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What Is The Mood Of The Great Gatsby Passage 3

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Ollie MacLaren P2 Shoemaker Passage 3 Analysis In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Myrtle’s shallowness, emphasized by her ability to quickly pass over the fact she is having an affair, conveys the lack of moralistic value and the shameless materialism of the “Jazz Age.” At the apartment, in which Tom (the husband of Nick’s cousin) and Myrtle (the wife of Tom’s mechanic) are conducting their affair, Myrtle explains “It was on the two seats facing each other that are always the last ones left on the train. I was going up to New York to see my sister and spend the night. He had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off him.”(36). In this story, Myrtle’s lack of character starts to shine through. When describing meeting this man whom she seems to be willing to throw her somewhat dull life away for, the first thing she describes is what he was wearing. Her inability to describe features like his, or his smile, the reader can infer that she is very materialistic. She sees Tom, not for who he is, but for the wealth and prosperity he represents. …show more content…

After explaining how his white shirt pressed against her, and they hit it off, she exclaims “I was so excited that when I got in a taxi with him I didn't hardly know I wasn’t getting into a subway train. All I kept thinking about over and over, was ‘you can’t live forever; you can’t live forever’.”(36). Through Myrtle’s mantra, Fitzgerald further expands on the lack of moralistic value, painting a picture of extreme impulsivity. In this time period, it is a societal norm to act without thinking. Myrtle’s inability to see the big picture, and failure to understand the consequences of cheating on her husband, reveals how shallow of a character she really is. Through her and Tom’s actions, the reader can begin to see just how little society at that time values

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I was so excited that when I got into a taxi with him I did not even know I wasn't getting into a subway train. All I kept thinking about, over and over, was 'You can't live forever, you can't live forever”(Fitzgerald 36). It is odd to go with a man without knowing his name and job. This illustrates that Myrtle sees his clothing and then judges him as a wealthy man. That is the reason that she was so excited to go into a taxi with him.

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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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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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This violent imagery demonstrates how even though she is his mistress, Tom will never treat Myrtle as his equal because he is a benefactor of the misogynistic society holding her back. Through Myrtle, Fitzgerald shows the fallibility of the American Dream in that, even though the 1920’s was supposedly a time of progress, it remained virtually impossible for women to make something of themselves without the support of a

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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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Myrtle is the quintessential example of an impoverished woman living in the twenties, with an aspiration to reach the romanticized upper class through a rich aristocrat named Tom Buchanan. Although she thinks this is possible mean of escape, an aristocrat like Tom would never be seen with a measly peasant such as Myrtle. We see early on that Tom could have easily taken her out of poverty and into his lifestyle, but he chooses not too. Myrtle is resentful of her husband for putting her in her current situation, saying small remarks such as, "The only crazy I was was when I married him.” (23) Myrtle doesn’t understand that she will never be accepted into a higher social class.

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Similar to Gatsby, Myrtle attempts to climb the social ladder by seeking the affection of a man named Tom Buchanan, and unlike Gatsby, Tom has legitimate claims to his massive fortune. “I married him [George Wilson] because I thought he was a gentleman. I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe.” Said, Myrtle (Fitzgerald 34). Myrtle seeks to elevate herself toward the American Dream with the help of Mr. Buchanan and, with his money and fortune, she could finally escape her dreary existence with Mr. Wilson in the Valley of Ashes and settle into her rightful place in Mr. Buchanan’s

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Myrtle’s lack of money led to her facing the consequences of her actions. Early in the novel, Tom is shown to be involved in an extramarital affair.

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Tom is a wealthy man, and Myrtle is a working-class woman. Their affair is seen as a sign of Tom's power

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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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She is not who we thought she was, as she is careless about others, except herself. Moreover, we soon realize that the social classes are worlds apart. Myrtle, the mistress of one of the main characters, is a victim of how much social standing can affect a person. “Myrtle is a victim of the selfish exploitation of the upper classes, but she is not a sympathetic character, being herself hard and heedless of others' feelings. ”(“Myrtle - Characters - Higher English Revision - BBC Bitesize”)

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Within The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald presented Myrtle as a character who was unaffected by true love and craved extreme wealth. Many people like Myrtle in the 1920s felt having lots of money meant being able to live a luxurious and happy lifestyle. They refused to accept the idea of a simplistic lifestyle and always anticipated more. Fitzgerald’s writing revealed more than Myrtle constantly insulting her husband’s situation. He exposed the corruption of the “new” American Dream and the relationships it destroyed as a

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Myrtle, however, dismisses his love because she wants money instead. Later she fights were her husband, runs into the street, and, proving Dostoyevsky’s point, dies when Daisy hits her with Gatsby’s car. Ironically, her lover’s wealthy wife caused her death, which reflects how her constant need for a higher status led to her inability to be happy and satisfied. Myrtle could have had a simple, happy life, but instead, she chose to chase an unattainable level of material wealth and

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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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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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