People who originate from privileged backgrounds and people who have worked up to the privileged lifestyle often feel entitled to everything and anything that comes their way. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald the characters display how this feeling of entitled leads to a careless attitude. In the passage on page 137 of the book this theme is shown. The passage begins with the description of right before the incident of Myrtle’s death, it displays Myrtle and George’s argument, ending with Myrtle telling George to beat her. Myrtle is careless because she does not think about the potential consequences of her words, as George could take offense to her insults and actually choose to beat Myrtle like she asks.
Responsibility means to take care of someone or something or to be held accountable. Many people hold responsibility for the death of Gatsby, and all of them are held equally accountable. Wilson, Tom, and Daisy are the most accountable for the death of Gatsby. All of them did something that lead to the demise of Gatsby.
In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the male-female relationships are characterized by a loss of control which portray the nature of these relationships as destructive and lonely. From an outsider’s perspective, these relationships seem joyful and full of love but underneath are catastrophic. They create false images for themselves to look good in the public eye and hide from their true feelings. Daisy and Tom, the happy, wealthy couple, are stuck in a fatal relationship. Daisy and Tom are in love at one point; however, throughout the novel they lose feelings for each other.
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).
Within The Great Gatsby, the audience perceives a summer spent through the eyes of Nick. As Nick, we witness the tragic love story of Gatsby and Daisy, as well as another story, hidden in the context of the many encounters and conversations held; the wealth of the Roaring Twenties. Many of the characters show an interesting aspect of the wealth brought upon by the Roaring Twenties, and how it has affected them. Several characters are exceptional examples, including Myrtle, Tom, Gatsby, and Nick himself.
Tom becomes at risk of losing his relationship, even though from the start he was the careless one who became involved in many affairs. After the men learn about their wives’ affairs, they take action to keep their relationships in tact. Tom confronts and challenges Daisy about her relationship, while George abuses Myrtle and plans to take her away. Their plans to regain their wives’ loyalty backfires, however, and instead they damage their relationships even more. Neither of the men are really involved in their marriages until their relations with their women are on the brink of doom.
According to F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are those who are the “pursuing” and those who are the “pursued”. In The Great Gatsby, Daisy and Tom are the ones being pursued by people like Gatsby and Myrtle. They are representations of Gatsby and Myrtle's desires, and as these two characters desperately chase after what they want, they lose sight of what they have in the moment. Their pursuit for their desires becomes obsessive as the story progresses and eventually leads to their demise. The difference in how these two characters death’s are portrayed by Nick conveys Fitzgeralds belief that regardless of how one pursues his or her desires, falling for temptations and forgetting what is important will lead to misfortune.
Tom uses and abuses Myrtle to make himself happy and believes he can decide what Mrytle can or can not do and when. Tom always decides when he and Myrtle meet, even if it's inconvenient for her. Nick describes a moment where Tom decides he wants to spend time with Myrtle ``‘ I want to see you,’ Said Tom intently. ‘Get on the next train'’” (Fitzgerald 30)
When Myrtle begs Tom for a dog, he nonchalantly hands her too much money and “decisively” says “Here's your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it” (Fitzgerald 28).Tom’s angry and ‘decisive’ tone of voice is because he uses Myrtle’s must assert dominance through materialism. As, Myrtle does not need ten dogs, yet Tom wishes to flaunt both his wealth and dominance by commanding her to buy them. Because of Tom, Myrtle also lives in excess and must face moral corruption. As after she buys the dog, Nick describes that
Tom is an aggressive alcoholic, who uses his money for lustrous and entertaining ways with myrtle. When Tom “goes” to the Yacht Club with Nick, he decides instead go to George’s place to go see Myrtle secretly. When he goes to see Myrtle, He tells her to go to the apartments so they can “meet up.” When
Although the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald emphasizes the parties and prosperity of the American 1920's, it reveals many major characters meeting tragic ends. The characters who meet these ends - Jay Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson, and George Wilson - possess the same tragic characteristic: they endeavor for something more out of their lives than what they have. This ambition for what they could not have ultimately spelled their doom: Gatsby wanted money and Daisy; Myrtle wanted wealth and luxury, and sought it from Tom Buchanan; Wilson earned what he could only to please Myrtle. The Great Gatsby reveals a tragic nature through the trials and tribulations these characters endure to progress and prosper, only to receive death for their ambition. The exciting and wild time period of the "Roaring Twenties" provides a stark contrast to the deaths in order to further highlight the tragic nature of the novel, and leaves a theme that even those with the most hope and strong ambitions can fail and die miserably, no matter how much money they have.
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.
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.
Gatsby Thematic Essay In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, lots of connections are drawn through various thematic subjects presented in this novel. One of these connections is between love, wealth, and social status, which are all very prominent subjects within The Great Gatsby. The relationships between various characters within the pages of this written work make one message very apparent: Love can be regarded as flimsy and deceitful when it is dictated by one’s wealth and social status.
Love is an intense feeling of deep affection. In the Great Gatsby, true love seems as if it is a prevalent theme. As readers take a closer look, however, we are able to uncover that all this love, these characters long for, is unrealistic and a fantasy. Throughout the book F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the relationships of Daisy, Tom, Jay, and the rest of the characters to help readers understand the significance behind what others refer to as true love. Fitzgerald sets his story in the 1920s, an era of excessive entertainment, prosperity, and greed.
