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Examples Of Discrimination In The Great Gatsby

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To what extent does discrimination hinder the American Dream? The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925 depicting the interactions of the narrator with other characters in pursuit of the American Dream. The novel is set in the roaring twenties, a time of post-war economic boom and prominent disparity between upper and lower class. Set in 1960’s America, Hidden Figures (2017) is a biographical film directed by Theodore Melfi that follows the lives of three female, African-American mathematicians whose work was vital to the launch of John Glenn. The film emphasises the social issues of segregation, sexism and gender norms. Despite the time difference in both the publication and setting of the texts, they both express …show more content…

As a valley of ashes citizen, Myrtle Wilson is a woman of low social class who has no chance of rising through societal ranks to attain wealth and the American Dream. Along with her low social class status, Myrtle remains unhappy with her marriage throughout the novel. Before the narrative begins, Myrtle is said to have married her husband, George Wilson, for love but soon realised that it was a mistake because “he’d borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in,” (pg. 38). Myrtle is a character obsessed with wealth and prestige so soon after marrying George, she regrets her decision due to his financial situation and societal rank. Myrtle fell out of love with her husband when she learned that he was unable to provide her with the material life she desires, and the wealthy life she believes she deserves, is brought to her attention. So, Myrtle begins an affair with Tom Buchanan, caring only about his wealth and status and disregarding his position as one of the wealthy, white males that barricade her in the status she was born and/or marries into. On page 33, Nick narrates, “With the influence of the dress, her personality had also undergone a change.” This quote emphasises Myrtle’s desire to have to have the American Dream, to have a happy marriage and to have wealth and status. However, like for most, this is unachievable for Myrtle Wilson as she is repressed by both her gender and financial stability. It is implied that if Myrtle was a woman of high social status, Tom may have left Daisy for her, proving again that the American Dream is only achievable for those who are rich. While Myrtle plays pretend while she is with Tom, the American Dream for her, is entirely unachievable as she cannot rise through the societal ranks of class and wealth to attain

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162 Words | 1 Pages

Myrtle Wilson is looking for superiority. To begin, Myrtle is described as a “woman in the middle thirties and faintly stout,but she carried her flesh sensuously as some women can.” By reading this quote one can tell that Myrtle is an aggressively attractive woman. She 's the wife of George Wilson, who is a lower-middle class man. In order for Myrtle to achieve superiority, she needs to attract Tom as he’s the gateway to her superiority and gaining of socioeconomic status.

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985 Words | 4 Pages

Myrtle is married to a man named George Wilson but, has an affair with Tom Buchanan because he is wealthier and more put together. Throughout the passage given, the author refers to Myrtle every time as Mrs. Wilson not as Myrtle. This continuously reminds the reader that Myrtle is pretending to be this fancy, educated women, when that is not reality. Myrtle is not a wealthy person, she just aspires to be. Due to the author referring to her as Mrs. Wilson everytime is causes the reader to see that the character truly is just two faced.

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1472 Words | 6 Pages

George Wilson is Myrtle’s ideal husband in that he is oblivious to her affairs and focused on his garage business. His unawareness allows Myrtle to take advantage of him, and escape reality through her affair with Tom Buchanan. When Tom visits the Wilson home, both Myrtle and him deceive George into believing Tom’s intentions include business inquiries. Nick describes Myrtle to be “walking through her husband as if he were a ghost” as she tells George to “‘get some chairs … so somebody can sit down”’ (26).

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1682 Words | 7 Pages

Myrtle yearns for high social status and for her husband to not be able to afford a proper suit to at least look presentable and respectable foreshadows his inability to make the climb of the social ladder with her. Her past feelings regarding her husband no longer mattered to her because he would not give her the luxurious life she has been dreaming of. When she saw Tom on the train she disregarded her husband, she thought over and over, “‘You can’t live forever; you can’t live forever” (Fitzgerald 36). She understands that she wants a life much greater than the one she has settled for with George. Myrtle ironically emphasizes that life is short and therefore she should at least live a life in comfort.

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1920 Words | 8 Pages

Myrtle downright ignores her own husband, “walking through her husband as if he were a ghost” and approaching Tom with a smile on her face (Fitzgerald 25-26). Though Myrtle and her husband have been married for a long time, Myrtle never got the money and status she wanted. As soon as she met Tom, all she could see was the money that surrounded him. In fact, she even changed her clothes around Tom, “attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream colored chiffon, which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about the room” (Fitzgerald 30). Myrtle often tries to come off richer than she is, proven by her various outfit changes in a small party where she wants to “prove herself a woman of Daisy's status through a melange of color, fashion, and commodities” (Goldsmith).

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1482 Words | 6 Pages

Myrtle, as a woman of the 1920’s, should be a paragon of feminism and independence, however, she is used by Fitzgerald in order to show how unrealistic these ideals truly are. As a lower-class female living in the valley of the ashes, Myrtle has no chance of achieving the goals of the ‘new woman’ of the 1920s, and consequently, must try to gain upward mobility by seducing Tom Buchanan. She believes that as his mistress she will be able to overcome the barriers between her lower-class life and her upper-class dreams, but in the end, Tom only treats her as a glorified pet he can treat however he wants. This is seen when Tom, “[breaks Myrtle’s] nose with his open hand.” P.g.30.

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1105 Words | 5 Pages

Myrtle degrades her own husband because she feels superior since she is having a relationship with the a very affluent Tom Buchanan even though she is of the same rank as her husband. Hacht notes, “For Myrtle Wilson, the truth gets in the way of her personal goal: to become a woman of class. She hides her affair with Tom Buchanan because the truth would prevent her from living life in the city as the well-kept mistress of a wealthy man. As Tom's lover, she can live a better life than George can provide” (Hacht). Myrtle’s goal was to become part of the elite class, and Tom was her one-way ticket.

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990 Words | 4 Pages

In contrast, Myrtle Wilson's relationship with Tom is driven by her desire to escape her lower economic and social status. As a woman with little wealth and no high breeding, she is reduced to selecting a taxicab she will ride in temporarily, trying to move into the same social class as the Buchanans. Fitzgerald writes, "Since Myrtle possesses little wealth and cannot boast of high breeding, she is reduced to selecting a taxicab she will ride in temporarily. Futilely, Myrtle tries to move into the same social class as the Buchanans and compensates for her lower economic and social status by ensuring that she can at least ride in style." However, her efforts are futile, and her affair with Tom ultimately leads to tragedy.

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1156 Words | 5 Pages

To begin with, Myrtle is ashamed of her class and pretends to be rich and high class in order to impress Tom. In Tom’s apartment in New York, she bought an expensive dress that people from her class typically cannot afford, and talked rudely to the servants that are also of the same class as her: “I told that boy about

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693 Words | 3 Pages

Myrtle Wilson, a wife living in the lower class living in the Valley of Ashes, complains about being married to George WIlson; he’s not characterized as a “larger-than-life” person, and it is exactly why she plans on leaving her marriage to pursue a glamorous life with Tom Buchanan. Myrtle expresses, “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 and never even told me about it, and the man came after it one day when he was out.” (27).

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1075 Words | 5 Pages

From the start, Myrtle is born into poverty which automatically decreases her chances of attaining her American Dream. Although Myrtle’s options were limited in terms of building an empire for herself, she still managed to seek out men that could give her what she wanted. In chapter two, Fitzgerald introduces Myrtle in a way that demonstrates her bold confidence despite her lack of money and social status. Because of this, it catches Tom’s eye; he demonstrates a savior complex because she is below him in terms of wealth and status. Essentially, Myrtle falls out of love with men and falls in love with money.

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879 Words | 4 Pages

What she doesn't understand, in any case, is that Tom and his companions will never acknowledge her into their circle. (Notice how Tom has an example of picking lower-class ladies to lay down with. For him, their frailty makes his particular position considerably more prevalent. Strangy, being with ladies who seek to his class improves him feel about himself and enables him to sustain the dream that he is a decent and imperative man.) Myrtle is close to a toy to Tom and to those he speaks to.

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1756 Words | 8 Pages

Through the character Myrtle the reader can see the portrayal of the low and ignorant class of America. Myrtle is the wife to George Wilson,

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1149 Words | 5 Pages

Just like Daisy, Myrtle chooses money over love. She cheats on her husband George with Tom. Myrtle was a woman from the lower class who desired to be a part of the higher class. Tom spoiled Myrtle and gave her the lifestyle she always wanted. She belittles her husband and talk bad about him because he is not at the top of the social ladder where Tom is.

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610 Words | 3 Pages

Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.

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