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The Great Gatsby Quotes

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“That’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (Fitzgerald 21). In the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by Scott F. Fitzgerald, this quote was used by Daisy Buchanan to describe her little girl. Daisy is a beautiful and popular girl who married Tom Buchanan; an extremely wealthy, controlling man who thinks highly of himself. Though she wants to be with Gatsby, she does not want to leave Tom. Daisy’s close friend in the novel is Jordan Baker; Jordan grew up wealthy and a famous golf player. Jordan is more independent than the other girls in the novel; she does not rely on men. The other main girl in the novel is Myrtle Wilson. Myrtle’s is married to George Wilson, an unwealthy gas station owner who lives in the …show more content…

Daisy growing up was wealthy, and when she married Tom, they moved out to the East Egg to live with other rich people who do nothing all day. In The Great Gatsby, it says, “Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money [...] and let other people clean up the mess” (Fitzgerald 170). Daisy’s selfish and careless; she does not care what happens because she has enough money to fall back on. She killed Myrtle but lets Gatsby take the blame; she went to hide away in her house so that she would not be in trouble. Daisy is unhappily married to Tom but, having an affair with Gatsby; Daisy wants the stable, familiar life she has with Tom but, also wants a man that will treat her right and a life that she will enjoy with Gatsby. She does not care who this hurts; she just wants what makes her life better. Similar to Daisy, Myrtle is unhappily married to George …show more content…

Myrtle is unhappily married to George Wilson but, having an affair with Tom. She says, ““I married him because I thought he was a gentleman,” she said finally. “I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe”” (Fitzgerald 39). At the beginning of their relationship he was nice, but the longer they were together she realized who he was; a lifeless, exhausted auto shop owner; Myrtle was not satisfied with her current life situation. Myrtle thought that with her looks and her personality she should have someone that has a higher social ranking. Her thinking so highly of herself is the reason behind her affair with Tom; Tom is rich and higher up in the social class than George, so Mytrle uses Tom to become rich and bring up her social ranking. Just like Daisy, this makes Myrtle selfish in the fact that she wants her life to be better, no matter who it may affect. Unlike Myrtle, Jordan grew up wealthy and does not need a male figure in her

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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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1119 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the story, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby, the main character, attempts to raise himself to the status where it would be acceptable to be with Daisy Buchanan. This proves impossible as the only way Gatsby can move up is economically, and although Gatsby becomes quite wealthy, he could never be with Daisy because he lacks the social status that comes with “old money” and was necessary to be in her league. It is also this social status, mixed with certain circumstances of the event, that allows Daisy and Tom to escape the consequences of Myrtle’s death. Gatsby wants nothing more than to have Daisy again.

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989 Words | 4 Pages

This shows Myrtle only cares about the money a man has, not who he is. Myrtle then says, “The only crazy thing I did, 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” (Fitzgerald 35). This goes to show how greedy she is for money.

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335 Words | 2 Pages

Much like Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we see that Joe Starks also has a catchphrase of his own that he begins most of his sentences with, but instead of it being Old Sport, it is I,god. When Janie firsts meets Joe Starks, he dreams of getting to be a part of an all colored town and help build it up, and he doesn’t use the term I,god, but instead God. When they first arrive in Orange County he says “God, they call this a town? Why, ‘tain’t nothing but a raw place in de woods”(34), it’s not until later when Joe Starks has gained power in the town that he constantly uses the phrase, I,god in front of everything. The first time he says I,god is when he is wondering who is leading the town “I,god, where’s de Mayor?”(34),

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869 Words | 4 Pages

She was married to George Wilson, who was a middle-class mechanic. Myrtle wanted to increase her social standing and the amount of wealth she had. The author shows that Myrtle is materialistic in chapter 2, page 36, with this quote: "He had on a dress." suit and patent leather shoes, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off him," and how she likes the finer things with this "I’ve got to get. A massage and a wave and a collar for the dog, and one of those cute little ashtrays where you touch a spring, and a wreath with a black silk bow".

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826 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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696 Words | 3 Pages

Myrtle Wilson’s husband is named George Wilson, unfortunately, she is miserable being married with him. She is having an affair with Tom, “There is always a halt there of at least a minute and it was because of this that I first met Tom Buchanan’s mistress.” (Fitzgerald ## ) Nick Carraway implies that Myrtle is having an affair with Tom. Myrtle married George Wilson because she thought that he had money so she married him, later she discovered that he is not wealthy and married Myrtle with a borrowed suit. She feels better that she cheats on him with Tom Buchanan.

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1109 Words | 5 Pages

Furthermore, her husband George Wilson portrays the life she never wanted to experience. To Myrtle, George is simply an affable man. She only married him “because [he seemed to be] a gentleman. . . [but]he wasn’t fit to lick [her] shoe” (Fitzgerald 39). By “not being fit to lick her shoe”, Myrtle feels that George will never understand her desires in life, meaning that he is not the right person for her to marry.

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494 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout her life, Myrtle aspired to be of the upper class. She looked down on her husband, George Wilson, thinking him to be too poor and unsuccessful. According to Myrtle, George, “‘borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in, and never even told me about it’” (39). Myrtle looked down on this, as it showed how poor George truly was. In order to a least provide a semblance of wealth, she had an affair with Tom Buchanan, the wealthy resident of East Egg, who himself was having an affair with his wife, Daisy.

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1293 Words | 6 Pages

Later associating Myrtle and George’s relationship, Fitzgerald falls in love with a woman named Zelda and is informally engaged to her, but she declines to marry him due to his financial instability. As the realization finally kicks in about their upcoming marriage, Myrtle later says, “I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in, and never told me about it” (Fitzgerald 27). Myrtle becomes disappointed with George’s lack of social status and wealth, and realizes that she has made the mistake of marrying for love, not money. She eventually turns to Tom, who is much wealthier than George, and has an affair to feel better about her stifled marriage.

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465 Words | 2 Pages

Daisy Buchanan, the female protagonist of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby," is a complicated character whose motivations and actions are often unclear. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald presents Daisy as a woman who is both desirable and dangerous, a woman who is trapped by her own social position and unable to break free. Daisy is a woman of great beauty and charm, with a voice that is "full of money" (Fitzgerald 127). She is often seen as a symbol of the American Dream, representing the ideal of wealth and status. However, beneath her charming exterior, Daisy is a woman who is deeply unhappy and unfulfilled.

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1350 Words | 6 Pages

“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” (Thoreau). The men in The Great Gatsby are not fishing as an outdoor sport, but they are after the same thing, respect. Men take pride in the respect they recieve. A man’s pride is something that is taken very seriously.

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484 Words | 2 Pages

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, characters have very distinct identities that develop throughout the book and many inferences are needed to understand the characters. One example of this is Daisy Buchanan. Daisy Buchanan cares greatly about wealth and is a very careless person. Throughout the novel, many of her decisions are due to her greed and carelessness, even though those decisions may not be the best decisions for her. Daisy displays her greed throughout the novel; she marries Tom Buchanan because of his wealth.

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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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743 Words | 3 Pages

As the father of modern psychology and psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud once declared, "The great question that has never been answered and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my 30 years of research into the feminine soul, is: 'What does a woman want?'" F. Scott Fitzgerald expounds on this question in The Great Gatsby with his three leading female characters Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle. By Fitzgerald juxtaposing these women, it magnifies the similarities and differences of their societal roles, exposing that money was one of the roots of evil in the 1920s. Fitzgerald manipulates his words to propound on each of these significant women’s virtues.

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