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What Is The Theme Of Marriage In The Great Gatsby

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Fairy tales and Disney movies suggest that every little girl dreams of growing up, falling in love, and getting married. However, in their respective novels, Fitzgerald and Steinbeck illustrate a different purpose for getting married: to gain power or advantage. The classic novel, The Great Gatsby, takes place in New York in the erratic and animated summer of 1922. The story follows Nick Carraway as he peeks in on the higher class by befriending his mysterious and wealthy neighbor, Jay Gatsby, his rich cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and her arrogant husband Tom. The book Of Mice and Men follows a completely different set of characters from a lower class. The travelling pair George Milton and Lennie Small are finally able to find work at a ranch during the Great Depression in California. We watch as they interact with the unique cast of characters on the ranch. Though these two novels differ in plot, they do share a very important idea. People don’t marry for love; they marry for personal benefit.
The Great Gatsby displays two examples of marriages that happen not because of love but because they accomplished a goal for one or both of the couple marrying. The marriage of Myrtle and George Wilson is one example. Even though George did love her, or at least seemed to by his actions in the book, Myrtle did not love him and perhaps never had. She only married him because he was available to marry. Myrtle discusses with her sister about how she married him because she

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