Myrtle's American Dream

They carry the façade of wealth and happiness, when in reality; they both are unhappy with their marriage and are seeking other partners. Neither of them can take responsibility for their actions, especially Daisy, who kills Myrtle Wilson. Instead they flee into their wealth and leave without a trace. The Buchanan’s traveled cross country because Tom wished to get into the bonding business. Therefore they followed the American dream and headed East, only to be met with difficulties. Tom had met an automotive shop owner’s wife, Myrtle, who desired to be rich, and fell in love. Daisy was originally heartbroken, and upset with her marriage. When they had delivered the Buchanan’s daughter Daisy wept and wished for her to grow up and become “a beautiful little fool” because in the 1920’s world, that’s all a woman can achieve with the American dream. Since knowing about her husband’s affair, Daisy immediately falls back in love with Gatsby once the couple is reunited but can never admit that she once loved Tom also. This becomes a major issue for the estranged couple, and leads to Daisy recklessly driving home from town one day in Gatsby’s car. She crashes into Myrtle Wilson, killing her instantly. Instead of taking responsibility, Daisy flees from the crime scene. The repercussions cost Gatsby his life, but neither Daisy nor Tom attend his funeral and eventually travel away, without telling a

Another drastic situation created by Daisy arises. However, she does not have to deal with the consequences of it. Myrtle’s husband sees Gatsby in the car, and makes the assumption that he was the one having an affair with Myrtle, which is why she would run into the street to leave her husband and be with the man in the car. Instead of owning up to her mistake, Daisy allows Gatsby to willingly take the blame for Myrtle’s death. When Nick asks if Daisy was driving the car, he replies “‘Yes, but of course I’ll say I was’” (Fitzgerald 137). This causes George Wilson to kill Gatsby, an innocent man, because of the assumption that he was the one who killed Myrtle and had an affair with her. Through all this, Daisy never confessed to being the person behind the wheel of the car and Tom never confessed to being the man who Myrtle was a mistress to. After this incident, Daisy and Tom packed their bags and moved to the Midwest, avoiding the problems they created yet

“... it is a story about failure and death, an idealistic quest for unworthy goals, and the almost total collapse of the aspirations of nearly all of the principal characters” (Nagel 113). The Great Gatsby is a story that represents people’s unachieved aspirations that lead to a sad existence and ultimately death. They are all trying to attain one thing, the American Dream. The American Dream is almost impossible to attain and that is why a lot of people failed when it came to living out the American Dream. In Fitzgerald’s, “The Great Gatsby”, Gatsby tries to attain the American Dream through Daisy throughout the whole novel but fails and is left heartbroken.

After her death, George is devastated and starts to go crazy. Because of his love for Myrtle, he enters a mental state that is only concerned with avenging her death. George confronts Tom, but Tom convinces George that the person truly responsible for Myrtle’s death was Gatsby. George believes Tom and travels to west egg where he shoots Gatsby and himself. Tom’s actions are another example of the rich being careless. He knows that George about to do something dangerous and desperate, but instead of trying to defuse the situation, he merely redirects the aggression towards Gatsby. Tom shows his belief that he was justified in sending Wilson after Gatsby when he tells Nick, "What if I did tell him? That fellow had it coming to him. He threw dust into your eyes just like he did in Daisy's, but he was a tough one. He ran over Myrtle like you'd run over a dog and never even stopped his car.” As a result of Tom’s careless actions, two more people die, and Tom leaves the mess for other people to clean

The Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a story of misguided love between a man and a woman. Fitzgerald takes his reader through the turbulence and trials of Jay Gatsby’s life and of his pining for the girl he met five years prior. The main theme of the novel, however, is not solely about the love shared between Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. The main purpose is to show the decline and decay of the American Dream in the 1920’s. The American Dream is the goal or idea which suggests that all people can succeed through hard work, and that all have the potential to live happy, successful lives. While on the surface, Gatsby

It was after we started with Gatsby [his dead body] toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete” (Fitzgerald, 161, 162). Gatsby made Tom’s life easier by being in the car that killed Myrtle. Wilson was originally going to go after Tom, but Tom corrected him that it was Gatsby’s car that killed his wife. Tom can easily get rid of Gatsby because Wilson wants to avenge his wife’s death. As Gatsby got into the pool and waited for the call that would never come, he gave up on his aspirations and is killed by Wilson.

Wilson had no friends, and his only true relationship was with Myrtle. However, she did not love him, and was cheating on him with Tom. Wilson also thought that Gatsby was the one who was in a relationship with Myrtle, and that he is the one who killed Myrtle. I find it interesting and disturbing the lengths the characters went to either protect the ones they love, or to keep themselves from being alone. Gatsby was in love with Daisy, and did not cease to protect her even after she chose to be with Tom. He did not want Daisy to get in trouble for killing Myrtle, and would rather take the blame than have Daisy face the consequences of her actions. However, I am not sure if Gatsby did this because he loved her, or because he was still clinging onto the hope that Daisy would choose to be with him. Gatsby loved Daisy, but I also believe he did not want to be

Tom stated “‘I told him the truth... he was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn’t of told him who owned the car [and] his hand was on a revolver in his pocket every minute he was in the house” (180). Mr. Wilson was an emotional wreck due to the loss of his wife and forced Tom to reveal who he thought was driving the car. Tom is also implicated for the murder of Gatsby, because he is the reason Myrtle was hit by the car in the first place. Before Myrtle ran into traffic, her and Mr. Wilson got into a loud argument.

Myrtle Wilson is the second major character in The Great Gatsby. She is about 30 years old and is “faintly stout but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some woman can” (The Great Gatsby: Character). Myrtle is married to George Wilson, also a mistress to Tom Buchanan. She is not happy with her marriage nor her lifestyle. Myrtle is part of the lower class of society making her poor. With them being poor they end up living in their car garage. George seemed like a gentleman and that is why Myrtle married him, but turns out that he wasn’t. Tom is part the upper class of society which attracts Myrtle to him. They spend a lot of time in the city together. She has an excuse to tell George that she is visiting her sister. George is getting a suspicion that Myrtle is up to no good, and locks her up in a closet. Myrtle being upset, notices a yellow car thinking it was Tom because she noticed him driving it earlier, she runs to the car to get away from George

The Great Gatsby a, novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, follows a cast of characters abiding in the town of East and West Egg on affluent Long Island in the summer of 1922. Each of the characters, while part of the same story line, have different priorities and agendas, each character working towards achieving what they think would benefit them the most. As The Great Gatsby’s plot thickens the characters constantly show their discontent of the American Dream that they are living, always expressing their greed for more, three particular offenders of this deadly sin are Tom, Daisy and Gatsby himself. The characters motives stem from a mixture of boredom, a need and longing for the american dream, and simple selfish human

The Great Gatsby is a novel that illustrates the society in the 1920's and the associated beliefs, values and dreams of the American population at that time. These beliefs, values and dreams can be summed up be what is termed the "American Dream", a dream of money, wealth, prosperity and the happiness that supposedly came with the booming economy and get-rich-quick schemes that formed the essential underworld of American upper-class society. This underworld infiltrated the upper echelons and created such a moral decay within general society that paved the way for the ruining of dreams and dashing of hopes as they were placed confidently in the chance for opportunities that could be seized by one and all. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates the

She is participating in adulterous affairs with Tom Buchanan, she believes Tom actually loves her and will not marry her due to his religious beliefs in reality, Tom wont marry her because he does not love her and would never leave the perfect facade; family, the beautiful wife, wealth. All Myrtle will ever be to Tom is his mistress, not only that her assumption that sleeping with Tom, will give her the life she always dreamt of is is also naive.” 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. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur.

So knowing that Tom’s mistress is dead, and Daisy had left Tom for Gatsby, Tom has no one to give his love too. Mr. Wilson gets mad and says that Gatsby ran over his wife and killed her, Mr. Wilson is going to kill

As Myrtle’s relationship with George Wilson deteriorates and she is disenchanted with his limited lifestyle, she desires more and thus when she meets Tom he offers her this. In some distorted way, Myrtle thinks that Tom will leave his beautiful wife Daisy and marry her, Tom doesn’t truly see the relationship between Myrtle and himself being a true relationship, he just believes she is someone he can call upon unannounced and use her for a sexual relationship. But Myrtle has other plans for the two of them. This is made clear when he breaks Myrtle’s nose we she mentioned his wife’s name: “‘Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!’ shouted Mrs. Wilson. ‘I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy Dai-‘Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” (Fitzgerald, 1926)This harsh action implied by Tom, really puts Mrs. Wilson in her place, making her come to her sense of what she can and cannot say. This reaction from Tom signifies that it is not a pure love existing between them. Further, Myrtle’s desire for the material goods Tom can provide shapes her conception of their alleged love, which is evidently greatly distorted as shown through Tom’s treatment of her.

The Great Gatsby is about a couple of friends who have different meanings of each other and how they hide secrets from one another to keep each other safe.This novel was published in 1925 to show what it was thought of to live The American Dream and how it affected others. In the Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The American Dream is seen as people who were never satisfied even if they are wealthy because they just want more in life.