Scene One: Tom Buchanan and Nick Carraway walk through Tom Buchanan’s front lawn and enter the living room. Inside the living room Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker lounge on the sofa. Jordan Baker is trying to balance a book on top of her head while sitting on the sofa. Daisy Buchanan slowly sits up and walks over to Nick Carraway. Daisy Buchanan (to Nick): I’m paralyzed with happiness. Daisy briefly hugs Nick. Daisy Buchanan: How are things back in Chicago? Do they miss me? Nick Carraway: The whole town seems desolate. Everyone misses you, Daisy. Tom turns to Nick. Tom Buchanan: So what do you do as a living, Nick? Nick Carraway: I'm a bondman. For the Bond Company, of course. Tom Buchanan (snorting): Never heard of them. Nick Carraway: …show more content…
She was less than an hour old and who knows where Tom was. I felt abandoned. Hearing it was a girl, I just hope she’ll be a fool, because that’s the best things a girl can be in this world! Daisy looks at Nick with a smirk. They both walk back in the house. Tom and Jordan sit at either end of a long couch. Daisy Buchanan: Jordan’s going to play in the tournament tomorrow over at Westchester. Nick Carraway: Oh, —you’re Jordan Baker. Jordan Baker (nodding): Well it is getting late. (She says softly.) Wake me at eight, won’t you. Good night, Mr. Carraway. Daisy Buchanan: Oh, I think I’ll arrange a marriage, Nick. I can set you both up together perfectly! Jordan Baker (calls from the stairs): Good night. I haven’t heard a word. Scene Two: Tom Buchanan leads Nick Carraway down the sidewalk. While walking, Tom Buchanan is keeping a conversation with Nick Carraway. Nick Carraway: What are we doing? Tom Buchanan: You know, Nick. I want you to meet my girl. Tom Buchanan and Nick Carraway stop in front of a garage where George Wilson stands wiping a cloth on a car. George Wilson: Tom! Come on in. Tom Buchanan: Hello Wilson. How’s business? George Wilson: I can't complain. When are you going to sell me the car? I bet I can work a bit faster on the car if you allow me …show more content…
But it is really Daisy, who keeps them together. She’s a Catholic and they don’t believe in divorce. It’s been more discreet to go to Europe. I just got back from Monte Carlo. Nick Carraway: Stay long? Catherine: No, I hated that town. I almost even married someone but I ditched him for Chester. You should have done the same Myrtle. Myrtle Wilson: At least you didn’t marry him. I married him. And that's the difference between your case and mine. I thought he was a gentleman, but I was completely wrong. Catherine: You were crazy about him for a while. Myrtle Wilson: I was crazy when I married him. I knew right away that I made a mistake. Catherine: She really ought to get away from him. They’ve been living over that garage for eleven years. Tom’s the first sweetie she ever had. Myrtle Wilson: I was going up to New York and saw him on the train, dressed very nicely. Every time he looked at me I had to pretend to be looking elsewhere. I was so excited about him. Myrtle turns away. Nick looks at his watch. Myrtle Wilson: Too bad Tom still chooses Daisy over me. Tom overhears and stomps over to Myrtle. Tom Buchanan: How dare you utter her name! Myrtle Wilson: Daisy! Daisy! Daisy! I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy!
Nick, the narrator of the novel, introduces the reader(s) to Tom Buchanan, the husband of his cousin, Daisy, and explains how Nick has always known Tom as the annoying, egotistical, and the stereotypical rich white man, which is shown in his thoughts,
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
Mrs. Myrtle Wilson's reality was that she was a lower class, somewhat undesirable woman who dreamed that she could somehow elevate her status. The fantasy world that she created when she was with Tom lasted only momentarily and reality hit her mercilessly. Her desire to be a part of the elite class compromised her integrity; she was so desperate to fit in that accepted whatever treatment Tom was giving her. Chasing a painful dream and allowing herself to be abused, reality still had not sunk in for Myrtle when Tom broke her nose when she said what he did not want to hear (Fitzgerald, 41). She was married to a gas attendant, whom she did not appreciate, who was nothing like Tom and could not provide her with the lifestyle she yearned for. She blatantly disrespected him in conversation with her sister and Nick, saying, "I thought he knew something about breeding but he wasn't fit to lick my shoe (Fitzgerald, 39)." Each time Tom picked
Daisy is telling Nick that she made the wrong choice in marrying Tom and that she is a fool for not waiting for Gatsby. Nick is one of the only people that knows this about Daisy and never shares it with anyone else. Nick Carraway is a terrific
. . . And one fine morning- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 180). Furthermore, Fitzgerald illustrates that no matter how much effort a person gives, the world will ultimately oppose them. As in Gatsby’s case, he died an unknown figure and nobody dared to attend his funeral to commiserate him. Another instance of Fitzgerald’s opinion regarding the American dream was prevalent through the actions of Myrtle Wilson. Throughout the novel, Myrtle was engrossed in the lavish lifestyle she attained through a surreptitious affair with Tom Buchanan. Myrtle’s personality transformed as she took advantage of Tom’s money by using it to live out her fantasy. Although Myrtle’s American dream occured sparsely, she displayed how materialistic she was by stating, “I married him (George) because I thought he was a gentleman. . . . I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in, and never even told me about it .
Myrtle Wilson, also married, hides her love affair from her husband, George Wilson. She is extremely unhappy with her husband claiming when they met, "[she] thought he knew something…but he was not fit to [even] lick [her] shoe" (39). It is evident how important class and wealth is to Myrtle. Once she found out her husband was not rich she became utterly dissapointed. But when she first met Tom, "he had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes and [she] couldn 't keep [her] eyes off him" (40). She is immediately attracted to Tom’s obvious wealth. Myrtle claims Tom Buchanan is the love of her life, that being said she uses Tom to escape the “Valley of Ashes.” She longs to live the American Dream amongst the wealthy, but struggles to keep up with the
“Beat me!” he heard her cry. “Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward!” (Page 137) This quote has a lot of significances because it shows how Myrtle has no respect for her husband, as if she truly is convinced she is in a higher class than
She was jealous of Jordan. Who she thought to be his wife. "Her expression was curiously familiar — it was an expression I had often seen on women’s faces, but on Myrtle Wilson’s face it seemed purposeless and inexplicable until I realized that her eyes, wide with jealous terror, were fixed not on Tom, but on Jordan Baker, whom she took to be his wife." 5. George Wilson believes that his wife is cheating.
Myrtle Wilson, a woman of ludicrous ostentation, yearns to escape her class to enter the higher ranks. She believes a marriage to Tom Buchanan will relieve her of this lower status. Myrtle is obsessed by appearances and unaware of realities, as is shown in her excessive concern of clothing. She attempts to impress the upper society while looking
Myrtle Wilson is obsessed with leaving her poor life behind her by being with Tom but unlike Gatsby, her attempts are fruitless. She attempts to make herself seem an upper class person like when she changed her dress before the party in chapter two. She believes her husband is beneath her and talks of all low statuses as if she isn’t one of them. "I told that boy about the ice." Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders. "These people! You have to keep after them all the time." (42)
While all previous cases of Wilson have been employed as a means of further developing characters. Complementing this role, Wilson also plays a noteworthy part in plot development. Following the death of Myrtle, who Daisy, in fact, killed, Wilson learns of Myrtle's affair. However, through his own odd logic, Wilson comes to believe that Myrtle was running out to see her lover, when in fact she was running away from Wilson himself.
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
To Myrtle Wilson, the American Dream is to become wealthy and high class. For her, this is impossible. She is married to a working class man who owns an auto shop in a rundown part of New York. Myrtle is so corrupted by money that she cheats on her hardworking, loving husband, in order to be with Tom Buchanon’s money. When describing her marriage, Myrtle said, “The only crazy I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in . . . then I lay down and cried to beat the band all afternoon” (35). She was, of course, talking about money issues. She thought her husband was wealthy, but when he had to borrow a suit, she became depressed and she believed her life was ruined. Myrtles unhealthy fixation on money ruined her marriage, and led to her becoming Tom’s mistress. Tom can supply her with the wealth she needs to feel happy. When given the chance, Tom will take Myrtle to parties just so she can wear the fancy clothing that he gave her. This
Wilson gives to Myrtle his complete trust in the same way he provides Myrtle with what she asks for, but she abuses it. She takes her husband for granted while at the same time, she gazes at Tom sitting on a pedestal she has made for him. Tom is the man that can make Myrtle's every fantasy come true, but also the man that will lead to her early death. Myrtle is seen to be a fun and floozy mistress, but not as a real wife. She, as superficial as it may be, is not someone that Tom could take to parties and introduce to his parents. Myrtle controls Wilson, while Tom manipulates her simply for enjoyment. For example, Tom tells Myrtle that the reason they could never wed is because his wife, Daisy, is Catholic and she would never stand for a divorce. In this scene, Catherine, Myrtle's sister, tells Nick Carraway, the narrator, about the reasons why Tom and Myrtle may never come
Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Nick's cousin and her husband, are two of the most snobbishly wealthy people Nick knows. When Nick first introduces them, he states,