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Who Is Myrtle Wilson In The Great Gatsby

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Myrtle Wilson is a metaphor for many concepts in the story. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson represents the unrealistic expectations of the American Dream and desire.
Myrtle represents multiple ideas, mainly her failed American Dream. The American Dream is an idealistic concept that every citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. Myrtle Wilson is desperate to improve her life. She is not satisfied with her marriage, or with her low-class mechanic husband, George. This is evident when 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 …show more content…

The roaring twenties was a time of freedom and sexuality, coming after a time with modesty and strict morals. Even though more broadminded than before, there was still a limit on what was socially acceptable. The more liberal side were those who had new money, and who were not raised from wealth. Myrtle does not care where she gets the money, she just aspires to be like those who have it. Myrtle is oblivious and in some regards “a beautiful fool” (Fitzgerald 20). Myrtle’s character is fascinating because of her sexuality, which would not have been frowned upon as much if the Great Gatsby took place in later years. An example of this is when Myrtle describes when she first meets Tom. “When we came into the station he was next to me, and his white shirt-front pressed against my arm, and so I told him I'd have to call a policeman, but he knew I lied. I was so excited that when I got into 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.’” (Fitzgerald 151) The rich looked down on her for being a sexual woman. Because of her actions, compared to the rest of the female characters in the book, she is the one who most represents the arrival of sexual liberation in the

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Following her recent death, Mrs. Wilson has been identified as Mr. Gatsby’s ‘Mystery Mistress’ who has been spotted many times inside his large mansion in West Egg. George Wilson, Myrtle’s husband has said that he knew she was having an affair, but with whom he did not know. In light of recent events, he had the following to say; “I loved Myrtle. We were planning

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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.

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In some works of literature, a character who appears briefly, or does not appear at all, is a significant presence. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson drastically affects other characters by her worldly desires, actions, and static characteristics. In most circumstances it is believed that the story is solely about the main character, but one needs to objectively look at all the cast members, specifically Mrs. Wilson. The author chooses each person with great intentions. Myrtle loved her husband George Wilson when they got married, but has since been disappointed by his lack of cash and social status, and now feels stifled by her twelve-year marriage.

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966 Words | 4 Pages

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

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Some may use Gatsby’s case to argue that a person can change their social class and achieve great amounts of wealth, however Myrtle, never tried to work hard for what she wanted. Unlike Gatsby, Myrtle simply wanted one man, Tom, to do all the work for her. From buying her things, to taking her places, Myrtle made Tom do all the work for her. Myrtle would even call Tom’s phone late at night as stated on page twenty when Jordan told Nick, “Tom’s got some girl in New York… She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time.”

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American Romanticism first gained popularity in the 1820’s. “The Minister’s Black Veil” was published in 1832 and “Fall of the House of Usher” was published in 1839. Both stories are great examples of American Romanticism and contain similar romantic themes, like their supernatural elements. However, the main characters of the two stories are drastically different. To start, Roderick Usher was a very wealthy man.

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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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Myrtle is slain by her quest for capital; Wilson becomes insane from his wife's affair and subsequent death; and Gatsby loses what he looked for his entire life, the past. All of these characters prove the tragic message that no matter one's dreams or ambitions, no matter one's money or determination, they can still fail or even die as a result of their

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951 Words | 4 Pages

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 was a “gold-digger”, but she also believed that he would genuinely love her and pick her over Daisy, even though Tom gave no indication of doing so. Like Daisy, breathed out wealth, Myrtle had breathed out vitality and sensuality, hoping for Tom to chose her as his love and for him to give her riches and luxury. As for Daisy, much like Myrtle, was also chasing both money and love, at different points in her life. Daisy, initially wanted love, and she displayed that, by first waiting for Gatsby and then once again when she was newly married with Tom. Over time, like with Myrtle, this dream of love evolved to of riches further on in her life.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, is full of themes of wealth, love, and tragedy. Also during the time this book was written, women’s suffrage had begun, so women were taking their first steps towards equality with men. The three main women characters in the novel: Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, and Jordan Baker, all have things in common but can be vastly different; they reflect the view of women in the early 20th century. The Great Gatsby portrays the characters Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan as stereotypes of women during the 1920s, seen in their behavior, beliefs, and their ultimate fate.

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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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1208 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel, Myrtle Wilson is the perfect example of a woman that would substitute morals for desires. Her actions were the result of her yearnings for money and power, which is in direct relationship with the Marxist critical perspective. She not only degrades herself to being a mistress, but she betrays a good man for a materialistic life. She uses her sexual appeal to achieve the lifestyle she wants. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick describes his meeting with Myrtle and gives the reader a clear visual of how Myrtle uses her looks to get what she wants and how she treats her husband as a result.

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720 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel, Great Gatsby, the two main women presented are Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. There are many similarities and differences between Daisy and Myrtle. For instance both of them are unhappy in their lives and they are love in with a different with person, not with their husband. Their marriage is a jail. They are both in love with Tom in a different way, Daisy is the wife and Myrtle is the mistress.

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430 Words | 2 Pages

Fitzgerald depicts the women of the novel as deceitful, sexual beings that are naturally subordinate to men through Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle. Daisy exemplifies the naturally inferior role of women relying on the wealth of men in their lives to take care of them. When Daisy talks about her daughter she claims, “a fool–that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”(21) establishing women’s subordinate role in which they are ignorant to the affairs of their husbands and expected to rely on their beauty to carry them through life. When Daisy is accused of infidelity with Gatsby in the hotel, Gatsby claims that Daisy is attracted to men of wealth and, “only married [Tom] because [Gatsby] was poor and she was tired of waiting for [him]”(137).

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