holds her popularity spot because of it. She is also described as a “fool” which means she is beautiful, just like an angel. As we read on, we come to see that Daisy is actually very careless, selfish, and only focuses herself on wealth and power. She never looked at the consequences of her actions; and she let others clean up the messes she made. She wanted her daughter to grow up just like her, even though it’s a life nobody wanted to live. She even gave up her true love to be with somebody who had money and a good repetition. As perceived in the novel, Daisy is the most despicable character in the novel of The Great Gatsby.
He wants Daisy and overlooks the reality of her being married and having a daughter. This man’s creepy romantic gestures for Daisy just happened to get Gatsby across from Daisy’s house. When Gatsby wants something he really goes after it, he was head over heels in love with Daisy that he would do anything to get her, he truly is a man who gets what he wants. One of Myrtle’s friends saw Myrtle in an expensive, yet mesmerizing dress that projected her wealthy persona from every angle.
Daisy Buchanan, in reality, is unable to live up the illusory Daisy that Gatsby has invented in his fantasy. After Daisy and Tom Buchanan leave another one of Gatsby’s splendid parties, Fitzgerald gives the reader a glimpse into what Gatsby’s expectations are. Fitzgerald claims that “he wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you.’” (109). Here it is revealed that Gatsby’s one main desire is for Daisy to go willingly...
Tom wanted the "possession" of Myrtle, Myrtle wanted Tom's "luxuries and wealth," and Daisy wanted Gatsby simply for his wealth. Both Tom and Daisy know each other's affairs, but neither one truly cares. As the story progresses, it seems as though each of them is trying to make the other jealous. Honesty and Love, two words known only by the faithful, George Wilson. George certainly had his flaws, but he loved his wife dearly and couldn't live without her. "He was his wife's man and not his own." When he became aware of Tom and Myrtle's affair, he was "really sick, pale as his own pale hair and shaking all over." He locked her up in fear that she would run away with Tom forever.
Daisy’s original impression of Gatsby is evident in her early letters to him, “...he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same stratum as herself- that he was fully able to take care of her” (149). Daisy loved Gatsby under the false hope that they belonged to the same social class. She grew up surrounded by riches, never working a day in her life, and she could not comprehend the struggles of a man who must work for the food he eats each day. Daisy knew that she must marry when she is beautiful, for being a beautiful rich girl of good social standing was her highest commodity and most valuable chip in marrying well. In order to live a secure life, she had to find someone the had the means to provide for her extravagant lifestyle, and the deep care for her that would allow Daisy to do as she pleased. The only definition of love Daisy knew was one of disillusioned power and commitments under false pretenses in order to keep the wealthy continually rich. Daisy acknowledges the false pretenses of marriage for the wealthy in how she describes her daughter’s future. She tells Nick, “‘And I hope she’ll be a fool- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this
At first glance, The Great Gatsby is merely a classic American tragedy, portraying the story of a man's obsession with a fantasy, and his resulting downfall. However, Fitzgerald seems to weave much more than that into the intricate web of emotional interactions he creates for the reader. One interesting element is the concepts of greatness each has. For Daisy, it lies in material wealth, and in the comfort and security associated with it. Daisy seems to be easily impressed by material success, as when she is touring Gatsby's mansion and seems deeply moved by his collection of fine, tailored shirts. It would seem that Tom's relative wealth, also, had at one time impressed her enough to win her in marriage. In contrast to that, Gatsby seems to not care a bit about money itself, but rather only about the possibility that it can win over Daisy. In fact, Gatsby's extreme generosity gives the reader the impression that Gatsby would otherwise have never even worked at attaining wealth had it not been for Daisy. For Gatsby, the only thing of real importance was his pursuit of Daisy. It would seem that these elements are combined, too in the character Myrtle.