Daisy And Myrtle Wilson In The Great Gatsby

As Robert Fulton said, “the American dream of rags to riches is a dream for a reason - it is hard to achieve; were everyone to do it, it wouldn’t be a dream but would rather be a reality.” Fulton focuses on the American Dream being less of a goal and more of a fantasy, similar to what Scott Fitzgerald writes. The novel The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald features two very similar women living in two very different worlds. Daisy Buchanon, in theory, has all she could ever want: money, status, the zip code, and more. Myrtle Wilson, on the other hand, lives a lower-class life in the Valley of Ashes, a despairing, hopeless place that can’t compare to the luxuries Daisy enjoys in East Egg. Nevertheless, as their respective affairs deepen and the novel progresses, the

Both women’s characterization as beautiful, their respective affairs, and their grim positions at the end of the novel highlight the thought that the American Dream is just an illusion. A key similarity between Daisy and Myrtle is their characterizations as alluring. When Nick visits the Buchanon house for the first time in the novel, he comes across his cousin, Disy, for the first time in years and notes, “there was an excitement in her voice that men…found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered ‘Listen,’ a promise that she had done gay, exciting things” (Fitzgerald 9). Fitzgerald uses the words “excitement” and “compulsion” to emphasize the quality Daisy had that makes her “difficult to forget.” Much like the American Dream, Daisy draws people in with a promise of opportunity and success of “gay, exciting things.” Daisy symbolizes the American Dream because she draws people in with a promise of a better life or an exciting experience, people like Gatsby. Similarly, when Nick is first introduced to Myrtle as Tom’s mistress, his first impression of her standing in Wilson’s garage mirrors the way he describes Daisy. Nick says “she carried her surplus flesh