Who Is Myrtle's Illusions In The Great Gatsby

Gatsby’s quasi-mythical persona is the novel’s ultimate manifestation of ambitious illusions covering up something that is barren. When he meets Daisy, he falls in love with her. But she is more than a person to him. She is also an idealized dream who comes from an old-money background and whose voice is “full of money” (120). Because Gatsby comes from a poor background and believes that he needs to be in Daisy’s social class for them to be together after her marriage, he decides to create a persona and gain enough money to be powerful enough to capture her. After the war, the mystery of how he attained his money adds a layer of filth to his illusion that he is a noble and wealthy man. His newfound money allows him to create an entirely new

Her illusion starts to come apart when George believes that she has a lover. George explains that he’s “got my wife locked in” the garage, a place that demonstrates her real powerless position in life (136). Refusing to be imprisoned in the Valley of Ashes, she tries to escape to the car she thinks Tom is driving but ends up killed. In death, the true filth and indignity of her life is revealed as Nick describes “her left breast was swinging loose like a flap” (137). In the end, she is described as merely a piece of meat, one that served as a toy for Tom, robbed of her cherished ambitions. Myrtle dies not just because she could never break free of her illusions, but because she made her illusions her reality, not being able to exist without them. She does not have the financial backing or status to continue living in her

Her existence does not depend on her illusions, so even if she is forced to face reality, she does not have much to lose and can escape without harm. Daisy pretends that she is pure and carefree and convivial, symbolized by her fluttering white dresses, but this is clearly not true. She is cognizant of the world and her place in society, as she puts it, “the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (17). Daisy does not challenge this view and even chooses to show others that she embodies this persona, usually acting innocent when confronting hard questions about love and betrayal. Even when the love of Gatsby forces her to question the illusions that are part of her life, such as when she calls Tom “revolting”, she does not face any repercussions because she is protected by her status (131). Unlike powerless Myrtle, who receives a beating when she angers Tom, Daisy is physically protected by her status as Tom’s wife. Tom seduces her by reminding her of their past and by “talking intently across the table at her and in his earnestness his hand had fallen upon and covered her own” (145). In the end, she ends up with Tom, a husband whom she portrays as devoted to her and able to make all the decisions. Her illusion of being pure and carefree is