Preview

Why Is Myrtle Important In The Great Gatsby

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
549 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Is Myrtle Important In The Great Gatsby
Many of the characters in Great Gatsby were cheating on their spouses. This may seem unusual, but it was not uncommon for the time period Great Gatsby was written. Divorce was still looked down upon. As a result, people prefered to have an affair than a divorce because they were easier to conceal than divorces. However, the affairs in Great Gatsby were exploited. Consequently, Gatsby and Myrtle wind up dead. In the end, old money prevails, and the working class is left paying for their carelessness. Let’s take a deeper look into their affairs. The first affair mentioned in the book is of Myrtle and Tom. Myrtle is in her mid-30s. She is curvy in all the right ways, and is incredibly energetic. You might ask, “What would Tom want with a girl like this?” …show more content…
Wilson loved Myrtle and wanted to protect her. However, Myrtle married Mr. Wilson because she thought he had money, not because she loved him. The second affair was between Gatsby and Daisy. Gatsby always had a dream that Daisy and him would wind up together in the end, but his dream was unrealistic because too many barriers were in the way of his plan. Gatsby went out of his way to impress Daisy by acquiring his wealth illegally. Gatsby also went out of his way to find Daisy after they were split up during the war. In addition, Gatsby spent a fortune hosting large parties hoping that Daisy would show up. However, Daisy did not show up, and he was compelled to find another way to draw her attention. Then, Gatsby turned to Nick and Jordan Baker to set a date up for him. This only got Gatsby so far because by the end Daisy could not leave Tom. Fitzgerald displays marriage from a modernist point of view. Modernism was an extremely popular idea during the time period Great Gatsby was written. Modernism denounced romanticism. As a result, marriage became less dependent on love, and more dependent on social status. Although Gatsby was wealthy, Daisy could not be with him because he was “new money” and she was “old

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    1.) I think the most crucial in the plot is when Tom breaks Myrtle's nose for her bringing up Daisy. This displays Toms violent and volatile behavior. It also foreshadows future trouble with Daisy and Tom and Myrtle's indiscretion.…

    • 268 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Near the end of The Great Gatsby, everyone’s wrongs begin to come to light, but punishment varies. Gatsby, a character the novel attempts the reader to like, announces his love of Daisy and his intent to take her away from Tom. This leads to a series of events which include him being murdered by Wilson for killing his wife, while Daisy is actually responsible for that. Daisy, a character set up to be pitied by the reader, also plans to leave Tom for Gatsby, but she kills Myrtle and ends up getting Gatsby murdered instead. Forcing her to return to Tom. It is clear to see how the death of Myrtle is a defining moment for these characters, however, more is hidden in that. Tom, a character portrayed to be disliked, actually walks away victorious…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby is a novel of art that renders a in debt society populated by rich Americans. The center of the novel is very straight forward. It is emblematic and persisting. The Great Gatsby has turned out to be one the country's most famous and comedian arts. There are plenty ways to show the Great Gatsby’s play so that it can be more pertinent to a present-day audience.…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the book Mr.Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald is about a main character named Mr. Jay Gatsby’s life and how it involved around it. A girl who the man was deeply love with as she goes by the name Daisy. Daisy and Mr. Gatsby knew one another and had reunited after 5 years when he got out of the war. But Mr,Gatsby though that Daisy would wait for him till he got back from war. As he had thought wrong.…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Daisy sees Gatsby again after five years and marrying Tom and they begin a relationship.Tom realizes what has happened when Daisy and Gatsby speak at lunch when he sees,”She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded. His mouth opened a little, and he recognized her as someone he knew a long time ago (119).” So Tom knowing what is happening, sees Daisy as his love again and wants to keep her. This instinct to keep his love is also found in Wilson. When Tom pulls into the station on their way to the city Wilson says they are leaving and he needs the car that Tom was selling him, he also says Myrtle has wanted to leave for years,”And now she's going whether she wants to or not. I’m going to get her away (123).” So in order to stay with Myrtle he is going to leave everything he has and get her away from…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship was mainly just a fantasy created by Gatsby. Gatsby imagined this great life that he and Daisy would have together, when in reality, Daisy was married and could not leave her husband. When Gatsby and Daisy did get reunited, their love sparked again, but never took full effect because of Tom. The idea of “fake love” is also seen in George Wilson and Myrtle’s relationship. Although they were married, they did not have a true romantic relationship. George only married Myrtle because he did not try to make a better life for himself. George and Myrtle were on the same economic level and social class: poor. Wilson loved Myrtle to an extent, but he did not have a deep passion for her as Gatsby did for…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby establishes characterization through an intimate relationship between Daisy and Gatsby without ever explicitly discussing about it. When the two became lovers, Gatsby was surprised to discover that "it didn't turn out as he had imagined.” However, he did feel as though they were married after this encounter. This conveys an aspect of how Gatsby fell in love with Daisy’s allure rather than her personality and was blindly obsessed with being with her. Shortly later, the two are split apart for a length of time and end up reuniting after five years. It is suggested that they resume their sexual relationship and their affair is purely physical with no substance behind it. Once again, Gatsby fails to…

    • 184 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “The Great Gatsby” by Scott Fitzgerald, Myrtle Wilson plays a role in not only her own death, but also the tragic demise of J. Gatsby. In chapter 2 she is described as “in her middle thirties and faintly stout” (29). Myrtle Wilson is the wife of degenerate garage owner George Wilson. She expresses her feelings for her decision on marrying George as “The only crazy I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake” (34-35). As a result, she bemoaned being married to her husband. She “thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe” (34), feeling as if her husband George wasn’t good enough for her. By her words, she displays her true feelings for her husband. This showed the character is selfish…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gatsby used his wealth to throw parties so he could try to get Daisy’s attention and impress her. He did end up impressing her. However, because Daisy was married to her husband Tom she could not be with Gatsby. Tom found out about Daisy’s affair and confronted Gatsby. Gatsby insisted that Daisy never loved Tom but Daisy could not deny her love for her husband. It showed that Gatsby was extremely naive to believe that Daisy would love him to a certain extent as to say that she never loved her own husband. Gatsby believed that he could easily win her back simply by showing up with his wealth, but he was wrong.…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tom was having an affair with Myrtle, Myrtle’s sister, Catherine, would say, “it’s really his wife that is keeping them apart. She’s a catholic and they don’t believe in divorce.” (33). The thing is, Myrtle was married to a poor man by the name of Wilson who was, “He thinks she goes to see her sister in New York. He’s so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive.” (26). On the day that Tom found out about Daisy and Gatsby’s affair, Daisy was driving Gatsby’s car home and she accidentally hit Myrtle, before driving off which became a hit and run. Gatsby knew he would take the blame for Myrtle’s death so Daisy wouldn’t get in trouble. Gatsby doesn’t realize that Tom and Daisy are plotting together, and Wilson believes that Gatsby is the one who had an affair with Myrtle and is the one who killed her. Gatsby continues to wait for Daisy to call as he had told Nick, “I don’t think she ever loved him.” (152). Gatsby is so stuck on Daisy only loving him that on that fateful day, it all came to an end when it is said, “.... Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete.” (162). Gatsby was dead, Daisy and Tom were gone, and no one but Gatsby’s father showed up at the funeral. Myrtle’s death is what brought everything down, and he took the fall for everything.…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The theme that is portrayed throughout The Great Gatsby would be a deviant sense of love. Even though Tom and Daisy may seem somewhat loyal and affectionate towards each other in the beginning, their true feelings begin to show as the novel develops. As we see with their unfaithfulness to each other, they are clearly not in love. Tom begins seeing Myrtle, George’s wife, and Daisy has an affair with Gatsby, her former lover. Ever since Gatsby had laid eyes on Daisy, he’d wanted to be with her which is why he, “bought that house so that Daisy would just be across the bay.” (Fitzgerald.78) It’s largely evident that Gatsby is in love, but with what? With Daisy? Or with a dream of Daisy? He’s always had fantasies about loving Daisy, but now that…

    • 182 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Myrtle In The Great Gatsby

    • 1362 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The famous novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, is a renown piece of American literature. This novel revolves around a rich, hopeful man by the name of Jay Gatsby who desires nothing more than to get back together with his old lover, Daisy. Daisy though, is already married to a wealthy man named Tom, and even though Tom is cheating on her with Myrtle, Daisy still loves him. Gatsby, having been born in a different class than Daisy, fears he may never be able to live the life he imagined with her because of his penniless past. This shows that in society, people are extremely separated from one other due to factors such as class and wealth driving them apart. This is shown through the characterization of Myrtle and Daisy, the conflicts…

    • 1362 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gatsby could get whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Except for one thing. He had enough money to buy whatever he wanted, was famous enough to befriend anyone and get any girl, but there is one girl that he wanted more then anything. Gatsby’s obsession over Daisy perfectly shows how Fitzgerald would agree that he is like a netted bird when controlled by desire.…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He fell in love with her as a young man and spends several years trying to make in to high society. Daisy comes from a wealthy family and she could never marry anyone below her. Gatsby knows this and has dedicated his entire life to becoming a successful and wealthy man to gain Daisy's acceptance. He throws lavish and expensive parties to see if Daisy will come to one of them. He buys an extravagant mansion across the river from Daisy's house just to be near her. When he finally is reunited with Daisy, it's as if they had never been separated and their love is still alive. Gatsby sees Daisy as he wants to see her: beautiful, innocent, and perfect. But in reality, Daisy has changed. She is now a wife and mother. At the end of the story Gatsby finally sees the true Daisy. He realizes that "her voice is full of money." Daisy is materialistic, fake, and not the kind of woman he wants her to be. Daisy was driving Gatsby's car when she hits and kills Myrtle. To protect Daisy and his dream, Gatsby does not turn Daisy in. Myrtle's husband kills Gatsby because he assumed it was Gatsby who hit his wife. Gatsby's demise comes from his destructive dream for Daisy's…

    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How Is Gatsby Selfish

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Daisy initially fell in love with Gatsby’s newfound riches than Gatsby himself. As soon as she discovered his wealth she falls back in love with him, completely disregarding her own husband. Daisy was too caught up in the wealth and attention she received from Gatsby that she even declared, “why - how could I love him [Tom] - possibly? … ‘I never loved him” (126). Buchanan is so infatuated with Gatsby's lifestyle that she announced she never loved Tom and only married him because Jay was at war. Daisy’s husband had the wealth to support her and gave her some attention, but she detached from him the moment a richer man came along, who gave her the attention she desired. Therefore Daisy’s craving for more riches causes her to cheat on her husband for the man who is supplying superior funds and…

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays