Myrtle's Ambition In The Great Gatsby

Discuss the ideas created by the text creator regarding the idea of ambition and its impact on relationships and behaviour of characters.

A major theme in The Great Gatsby is the pursuit of what can be known as the American Dream. The American Dream displays qualities such as determination and ambition. The American Dream can be defined as someone starting out low on the economic level, and rising to prominence by attaining wealth or fame. The desire to strive for what an individual wants can be accomplished, only if they work hard enough. The Great Gatsby is a novel that shows what happened to the American Dream in the 1920’s which a time period is where dreams and hope slowly became corrupted. The American dream not only causes corruption

Myrtle’s desire to live a life full of luxury and riches is what lures her to begin an affair with Tom. That decision not only harmed her relationship with her husband, George, but also in the long run lead to her loss of true happiness and her eventual death. As shown throughout the book, Myrtle is one who enjoys the famous life style. Throughout the book she is seen reading gossip magazines which represents her hope for a life condensed in “riches and fame”. Further, it also makes evident her reason for having an affair with Tom, because he represents the lifestyle of riches and luxury. When Myrtle speaks about her marriage with George, it becomes evident she wished she did not marry him and even goes as far as mentioning how George could not afford his own suit to get married and had to borrow one from a friend. That singular example demonstrates how

Throughout the course of the novel, it becomes known Daisy’s husband, Tom and her do not have the most ideal relationship. Tom treats her with no respect and is abusive towards her, and does not seem to give her much care. Daisy believes her life is perfect as she has everything a woman could ever ask for; wealth, love and happiness which all relates back to the American Dream. However, she eventually later discovers she has nothing and the American dream has ruined her happiness. Daisy has a child who does not seem important to her at all. Her child is never around and she is never noted spending time with her, which tells the reader a lot about Daisy. Daisy refers to her child as a “beautiful fool” saying it is the best thing a girl can ever want to be. In saying that, Daisy is essentially explaining how limited opportunities are for females, and she would preferred to have given birth to a son instead. The baby had to be a “beautiful fool” in order to attain happiness and success. Daisy believed she had everything with Tom, however, upon meeting Gatsby again after not seeing for six years, Daisy starts to cry. At that point in time, it is when Daisy comes to realize that she also could have married Gatsby for money which was very popular during that time period. But then again as a bonus she would also have had what