Myrtle Life In The Great Gatsby

Twenty-first century Canadian spoken word artist and poet Boonaa Mohammed said that “if the whole world was blind, how many people would you impress?” If no one could see your extravagant clothes or fancy house, would people still be attracted to you? In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, this is emphasized through Tom's mistress, Myrtle. Through Myrtle’s lifestyle as a mistress, Fitzgerald shows that when people live a life based on superficial morals, they gain a false sense of superiority, which leads to the need to relentlessly prove it.

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the 'American Dream' is an important motif. Almost all the characters' dreams are mentioned and almost all of their dreams are not fulfilled, but one particular character's attempt to achieve this dream leads to their morbid downfall. Myrtle Wilson's American Dream is to marry the aristocratic Tom Buchanan, but we see that she does not achieve this dream by annoying Tom, and then dying at the end of the novel.

Although people may seem like they are completely different, they can have many similarities. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson and Jay Gatsby seem like they are completely different, but they actually go through some similar events. Both Myrtle and Gatsby have goals of acquiring money and being accepted into the lifestyle of the upper class lifestyle that the Buchanans were living and ended up falling victim to them. However, Gatsby’s goal of being accepted was to be accepted by Daisy while Myrtle’s was purely for money. Although Gatsby and Myrtle appear to be vastly different people, they are actually quite similar.

In Fitzgerald's book, The Great Gatsby, Myrtle’s diction is described as untruthful. All through the book Myrtle is surrounded by lies in her life. The reader is shown this when Myrtle has a conversation with Mrs. Mckee. In their conversation Mrs. Mckee comments on how she liked Myrtles dress, but is instantly shot down by Myrtle in disdain. Myrtle then says, “I just slip it on when I don’t care what I look like.” (Fitzgerald 35) This is an awfully rude way of speaking to a guest who you invited to your own party. Myrtle was lying because she didn't have very much money to be honest, she just wanted people to think that she is the queen and wore expensive clothes like it was nothing special.

Daisy has the name of a flower, recognizable and with admissible charm. Flowers symbolize innocence, just as the color white does. A daisy, actually, categorizes itself as a wildflower and not of high value. This corresponds with the idea that Daisy, in the end, was not worth very much, or nearly as much as Gatsby made her out to be.

Fitzgerald uses Characters in The Great Gatsby for multiple reasons: as catalysts for significant events, as physical representations of 20s society, and in order to illustrate important themes in his novel. Fitzgerald uses Daisy and Myrtle particularly as inherent contrasts of people in the 1920’s. One represents love, the other sex; One wealth, the has a lack thereof; and they both represent different pitfalls in 20s society.

In chapter two, the McKees, who are Myrtle Wilson’s apartment neighbors are introduced through the narration of Nick Carraway. Fitzgerald’s purpose in introducing the McKees in this chapter is to emphasize the degradation of a drunken party and to show the kind of people Myrtle Wilson associates with. In other words, they present the reader with background information and give the story more definition.

In the 1920’s, the ideal of change was deeply ingrained into American society. This was due to the increase of industrialism and materialism following World War I which inspired the search for new freedoms and encouraged the establishment of radical concepts, such as class mobility. This period of liberation and its effect on the mindset of American citizens is illustrated through The Great Gatsby. In the novel, the characters of Myrtle Wilson and Jay Gatsby serve as representations of optimistic people during the Roaring Twenties who fell victim to the prospect of advancement and ultimately fell short of their goals. With the introduction of social mobility, much of the lower class attempted to move up in society during the 1920’s, although

In his book The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald observes the values and stereotypes of early 20th century American society through the lens of Nick Carraway, a young, working class man who gets absorbed into the lavish lifestyles of the rich and powerful. Fitzgerald examines societal beliefs about women of the time through Nick’s perceptions of the wealthy Tom Buchanan’s wife, Daisy, and Myrtle Wilson, his lower class mistress. The first time Nick interacts with Daisy in the book, he comments on the beauty of her pure white, undulating gown. However, when he meets Myrtle, the luxurious fabrics of her gowns cannot distract him from her voluptuous body and imperfect facial features. Despite the persona Myrtle tries to take on by adorning such fancy dresses, her duplicitous facade only makes Nick more aware of her awkwardness in the apparel. The contrast between Nick’s perceptions of Myrtle and Daisy’s garb represents society’s stagnant of their respective classes and the consequent inability of the poor to achieve the purity that comes with wealth and status.

The characters in The Great Gatsby are all connected in some shape or form. Each character is influenced by the other. This intricate web is what makes pinning one particular person for the deaths of Myrtle and Gatsby very difficult. The deaths of Myrtle and Gatsby is truly to be blamed on all of characters since they are all careless and reckless in their actions. Even though this statement may be true, there is however one person who can slightly blame more for each of the deaths. The death of Myrtle Wilson should mainly be placed upon Daisy Buchanan and the death of Jay Gatsby should be mainly placed upon Tom Buchanan.

The use of masks in The Great Gatsby is specifically used with different characters because they hiding who they truly are in order to be accepted.

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.

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the fictional novel The Great Gatsby illustrating, in Nick’s perspective, the dying and lost love through the conflicts of the classes with the example of Tom’s use for Myrtle, and Gatsby’s affection to Daisy. Tom brings Nick along with him to meet his new lover Myrtle Wilson, where they throw a party in her apartment. As she acts arrogantly to fit into the old money tradition, “Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face, discussing in impassioned voices whether Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy’s name...Moving a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” (Fitzgerald 37). As Tom broke Myrtle’s nose, this show no affection that Tom shows for Myrtle, as treating her like a property, as well as treating Daisy as property for still being married to her but also leaving her.

Both Myrtle and Gatsby are characters with romantic aspirations and believers in the American Dream. However, their ideals are perverted by the materialistic standards of society. Myrtle is trapped in poverty and momentary escapes come in the form of Tom Buchanan and the secret apartment. She uses Tom’s money to create what she thinks the upper class has, but is still limited by the space she has. All Myrtle’s nice things, such as the oversized furniture, just end up making it difficult to move just like how difficult it is for her to move up her socioeconomic status. Gatsby may own an abundance of material things, but all of it cannot satisfy him as his American Dream is incomplete without Daisy. He only has a lot of nice things to impress

Myrtle desires wealth and luxuries, and as a result she has an affair with Tom, who gives her anything she yearns for. Myrtle despises her lifestyle with her husband, George Wilson, due to the lower-class living and dirty, physical labor. She explains how, “I married him because I thought he was a gentleman … I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe” (Fitzgerald, 34). Myrtle planned to marry a rich man, so in the future he could support her children and herself, and they would be members of