In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, we gain access to the characters lives and how they try to fight naturalism by making an attempt to rise up in the social class system. Evidently, the novel makes a Naturalism argument about not being able to rise from one social class to another; The Great Gatsby says that we as people do not have a choice of social class and are put into a single class. You can only start off from where you are put and stay in that class. In The Great Gatsby, it is easy to recognize the story agree with Naturalism, when it says you are born into one social class, moreover people cannot move up or down in the classes of society. We identify this thought with a few characters, including when Myrtle uses Tom. …show more content…
In chapter 2, before the party, she decides to change, “Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume some time before and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream colored chiffon, which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about the room. With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change” (Fitzgerald 34). By wearing cream, Myrtle is trying to show that she is wealthy, or similar to Daisy, who is wearing white the majority of the time. White is the symbol of wealth, nevertheless cream, being close to white, makes sense that it would represent a character that is trying to seem rich or upper class. What’s more, during this entire party at her apartment, Myrtle acts as if she has all the money in the world and tries to seem upper class to fit in with the crowd but also stand out. In addition, she is trying to move up the social class and in doing so, she receives a slap across the face for acting as if she can do whatever she wants. She is acting as if she is higher up than she actually is to seem as if she is a part of their society. Myrtle is also trying to transition to the upper class using Tom as a driver. Witkoski tells us about selfishness and shows the impact …show more content…
One example of this is the fact that Daisy has a child. This child is only seen once throughout the whole story and everyone seems surprised to see her. After Nick, Jordan, Tom, and Daisy are all talking, the phone rings and Tom hurriedly stands up and gets the phone. After he has a conversation with who is thought to be Mr. Wilson, Daisy says that he is holding down the receiver, meaning that he is talking to his mistress. After a moment, a nurse comes in with the child, and everyone reacts differently, “Gatsby and I in turn leaned down and took the small reluctant hand. Afterward he kept looking at the child with surprise. I don’t think he had ever really believed in its existence before” (Fitzgerald 124). By Gatsby being genuinely surprised by the child, it is easy to tell that she is not well known. It is interesting that Daisy calls her child “blessed precious” and feels the need to say “your own mother that loves you”. Taken from this section of text, it can be inferred that this means Daisy does not actually raise her daughter, but she is raised by the nurse that brought her in. Her doughter is more of a thing than a human being. She is something for her mother to show off and say ‘look I have this’. This goes to show that yet the rich cannot be satisfied and so they try to fill their lives with material things. Furthermore,
Even though the 1920s is the era of women’s rights, women are still treated poorly. Even woman in the middle class are looked at with expectations. In the article it stated, “she concludes that although there were changes in women’s lives, their achievements were, limited, with ‘progress in some spheres… matched by disappointment and defeat in others’” (Hannam 64). This relates to Myrtles situation because even though she is not in the eyes of society she is expected to obey her husband and do as she is told. Myrtle does not always do as she is told around her husband, George Wilson. She is not the perfect female with him. She actually acts a little more masculine and aggressive to show she is not weak, but around her lover, Tom Buchanan, she becomes a more weak and obedient female. That would be approved by society if they were actually married. She changes how she conforms to the expectations of society depending on who she is around. She really does not control her own life like Jordan, but she also is not forced by society to do something she does not want to do like
Myrtle uses Tom’s money to buy things in which she wants, not for what is absolutely needed. This is shown in Chapter 2 when she makes Tom buy her things from a newsstand and waits for a “fancier” taxi to come by, she also demands he buy her a puppy as well. “At the
Myrtle values the wealthy lifestyle greatly. She would even go so far as to create a facade of what she believes those of high societal class would act like in order to achieve that, and ironically, mocks the poor in the process. In Chapter 2 she exclaims toward Nick, “ I told that boy about the ice...you have to keep after them all the time”(32). here it is proven that Myrtle believes in order to give everyone the impression that she is high class, she must act in a snobbish manner. Whereas Daisy who was born into wealth, values convenience majorly over the latter. Some may disagree and say that she values love, and it is true that she does search for love; However, this is contradicted when at the end of the day she stays with Tom Buchanan rather than Gatsby, as is shown in the last scene with them together, “ Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite of each other at the kitchen table with a plate of cold fried chicken between them, and two bottles of ale” (145). She stays with Tom only for her own societal convenience, and she is willing to follow through with it even though he is a generally abusive
On March 3, 1991 an African American man named Rodney King became a posterboy for racial tension and police brutality in America. On this day, police officers Stacey C. Koon, Laurence M. Powell, Timothy E. Wind, and Theodore J. Briseno attempted to pull Rodney King over because they suspected he was driving under the influence. Mr. King then lead the officers on a 110 mph chase through San Fernando Valley, California, and finally stopped his car in a residential area. Police officers began beating Mr. King after he got out of his car. Officers tasered, kicked, stomped on, and hit Mr. King with their batons for about 10 minutes.
She aches to be part of an elite class like Daisy, but instead, she is married to a man who is hard working and honest but does not have the passion that she craves. Wilson, Myrtle's dumb witted husband, owns a garage. Because Wilson is a passive aggressive character, he does not want to admit to himself that his wife would cheat on him, even though Tom makes it apparent that Myrtle is more his wife or "property" than she will ever be to Wilson. For example, when Tom visits Myrtle at the garage Myrtle orders Wilson to fetch some chairs while she gives her true lover a warm greeting.
Myrtle, who represents the low and ignorant class of America, tried to break the social barriers and thus pursues wealth by any means necessary. Using her sexuality and crude appearance, she becomes false for abandoning and dismissing her own social foundation, and like Nick, we as readers are disgusted by her monstrous approach to entering the rich class. At one point, and quite humorously to the knowing onlooker, Myrtle complains about a service done for her that was so expensive. Obviously misusing her wording, it is comical only because she is trying so hard to fit into the stuck-up upper class personality, and failing miserably.
Myrtle Wilson is obsessed with leaving her poor life behind her by being with Tom but unlike Gatsby, her attempts are fruitless. She attempts to make herself seem an upper class person like when she changed her dress before the party in chapter two. She believes her husband is beneath her and talks of all low statuses as if she isn’t one of them. "I told that boy about the ice." Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders. "These people! You have to keep after them all the time." (42)
The character Myrtle showed symbolism by wearing plain and dull clothes at home with her husband George, but when she knew she would be around Tom, she would change into clothes with bright colors. She did this to try to fool herself in to thinking that she was not a poor girl from the suburbs, and tried to fool Tom into thinking that she was exotic and would fit into a rich life style. Some times when she would put on these clothes, her whole attitude would change. Myrtle would go from being a nice lady to a
The framers of the Constitution predetermined that the Congress to be the foremost branch of the government. But not all the powers are enumerated in the Constitution, leaving some roof to the Supreme Court interpretation. Enumerated Powers, are the powers that are listed in the Constitution, which the Congress can hold to. Implied power is the last clause of the Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution. It states that Congress my pass any law that is “necessary and proper” in order to be able to “carry out its foregoing powers”. Banks are one of the examples in which the Congress used implied powers. In the case, McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) was held that the Second Bank of the United States is a “necessary and proper” action in order to regulate the fiscal policies and diminish the speculations maintained by other banks. Another example of implied power is the draft in the military and implied power to raise an army. The government reserves this right in order to be able to protect itself. Of course, it still has set up limits so the government does not abuse the system. The 3d Amendment protects people’s property from quartering soldiers. It states that the Third Amendment forbids the forcible housing of military personnel in a citizen’s home during peacetime and requires the process to be “prescribed by law” in times of war. (Legal Information Institute) A third example of the use of implied power is the Minimum Wage, this being also a “necessary and proper” action in
Myrtle also adds to this stigma. She longs for a life that is fun and glamorous, but reality is she is the wife of a pump mechanic, meaning she will never have access to mobility in class or status. She is a lower class woman, which led her to engage in an affair with Tom Buchanan; it is the closest she will come to feeling higher up socially. Myrtle will do just about anything to be a part of the upper class despite the consequences. There was even a point in time when Tom physically hits her, breaking her nose and yet she still stayed with him just to continue lavishing in this fantasy she so eagerly wanted to become real (Fitzgerald, pg 37). That scene and the dynamic of her and Tom represent the subordination of the lower class and the mistreatment of women within the lower class.
This tells us that she has no respect for herself or the women image itself. In this time era, women's rights were a big turn in history and Myrtle to me, is denying these new rights for women. She enjoys being “the damsel in distress.” She wants to have to depend on a man her entire life. She has no real independence and takes no responsibility in her own life.
Daisy’s impact on Gatsby is immediate and cathartic. As “the golden girl” she represents the ultimate prize, “the best part of a world […] of heightened, refined delight, the realization not only of [Gatsby’s] desires but of generalized desire as well” (Fitzgerald 127, Lathbury 60). Inevitably, in the limitless capacity of Gatsby’s imagination, Daisy is elevated to the ideal, becoming the embodiment of “the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves”
Myrtle Wilson is one of the characters who chases empty dreams. She has a strong desire to escape what she feels to be a lower class lifestyle and enter the ranks of the upper class. Furthermore, she is obsessed by appearances and unaware of realities, as is shown in her excessive concern of clothing. She attempts to impress the upper society while looking down upon the members of her class. "Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the stiflessness of the lower orders, “These people! You have to keep after them." (Fitzgerald 36)
Myrtle represents the contrasting women of the lower class. She is an opportunist; she is obsessed with wealth and material possessions. She will do anything to be of a higher social class. She is sexualised and objectified by the dominant wealthy man.
Trying to find memories is like looking for treasure. You look at the surface and see something mediocre, but you dig deep and find something cool, pretty, and meaningful. It took a while to think of a fond memory, but once I thought of some, it was hard to choose a favorite. Growing up I have had many great experiences in the form of vacations. Between going to Disney World, owning a vacation home, hanging out with my grandparents in Arizona, traveling to Canada and more. They all make amazing memories that I will forever cherish. The vacation spot we go to the most, though, is Wisconsin Dells. A few times I have been allowed to invite friends to come with. When I am allowed to bring friends, it is always a ginormous amount of fun. We goof off in the hotel room, play in the arcades, and swim in the water parks.