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Relationships In The Great Gatsby

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Good evening ladies and gentlemen! Welcome back to the Classics! Allow me to introduce myself – I am your host for the evening, Dr Christina Baumann, head lecturer at the University of Cornell. Just to recap – last week we explored the major themes and relationships in To Kill a Mockingbird. In this week’s episode we are delving into the relationships in a novel that was once considered a dismal failure. The author was one of the famous “Lost Generation” of authors that lived in Paris during the 1920’s. You guessed it folks! Tonight, we will be uncovering the dire and dysfunctional relationships in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’. Fitzgerald wrote this novel in 1925 as a reflection of his thoughts on the 1920’s. The narrator of this …show more content…

The relationship between these two is far from conventional – Myrtle is Tom’s mistress from a lower class and is a prime example of someone who want to climb the social hierarchy. This was clearly demonstrated when Tom, Daisy, Nick and Jordan were all having dinner together at the Buchanan household and Myrtle began insistently calling. The reason for this is that she wanted to be number one in Tom’s eyes; she wanted to be heard and known. As Tom was old money and of a high class he lived in the East Egg with a house even more elaborate than expected, a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay (p.7). Tom also believes that it is his ‘birth right’ to have a mistress, as it is expected of him being in a higher class. He believes that by having a wife and a mistress and keeping them apart shows that he is strong and virile; it proves his authority. When comparing that to Myrtle, there is an obvious imbalance in class. Myrtle lived in the ‘valley of the ashes’, which is an accurate depiction of uninhibited pursuits of wealth ending in moral and social decay – a veracious representation of Myrtle. Myrtle has essentially come from the slums and holds onto every lie fed to her by Tom about why their relationship can’t become more serious, while Tom merely …show more content…

Back in Louisville, Daisy and Gatsby were secret lovers before he headed off to war. It was in this time that Gatsby was also dirt broke. Daisy, however, was from a well-respected family with traditional money. It was in the time that society’s rules and expectations burnt Gatsby to the ground, forcing him to lay in the ‘valley of ashes’ for a while before emerging and becoming the flame that lit his way to Daisy. Throughout the novel, the audience is subjected to witnessing the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy being torn apart by their different classes. While Daisy is from old, respected money, and also married to old money, Gatsby becomes a self-made man with his wealth forming from new money gathered from his illegal bootlegging operations. Gatsby likes to show off his wealth, particularly in his ‘house’ that is a colossal affair by any standard – a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy… a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden (p.6). Now, allow us to take a look at the extreme house parties Gatsby would throw in his expensive mansion, in the hopes that one-day Daisy would walk in. When Daisy and Gatsby finally reconnect, they are around the same level of money. However, because Daisy is from old money she is in a higher class whereas Gatsby is from new money which is frowned upon and considered a lower

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