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.
Tom knew Myrtle better than any of the main characters. He had met her on a train headed for New York. When the train reached the city, she went with him in a taxi, and their affair began. Tom never made much of an effort to keep their relationship secret. In fact, he almost paraded her around in the presence of his acquaintances.
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She, of course, could not do this because it was simply too much to ask of her. Tom believed he had won their disagreement, but the day only grew worse. He may have won Daisy, but he had lost Myrtle forever. He completely blamed Gatsby, and his feelings of dislike only grew stronger. That night, he talked with Daisy until early in the morning. In the end, Myrtle's death may have had such an effect on Tom that he finally turned to his own wife for everything he had searched for outside of the marriage. He had lost Myrtle, and he had come very close to losing Daisy that same day. These events may have encouraged him not to take his wife for granted any longer.
While Daisy did not know Myrtle personally, there is a very good possibility that she knew Tom was having an affair with her. She was well aware of Tom's past behavior, and she made no attempts to deny it. She simply accepted it because she had no other choice. After spending the day in New York with the others, she was obviously upset and tense. The day had taxed her to the limit. Gatsby had demanded too much of her, and she just was not strong enough to endure any further argument. She chose to drive him back to East Egg in an attempt to calm her nerves. When they passed Wilson's garage, Myrtle ran into the street toward Gatsby's car, thinking it belonged to Tom. According to Gatsby, Daisy turned the wheel toward the oncoming car in the other lane, but she lost her nerve and hit
I think that gatsby was the one of the main causes of myrtle's death because when myrtle was hit by the car gatsby had told daisy to drive because he thought that having her drive would relieve some of her stress and sadness. When daisy was driving her mind was probably elsewhere after the argument. she had so much sadness because of when gatsby told tom"I've got something to tell you, old sport...Your wife doesn't love you,...She's never loved you. She loves me."after gatsby said this he and tom fought over her love. she was also sad because she told tom that she didn't love him even though she did love him.daisy got mad at gatsby and said "Oh, you want too much!" she cried to Gatsby. "I love you now--isn't that enough? I can't help what's
Gatsby and Daisy had met years prior, but ended up going their separate ways. However, Gatsby remained in love with Daisy and longed for her affection. The two reconcile, and Daisy starts seeing Gatsby outside of her marriage with Tom. In this, Daisy is leading Gatsby on by making him believe he will attain his ultimate dream: a life with her. However, Daisy knows deep down she will not leave Tom for Gatsby. This is proven when a confrontation about the affair sparks between Tom and Gatsby, and Daisy attempts to defend Gatsby and stick up to Tom, but ultimately fails and retreats back to her husband. “Her frightened eyes told that whatever intentions, whatever courage she had had, were definitely gone” (Fitzgerald 135). Daisy’s carelessness shines through in leading Gatsby to believe she would abandon Tom for him, but fails to follow through. She recklessly broke the heart of the man who had been in love with her for many
Tom was the cause of Myrtle and Gatsby’s death, and here’s why. In the book, Tom cheats on his wife Daisy with Myrtle. Myrtle also had a husband, Wilson. So they both are cheating on each other's significant other. But Tom knew Wilson himself and after Myrtle had gotten run over in the book it said that Tom implied or told Wilson that Gatsby had done it telling him “I'm a friend of his.”
First, in the beginning of the book, when Daisy’s cousin Nick Carraway comes over for dinner since he just moved across the lake, Tom goes during the middle of their meal to answer the phone. When puzzled faces across all of the guests appear, Tom had to answer the phone because “work” was calling. Daisy had a very nervous face when Tom left and she excused herself from the table and went over to see exactly what Tom was talking about and that’s when she found out that he was cheating on her with Myrtle Wilson. But
But things keep getting worse for Daisy as the next result of her chasing this dream is the death of Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s mistress. After the previously mentioned fallout, Daisy drives home and hits Myrtle with a car, killing her. Daisy has now become a murderer as a result of a domino effect from her chasing the American dream, and she will have to live with that for the rest of her life. Even though Gatsby does decide to take the blame for her as it was his car she was driving, the incident will still haunt her, it traumatized her so much she couldn’t even stop the car when it happened Gatsby says that he “tried to make her stop, but she couldn’t, so I pulled on the emergency brake. Then she fell over into my lap and I drove on” (Fitzgerald 144).
First, Tom and Daisy demonstrate their carelessness through their insensitiveness. When Tom is visiting his mistress, Myrtle, she taunts Tom by repeatedly saying “Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!” (Fitzgerald, 39). This causes Tom to get aggravated and strike Myrtle in the face, breaking her nose. Tom physically abuses Myrtle and while he is under the influence of alcohol, he has the intent of hurting her, not caring if she gets injured. Tom also lies to Myrtle, telling her that he would marry her if is wife wasn’t Catholic. Tom does not care about the feelings of his mistress, seeing her as an object and not a human. Myrtle is nothing more than a way for Tom to feel powerful due to her low social status and insecurities. It is mentioned that Tom has cheated on Daisy before with a maid, further proving that Toms motive for having an affair is power. It also proves that Tom is not cheating on Daisy because he is bored, but because he does not truly love her or care for her. Tom’s lack of concern for those around him proves his insensitiveness and overall carelessness.
Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is a fascinating work that details the corruptive influence of greed. The main character is a man named Gatsby. The two main female characters are Daisy and Myrtle. These two women provide an interesting contrast while complementing each other at the same time. Daisy is living a life of luxury while Myrtle is struggling to make ends meet. They both play major roles in the novel, and, although their intentions seem pure and promising enough, they both are doomed to succumb to greed which causes eventual death.
Daisy, who is another careless character in this book is can be blamed for three things, hitting Myrtle with Gatsby’s car, not confessing to it and allowing her affair with Gatsby to start up and continue. Daisy not only hit myrtle with Gatsby’s car but also didn’t decide to stop, “Daisy stepped on it” (151). She had no intentions of swerving before the hit or slowing down and stopping after it. This shows her jealousy towards Tom’s affair with Myrtle, along with that she didn’t take responsibility and selfishly did not confess to what she had done and how it could affect others. Secondly, she subconsciously leads Gatsby on into thinking that he really did have her back all to himself when realistically she was not sure what she was going to do. While talking to Jordan “She realized at last what she was doing — and as though she had never, all along, intended doing anything at all.” (175). Her affair with Gatsby was risky and turned into nothing but damage in the end. Lastly, Daisy says to Gatsby "I did love him once – but I loved you too" (140) referring to Tom. She shows her carelessness over her marriage seeing as she had an affair with Gatsby and didn’t think to put a stop to it. If Daisy had not had the affair with him, there would be no reason for Tom to want revenge on Gatsby in the first place, therefore Gatsby would’ve have been blamed.
That is why she accepted to have an affair with tom buchanan who always used to insult her and treat her only like one of his mistress whom he have only to satisfy his desires and have sex with. She did not want to accept that fact and kept convincing her self that he will not marry her and leave daisy only because "she is a catholic, and they don't believe in divorce".(23) even when "tom bunchana broke her knows with his open hand" she continued with this affair for the sake of money and wealth that tom had but her husband, mrs wilson, did not has. Myrtle's worthless try to be rich and wealthy ended up with her dead by a yellow
The Great Gatsby has many different characters who all have very different traits and personalities. Myrtle’s character is very snobby, not too bright, and seems to get into abusive relationships, likely because of the attraction she has to dominant men. Myrtle is married to a man named George Wilson and is also Tom Buchanan’s mistress. She lives in a place called “Valley of Ashes” and belongs to the lower class, even though she acts as if she is better than them and is not one of them herself. Myrtle is also known as being a fool because of all the things she falls for and believes.
Daisy then left with Gatsby to his house. On their way to the house, they hit Myrtle with a Gatsby’s car and drove off. Daisy then settles her differences with Tom and they get back together, leaving Gatsby alone and ignites his downfall:
His actions show that he is not loyal nor respectful towards Daisy, instead displaying apathy and disinterest. In addition to acting uncompassionate towards Daisy, he is also not taking into consideration Myrtle’s feelings. In fact, he lies to her in order to stop himself from being forced into a committed relationship. This lie that Tom tells Myrtle is not only extremely false, but also shows he is simply using her. “It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart. She’s a Catholic, and they don’t believe in divorce” (Fitzgerald 33). Tom lying to Myrtle shows he has no intention of marrying her, instead he only wants to take advantage of her vulnerable state. Myrtle is unhappy and desperate to fulfill her dream of moving up social classes. Instead of acting sympathetically towards her situation, he exploits her weakness. Likewise, Daisy and Gatsby’s affair shows similar exploitation for one’s own personal needs over the emotions of their counterpart. Without Tom’s knowledge, Daisy has an affair with her long lost love, Gatsby. Then they sauntered over to my house and sat on the steps for half an hour… (Fitzgerald 105). During this affair Daisy shows no acknowledgement of Tom’s feelings, the man she married and pledged to be loyal to. At the same time, she is also exploiting Gatsby. Authors say, “...his desire to marry Daisy as an attempt to enter/create
Myrtle Wilson, the wife of George, and the lover of Tom Buchanan, is brutally murdered toward the end of the novel. After an uncivilized afternoon in New York, Daisy and Gatsby head swiftly back to East Egg. Gatsby explains to Nick, “It all happened in a minute, but it seemed to me that she wanted to speak to us, thought we were somebody she knew” (Fitzgerald 109). Myrtle ran out toward the car looking for Tom but sadly for her it is not him. Many know about Tom’s affair, but not with whom he is having it, especially Daisy. Daisy never slows the car down, and she never realizes who she hits. This shows that Daisy is oblivious to Myrtles existence. Myrtle is sleeping with her husband, she ruins their marriage, and Daisy kills her. The irony exists in this because Daisy actually saves her marriage by killing
When Gatsby and Daisy were returning from town Daisy hits Myrtle and does not even stop to check what happened to the victim. She leaves Gatsby with his car knowing he will get into trouble as it is his car but she does not care. Gatsby has no choice but to take the blame on himself. "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up their mess”(pg 167). After this she leaves on vacations not caring what happens to Gatsby neither she accepts her mistake.
She, however, takes advantage of the fact that Gatsby is willing to do anything for her, and convinces him to take responsibility for Myrtle’s death, which she caused! Gatsby is so blinded by his love for her that he does not even realise that he is being manipulated. For example when questioned by Nick as to whether or not Daisy was driving when the accident causing Myrtle’s death occurred, Gatsby responds by saying: “Yes... but of course I’ll say I was.” This lie eventually leads to his death, and Daisy does not even have the decency to attend his funeral.