In the summer of 1922, Nick, a Yale graduate, moves from his hometown, Minnesota and rents a house in West Egg, a long island suburb located directly across a bay from East Egg. West Egg is the least fashionable of the two as East Egg has a higher social position. Both districts are similar in a way, because they are both fairly wealthy, but the way they get their money is different as West Egg earns their money (new money) and East Egg inherits their money from their older family members (old money). His house is located right next to a gigantic mansion owned by a man named Jay Gatsby. One day, Nick drives over to East Egg to have lunch at the Buchanans; Daisy Buchanan is his cousin and Nick formally knew her husband, Tom from Yale. Nick…
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.…
Distinct differences and similarities play a key role between people; in the lives of the people they affect. Myrtle Wislon, from The Great Gatsby, in an interestingly depicted character who experiences her fair share of negative emotions. Additionally, from The Great Gatsby, we are introduced to Daisy Buchannan. Likewise to Myrtle, Daisy also experiences the same emotions; however, Daisy is not illustrated the same. For instance, one of the traits the women both portray in this novel is unhappiness of their marriage. Their similar characteristics are shown numerous times throughout this book; and it proves how they can not be happy for the things they have. Myrtle Wilson and Daisy Buchannan demonstrate their lack of happiness throughout this novel despite they…
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.…
Gatsby’s worth is demonstrated throughout the novel, Gatsby shows the ultimate selfless act at the end of the novel when he agrees to take the blame for the death of Myrtle which ultimately resulted in his own death. Nick asks, “Was Daisy driving?” to which Gatsby responds, “Yes... but of course I'll say I was.” Gatsby does not hesitate when taking the blame, it appears to the reader that he feels it is his duty rather than his decision, his love and dedication to Daisy are at the forefront of his mind throughout the novel. In addition his home and parties are described as “props to woo Daisy” in chapter 5 reinforcing that everything Gatsby has done and created throughout are in order to peruse Daisy and make her happy unlike Tom Buchanan who has no respect for Daisy which is highlighted to the reader by his affairs in particular his affair with Myrtle. Tom is shown by Nick to be an aggressive overpowering figure that is violent towards woman and has no respect for anyone of a lower class or social standing than himself. Tom is described in chapter 1 as having “arrogant eyes” and “leaning aggressively forward”, later in chapter 2 Nick tells us how Tom made a “short deft movement and broke [Myrtles] nose with his open hand” showing him as a violent man. Fitzgerald created the character of Tom as an image of corruption and inequality in 1920’s society; he is representative of the arrogance of the upper class. As readers we have more respect for Gatsby; a…
One of the women characters to who may show sympathy towards is Daisy. Daisy throughout the novel is oblivious to the fact that Tom, her husband, has an intimate relationship with the character Myrtle in a very public way. This is one of the ways in which we, the reader, sympathise towards Daisy, not only because of the fact that Tom is cheating on her with other characters but, the public way in which this affair is being carried out with everyone aware of Tom and Myrtles relations, other than Daisy yet saying very little to her about it.…
Jay Gatsby is a new money who made living as a bootlegger. Gatsby tried to use the fancy story to cover his real identity, the son of a poor farmer of North Dakota. That’s because he despised poverty and he was self-abasement about his childhood. So he decided to make up a story in order to pretend like an old money. He even changed his name ‘James Gatz’ to ‘Jay Gatsby’, but his new name didn’t help him to cover the insecure side of his heart. He wanted to get people’s recognition, while he was afraid that people might ‘misunderstand’ him. So he was eager to know other people’s opinion of him and tried to brainwash them to make them believe that he was an old money. Apparently, Tom Buchanan, the real old money didn’t buy it. After almost one…
Tom being prosperous, Myrtle felt as if because she is with him that he elevates her to high class. She felt better with Tom because he was important, therefore, with George she felt miserable. Myrtle’s American dream was to become a wealthy man’s trophy wife. For this reason, she has a strong desire for a powerful man to take care of her. Having to allow her money hungry mind to take over, she allows Tom to beat her. Able to play a wealthy woman’s rule being involved with Tom, she began to act like a snob. Later in the novel, George finds out that she is in an affair, but not with whom. In effect, he gets angry and locks her in their apartment over the garage he owns. Working sickly, George tries to make enough money to move out west to get her away from the city. Not respecting her husband’s decision, she tells him “Beat me! Throw me down and beat me you dirty little coward!” (144). She wants him to be aggressive and powerful like Tom, but he refuses. After having a heated discussion with George, she breaks out the apartment and rushes outside. Having seen Tom driving Gatsby’s yellow car earlier, she sees it coming and dashes out on the road towards it. Not being her lover, Gatsby turns the wheel in Daisy’s hands, and tries to swerve out of the way. Tragically being foolish, Myrtle runs in front of the car and gets hit. The blow from the car to her body ended her life. Not only did her death upset both George and Tom, but it also ended Gatsby’s life. After mourning over his wife, George went to Gatsby’s mansion and shot him in his swimming pool, and then took his own life. In the final analysis, because of her selfishness and greedy needs, she not only caused her own death, but also causes the death of an innocent…
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?”…
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.…
Gatsby achieves his wealth through criminal activity, which he does to gain wealth for Daisy. Additionally, Gatsby tried to steal Tom’s wife, Daisy, away from him. Not only did Gatsby fail to get the woman of his dreams, but Tom blamed the killing of Wilson’s wife on Gatsby, which resulted in Gatsby’s death. Lastly, he is prepared to take the blame for Daisy driving the car and killing Myrtle. “Of course I’ll say I was driving” (Fitzgerald 143), he says. This can be seen as a heroic action, but he shows his dishonestly in a legal situation. The love and protection he had over Daisy cost him his life, and the end to pursuing his American Dream. At the end, his dedication to the achievement of wealth which he pursued throughout his life failed because he denied his true roots and his true…
The violent act that begins the downward spiral in The Great Gatsby is when Tom Buchanan hits Myrtle, his mistress, in the face. “It was a body capable of enormous leverage — a cruel body (Fitzgerald, 12). ” is how Nick describes Tom’s intimidating physique when he first meets him. So it is not surprising that when Myrtle begins to taunt him by repeating his wife’s name that he reacted and “broke her nose with his open hand (Fitzgerald, 41).” This scene of violence demonstrates that people like Tom, living in East Egg, think that they are better than everyone else and can disrespect or ignore others because of social status. This is the underlying cause of the deaths in the novel.…
When Gatsby found out that Daisy married Tom Buchanan, he lost himself. Gatsby was only worried about Daisy and what she wanted, for he needed to win her over to reach his goal. He focused so much on Daisy that he lost comprehension of his possible character collapse that could occur if he went too far with her pampering and temptation to take her from Tom. Gatsby has wasted many years trying to live up to the American dream and gain wealth. However, Jay has failed to realize that the so called “American Dream” doesn’t exist, for the society has become selfish and grouped into classes. Because of this and the fact that he was considered “new money”, Jay was powerless in the task of reaching Daisy’s class and rating. Jay was prepared to take the blame for Daisy, when she accidentally hit and killed Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s mistress. Because everyone believed that Gatsby did the bad deed, Nick told him to flee the town, but he stayed, for he couldn’t leave Daisy. After George Wilson, Myrtle’s husband, shot and killed Gatsby to gain revenge, Daisy left the town and didn’t attend Jay’s funeral, which led to the end of Jay’s character breakdown. Gatsby’s character downfall and ordeal were negatively impacted by his need to achieve the American dream and Daisy’s…
Because in the story it’s all formed around love. Gatsby wanted Daisy to wait till he made something of himself because he loved her. Gatsby throws parties to find Daisy because he loves her. His house is designed to please Daisy as well as himself because he loves her. Gatsby waits till Daisy is ready to tell Tom about their affair because he loves her. Daisy chooses Tom over Gatsby because she loves him. When Daisy killed Myrtle they pinned it on Gatsby because they love each other. Gatsby was killed because Willson loved…
Gatsby wanted to feel like he was living in the past with Daisy but he was isolated and disillusioned because he was living in a modern society. Additionally, he was isolated because he could not have a social status or Daisy. In the book, Gatsby was a fantastic character because he wanted to hide in the past with Daisy when everything was perfect. While the other characters in this book went with the change of society. Also in the book, Gatsby’s yellow car symbolizes the modernization. Gatsby’s car accidently kills Myrtle, which eventually leads to his death. Gatsby cannot escape modernization or his own death at the end of this book. Lastly, Gatsby surprisingly takes the blame for Myrtles death because this is what he thinks will help him keep living in the past with Daisy. This makes it very clear that Gatsby is isolated and a disilluded character.…