Rank Doesn’t Matter In The Great Gatsby, the reader sees a handsome young man, a wealthy husband, and a pretty lady. The theme of dissatisfaction is demonstrated through Tom and Daisy Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby. They are all unhappy with their lives and they destroy the lives of others in order to satisfy themselves. None of these characters are happy, instead they are dissatisfied with their marriage, love, life and themselves. The first unhappiness to appear is dislike of one’s class and position within society. Early in the book Daisy, a beautiful young woman from Louisville, Kentucky gives birth to a baby girl and says of her that “I hope she’ll be a fool. That’s the best thing a girl can be in the world. A beautiful little fool” (21). …show more content…
In chapter 2 Tom starts to care less about his status as a wealthy man and gets himself a mistress with which he flaunts with “wherever he was known.” (_) Tom lets the whole world see his mistress unconcerned with his wife knowing and with what others think. He uses his power to try to make his life different, fun, pleasurable. Yet, like others before him it is not enough. So if he cannot have peace and joy why not bring others down lower than his inward state. Furthermore, George Wilson soon finds out about his wife’s affair “He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically sick.” (-) George cannot deal with the fact that Myrtle has a lover. But the sexual affair does not bother him so much, as the fact that she has some sort of independent existence from him. He holds true to the importance of marriage joining two people together and having a separate life is a total betrayal to him. In addition, Daisy sees marriage and love as a way to get thing, for when talking to Gatsby she says “Oh, you want too much!” […] “I love you now – isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.” […] “I did love him once – but I loved you too.” (--) To Daisy, marriage does not mean much of anything; the feeling of it matters more to her. It has only brought her pain and no happiness so she chooses to do as she pleases with it and not decide. She plays around with it almost as if in search for
Unfortunately, she can never be genuinely happy. Why? Daisy finds out that the man she married was the wrong one. Tom, her husband, is keeping secrets from her. At dinner time, Tom got a call from some woman and Jordan, Daisy’s good friend, claims that the woman is who Tom is sleeping with.
The novel makes a naturalism argument about ambition in that humans are ever reaching for that which they do not have, but are thwarted by factors out of their control. Starting at the top of the social hierarchy, the story illustrates that the wealthy will stay comfortable within their class, take advantage of others’ desire to ascend all the while barring them entrance to the upper echelons of society. The Buchanans, that exemplify the upper class, are unsatisfied with both their marriage and station in life and seek happiness outside of their social class. In this, the reader is constantly bombarded with color symbolism when it comes to these two.
Her destructive hamartia is the constant internal struggle against hedonistic desires. Daisy’s inability to resist temptation in pursuit for pleasure is shown on the day before her wedding when she indecisively says, “Tell ’em all Daisy’s change’ her mine. Say: ‘Daisy’s change’ her mine!’” (Fitzgerald, 76). This is her epiphanic moment; she realizes a decision must be made that will impact the duration of her life — the choice between the ambition for wealth or true love.
Whether Daisy didn’t want Gatsby as her “main man” because of his lower social status, or how Tom wanted someone to fool around with, that being Myrtle, no one can quite find the “perfect” person to fit their needs and desires, thus they felt the need to branch out and have other lovers to help satisfy their needs. The whole book can be seen as portraying a simple, yet powerful message: in order to find true love, you have to look past the apparent things on the outside that are appealing, and look down into a person’s heart to see what they’re really
This callous disregard for Myrtle’s life further emphasizes Tom’s lack of empathy and humanity. Additionally, Tom demonstrates his treatment of Daisy as a possession to be controlled when he states, "I've got a nice place here… you ought to see the baby" (16). This quote reveals how Tom sees Daisy and her daughter as objects that complement his possessions, rather than human beings with their own desires and aspirations. Tom's treatment of Daisy serves as a powerful example of how the pursuit of wealth can dehumanize individuals and erode their sense of empathy, as he values his own wealth and social status more than her life and freedom. He also uses his wealth and power to maintain his position of privilege in society.
In the novel The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald set in the 1920s, a man named Jay Gatsby who became rich through illegal means tries to win the heart of a woman named Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan’s wife. The wife of a garage owner named George Wilson, Myrtle, is also having an affair with Tom. Throughout the course of the novel, Tom and Wilson run into similar encounters. Both of them discover that their wives have been cheating on them and have comparable reactions. These discoveries and related events reveal their attitudes toward women and become violent.
Myrtle is accustomed to living an underprivileged life where feminine power engulfs her, but Tom is too egotistical to allow Myrtle to speak with such authority to him. Similarly, Gatsby’s need for assurance from Daisy pressures her into revealing to Tom that she never loved him (Fitzgerald 132). Deep down, Daisy knows that she truly did love Tom once, but Gatsby’s assertiveness and persistence drives her over the edge to telling Tom that what the two of them shared meant nothing to her. Daisy’s attribute of being a pushover is revealed immensely because she refuses to stand up for herself. Daisy is used to enabling Tom to constantly control all aspects of her life, and that leaves her powerless in society.
The Great Gatsby is an American novel written by Scott Fitzgerald. On the surface, the book revolves around the concept of romance, the love between two individuals. However, the novel incorporates less of a romantic scope and rather focuses on the theme of the American Dream in the 1920s. Fitzgerald depicts the 1920’s as an era of decline in moral values. The strong desire for luxurious pleasure and money ultimately corrupts the American dream which was originally about individualism.
Tom cared more about his affair with Myrtle than his own wife. Neither Tom nor Daisy truly wanted to be in the relationship. George had his life all mixed up not knowing that Myrtle is being unfaithful to him. These instances of dishonesty from all of these characters against each other result in their own twisted realities due to unfaithfulness and dishonesty.
The characters in the novel pretend that they have their lives all figured out, but through their successes their downfalls and emptiness can be seen, to prove that money cannot buy happiness. Jay Gatsby is the newest and upcoming star in New York during the 1920’s. Through his business and inheritance he is one of the richest men of his time. One may think that his abundance of wealth would lead him to be eternally happy, but he is the opposite. Gatsby longs for his love of Daisy, which is his personal American Dream.
Throughout The Great Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson desired to fit in with the upper class; however, her marriage to George Wilson prevented such from occurring. Myrtle failed to recognize her husband’s hard work and true character due to her efforts to rise in social status. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald emphasized Myrtle’s hatred towards her marriage through her conversation with Catherine, depicting how people of the twenties focused more on wealth and power compared to moral American values. As readers closely evaluate the moment of Myrtle’s dialogue, she dictated her feelings towards her marriage in a way that supposedly justified her infidelity.
Characters throughout The Great Gatsby present themselves with mysterious and questionable morals. Affairs, dishonest morals, criminal professions, weak boundaries and hypocritical views are all examples of immorality portrayed in The Great Gatsby. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, lies and mischief fill the lives of many and significantly damage numerous relationships. First, Jay Gatsby's whole life is consumed into a massive lie. His personality traits set him apart from others and the attention he accumulates motivates him to falsely portray his life.
He does not have the one thing that he wanted: Daisy's affection. His dedication and immense love is wasted as Daisy still leaves him for another man in the
The 1920s were affected by WWII in several ways, which are shown in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The 1920s was a time period of a great change in people’s behavior and social class. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famed novel The Great Gatsby reflects on the 1920s can help summarize the 1920s into three main characteristics, Disillusionment, the Rise in New Money, and Business Replacing Religion. Disillusionment, which is the loss of faith in one’s values and ideals, is a main characteristic of the 1920s because, during and after WWII many of the American citizens beliefs and ideals were being undermined by horrible acts committed during the war.
When Tom Buchanan has an affair with Myrtle, he leads her astray for her to believe that he loves her, even though he does not, resulting in her death. When Daisy does not show up to Gatsby’s funeral, she proves to her cousin that she is nothing but childish. Based on the outcomes of the careless actions of these