Examples Of Irony In The Great Gatsby

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s magnum opus, The Great Gatsby, the theme of the attractive masks of unpleasant realities is present in the first chapter. Nick Carraway, the persona of this great American novel, introduces his relative Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom in this chapter as people everyone would desire to be as the two are not only wealthy but aristocratic (Fitzgerald 9-11). Despite seeming to lead completely flawless lives due to how privileged they are, Daisy and Tom really do not, for their marriage is in name only. This is so because, like many women from old money families, she married Tom since he is her equal financially and socially, not because they are in love with each other. Daisy’s constant need to maintain her lavish lifestyle is what forces her to stay with Tom even though he is not exactly the man he appears to be as he is neither a committed husband nor father in actuality.
Scott Fitzgerald to expose the hypocrisy of Tom’s mistress, Myrtle. In this chapter, Tom takes her from her home in the valley of ashes to his Morning Heights apartment where she meets her sister Catherine with whom she engages in a conversation. During their exchange, Myrtle discusses how people solely care about money and material possessions and goes on to provide an example of such behavior (Fitzgerald 35). What she fails to realize is she is not any better than the people she scorns, for she stopped on their way to his apartment because she wanted him to purchase her a dog which demonstrates she is with him not because she loves him, but because he can provide her with what her husband cannot: luxurious