ipl-logo

Examples Of Foils In The Great Gatsby

990 Words4 Pages

Most people see Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby as a critique of people with old money through the Buchanans, but what about the Wilsons who serve as a foil to them, being their complete opposites? Through the Buchanans and the Wilsons, Fitz Gerald's Great Gatsby shows us that an abundance of wealth and a lack of it can lead to a dysfunctional relationship. The Buchanhans, born into wealthy families, have a history of using others for personal gain throughout the entirety of the book. Tom abuses and has an affair with a married woman, frames Gatsby for the affair he had, getting 2 people killed, and that isn't even half of the things he's done. Daisy lies to Gatsby saying she would leave her husband for him, then kills a woman and has Gatsby …show more content…

As described, "Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table... they weren’t happy... and yet they weren’t unhappy either. There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture, and nobody would have said that they were conspiring together. (Fitzgerald, 145)" Their wealth affords them a sense of security and comfort, despite the underlying dissatisfaction in their relationship. 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. Through these contrasting relationships, Fitzgerald explores how both a lack of money and an excess of wealth can corrupt relationships, leading to emptiness and

Show More
Related
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.

Read More
536 Words | 3 Pages

Have you ever risked your life for the greater good? When was the last time you weren’t afraid to do the right thing? Has someone ever risked their life for you or someone you love? Irena Sendler saved thousands of children, was creative and bold, and was punished but later rewarded for these actions.

Read More
487 Words | 2 Pages

Myrtle is Tom Buchanan’s lover, her husband George owns a rundown garage in the valley of ashes and she possesses fierce vitality and desperately looks for ways to improve her situation. Sadly she chooses Tom who treats her as an object of his desire. She is mid-thirties, short and plump but carries her extra flesh voluptuously. She wears clothes that are stretched tight over her fairly broad hips. (Fitzgerald p.28) Myrtles personality and behavior show that she wants to climb the social status with her acute manner and vigor.

Read More
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).

Read More
1317 Words | 6 Pages

Ever wanted to become part of the wealthy class and live a luxurious, and stress free life? F. Scott Fitzgerald shows how that idea of wealth and being stress free is impossible. The novel The Great Gatsby is a novel revolving around five rich individuals and one poorer woman, Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, Jay Gatsby, Jordan Baker, Nick Carraway, and Myrtle Wilson who is not apart of the rich class. Many conflicts arise in this book due to the greed of money and some of these actions lead onto death and deception of love. The conflicts arise between Gatsby's love with Daisy and the affairs between Tom and his mistress, Myrtle.

Read More
1357 Words | 6 Pages

Daisy was torn between love and wealth when she had to choose between waiting for Gatsby or marrying Tom. After receiving a letter from Gatsby, “She wouldn’t let go of the letter. She took it into the tub with her and squeezed it up into a wet ball, and only let me leave it in the soap-dish when she saw that it was coming to pieces like snow [...] Next day at five o’clock she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver, and started off on a three months’ trip to the South Seas” (Fitzgerald 81). Daisy was emotionally torn between her decision, but ultimately she decided to go with the man who will provide for her the most.

Read More
1070 Words | 5 Pages

The Great Gatsby is a novel that discusses many issues around money in American society. A direct link to this is Daisy and Tom Buchanan, characters who represent the old money upper class. Throughout the story their true personality appears. The Buchanans’ are centered around wealth to the point that their relationship is built on money and class. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby the characters of Tom and Daisy Buchanan convey the theme that when the foundation for a relationship is money in place of love the outcome is a hollow marriage.

Read More
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).

Read More
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.

Read More
854 Words | 4 Pages

It was ironic that even Nick, a person who was “inclined to reserve all judgment” (Fitzgerald 1), was able to see how money had made Tom and Daisy careless and lazy. Nick also notices that Daisy and Tom had disappeared right after Gatsby’s death. Daisy and Tom were wealthy enough to move out of Long Island, while they made everyone else solve the problem that they had left behind. It is easy for rich people to become weak and only focus on

Read More
792 Words | 4 Pages

While talking about her relationship with her husband, Myrtle says, “The only crazy I was when I married [Wilson]” (Fitzgerald 35). Though Myrtle is talking about her husband, Wilson, her comment also reveals an important dynamic of the relationship between Tom and Myrtle. Myrtle reveals that she regrets marrying her husband because he had little money. This regret shows itself through the relationship between Tom and Myrtle. Tom, a wealthier man, holds a greater status and power than Wilson, a poorer man.

Read More
995 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald characterizes the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values. One of the major themes explored in this novel is the Hollowness of the Upper Class. The entire book revolves around money including power and little love. Coincidentally the three main characters of the novel belong to the upper class and throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows how this characters have become corrupted and have lost their morality due to excess money and success and this has led them to change their perspective towards other people and they have been portrayed as short-sighted to what is important in life. First of all, we have the main character of this novel, Gatsby who won’t stop at nothing to become rich overnight in illegal dealings with mobsters such as Wolfsheim in order to conquer Daisy’s heart.”

Read More
2003 Words | 9 Pages

The theme of carelessness represented by Myrtle Wilson, Tom Buchanan, and Daisy Buchanan is crucial for the development of the plot of this novel. Myrtle Wilson is a prime example of carelessness within the novel. She knows that Tom is a married man, and is very violent, yet, she continues to see him. Myrtle is focused on what

Read More
1530 Words | 7 Pages

In Tom and Daisy’s relationship, it shows that money can ruin relationships but if you see past that barrier of money there are little pieces of love that stand out more than money. However, at the end of the day Tom and Daisy have money, are united, but they are not happy with each other. Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy includes both money and love. By this Fitzgerald is suggesting that it is possible to have love, however, it leads to difficulties because you can either have the dedication of Gatsby trying to get what he wants and never give up, or you can accept reality and realize how you will not be able to achieve your

Read More
2717 Words | 11 Pages

Fitzgerald brings attention to the extravagant lives of the wealthy, the privilege they claim and the false sense of superiority they project. We are moved to assess the true nature of these characters. We acknowledge the duality of their characters; the part of themselves that are revealed to those around them and their true nature. The attempt

Read More

More about Examples Of Foils In The Great Gatsby

Open Document