When an individual hears the term wasteland, nearly all would think of the precise definition which is an unused area of land that has become barren or overgrown. Although that is the proper terminology, something or someone being a wasteland goes beyond that. Figuratively speaking, we can compose being a wasteland mentally, physically, spiritually and even emotionally. As humans, the actions we cause due to our emotions may feel like a 'waste ' if there is no sort of reflection taken from it. This can be indicated as a wasteland because we manage to feel as if what we say or do is useless; just as in relation of a certain area of land that becomes barren is useless too. In the novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we examine …show more content…
Scott Fitzgerald describes Myrtle Wilson as someone who is not very bright, having the lust of being attracted to dominant man, resulting into someone who possess unattractive character traits. Myrtle description of where she is located to what we know as "the valley of ashes," which is Fitzgerald 's only geographical wasteland in The Great Gatsby, "a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens"(23). Myrtle is not your typical woman of beauty, she is described as having a "thickish figure". Myrtle Wilson is rude, calculating, and appealing; and her traits, the way she appears herself, and the tone of her voice all take after these aspects of her character. "She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can. Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine, contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smoldering” (33). She has the most striking appearance of any woman in the modern literature, which is a statement on the significance of sexuality in the arising current wasteland of the society. Being Sensual and generatively developed, F. Scott Fitzgerald characterizes Myrtle Wilson as someone eruptive and the barren wasteland she is lives in: "a white ashen dust... veiled everything in the vicinity, except [George Wilson 's] wife, who moved close to Tom" …show more content…
Tom is an unfaithful, dominant and aggressive men who is also married to the women of Daisy. Because Tom is in the upper class unlike Myrtle, he has the impression of being royalty to her, meaning he can verbally scold her, physically attack her, and he would not feel the same if he was to take on such actions towards daisy, because Myrtle is just his mistress. Despite the way Tom treats Myrtle, she still remains to have an affair with him, as she know he is the open gates of entering the rich lifestyle she so desperately wants to be in. George Wilson on the other hand, is mostly known for being undistinguished. He is first described as a "blond, spiritless man, anemic, and faintly handsome" (63). There 's no sign of him being unique, and it would be easy to forget about his presence- which is how Myrtle perceives him most of the time. For instance, George and Myrtle have been married for approximately twelve years and surprisingly do not have any children. The most eye capturing sentence in the novel of why Myrtle has yet to make a child was the comment she made towards George while in the city: I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn 't fit to lick my shoe" (34). One would say Myrtle has very little self respect for herself and would let Tom wrongly use her in any kind of way (even a punch
Myrtle Wilson came from a working class family with a low social standing. Due to her family’s lack of money, Myrtle’s options were limited to marrying men of equal or lower economic status than herself. As a result, Myrtle married George Wilson, a poor car mechanic. In her relationship with George, Myrtle lacked control due to her status as a woman and was thus forced to listen to her husband. However, because of her lower status, Myrtle did learn to use her physical attributes to her own advantage. In other words, Myrtle knew how to exaggerate her physical beauty in order to attract men such as Tom Buchanan; who would pay her with money and expensive gifts in return. Thus, “there is a clear connection between the material disadvantages” Myrtle faced and her lack of morals; given “the paucity of her allotment of the fundamental decencies” (Voegeli). In other words, because of her lack of economic backing, Myrtle Wilson grew up as a woman of lower class with less options in life; which limited her social power and drove her to act unlike any high class lady. Thus, Myrtle’s only option for increasing her status was through material services such as her relationship with Tom Buchanan. All in all, Myrtle Wilson’s economic status limited her to the life of a low class woman and her power others in her
She only wants to be with Tom for his money and for the material things that he gives to her. Myrtle does not care that she is being unfaithful to the man she married, all she cares about is the fact that Tom is person of old money and can buy her expensive things. Women's views on faithfulness and money are flawed
Daisy knows very well that tom is cheating on her, but doesn’t care because it's more convenient to stay in her unhappy marriage. Even though she wants to be with Gatsby, she wants to keep her social status and being with Tom makes this all the easier. Now, this is quite the opposite of Myrtle. She has a loving husband who would do anything for her, but her social status is all she cares about. Myrtle is willing to hurt George and ruin their marriage in order to climb up the social ladder. Neither of these women have respect for themselves. Both Daisy and Myrtle allow Tom to treat them
Myrtle eventually had similar goals as Gatsby, but her life did not begin the same way. She was of the lower class of society and married a simple man. The two pursued a poor life, but Myrtle’s husband George was a decent man. Nevertheless, Myrtle became unsatisfied, and when the opportunity arose to better the quality of her life, she took it. Daisy’s husband Tom, an unfaithful, rough man not very committed to his marriage, began an affair with Myrtle.
Even though she is a more miniscule character in the book, Myrtle Wilson wears a mask. Myrtle is unhappy in her marriage with her husband, George. When her and George met, she had thought that he was a man with a lot of money. Once they got married, she soon realized he wasn’t a rich man at all after he borrowed “somebody’s best suit to get married in.” Despite the fact that he didn’t have much money, Myrtle just puts a fake smile on her face and stays with him while still having an affair with Daisy’s husband Tom.
Tom realizes her desperate situation and takes total advantage of her. The clearest example of this is when Myrtle shouts Daisy’s name and Tom warns her not to say it again but Myrtle says Daisy's name anyway. Tom Buchanan in a “A short deft movement..., breaks her nose with his open hand.” Tom views her as not even being allowed to lick the dirt of his shoe. She is just another one of Tom’s possessions. Myrtle isn’t even allowed to say Daisy's name. He knows that she's in desperate situation. Tom is all she has and he knows this, he could do whatever he wants. He realizes that without her she will have to go back to George’s measly garage and she doesn't want that. Therefore Tom takes control of her desperation. Additionally, at the party, Catherine tells Nick that neither of them can stand the person they’re married to. They don't divorce and marry one another because Daisy is a Catholic. Nick knows that Tom is lying indicating to the reader, yet again, that Tom uses Myrtle for his own pleasure. She is nothing to him and he could do this because of Myrtle’s desperation. Another example in the novel is Mr. McKee asks Tom for a reference to be able to work in West Egg and Tom replies “Ask Myrtle,” said Tom, breaking into a short shout of laughter as Mrs. Wilson entered with a tray. “She’ll give you a letter of introduction, won’t you Myrtle?” She answers in confusion “Do what?” Tom is mocking her in front of
Throughout the novel, one of Tom 's biggest careless acts was when he cheated on Daisy. Tom is a cocky, confident man shown many times throughout the novel like when Nick arrived at his house and "Tom Buchanan in riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch" (Fitzgerald 6). His stance showed his arrogance, and how highly he thought of himself because of his wealth. Tom was a man who often acted without thinking things through, like having an affair with Myrtle. Despite both Tom and Myrtle being married, they both had affairs. Tom doesn 't hide his affair from Nick and introduces him to his mistress Myrtle at Wilson 's garage. Tom doesn 't seem to care if anyone finds out because he feels as though nothing would change due to his wealth. While at Myrtle 's husbands garage, Tom tells Myrtle to meet him at the train station. They end up going to their apartment in New York City that they keep for their affair. While at the Morningside Height 's apartment Myrtle starts to talk about Tom 's wife Daisy, ""Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!" shouted Mrs. Wilson. "I 'll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai-"" (Fitzgerald 37). Tom didn 't like Myrtle overstepping her boundaries and to show
Myrtle’s ambition proves to be her fatal flaw in being the tragic hero. The goal of her ambition is to lead her to a higher social status. In pursuit of her ambition she expresses that her husband, George Wilson, serves as an obstacle since he is in the opposite direction of where she wishes to be. She expresses disgust in George for committing actions that are considered lowly by her standards. She was particularly unenthused with her husband after it is revealed that “he borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married” without telling her. (35) She expresses her marriage as regretful, which illustrates her ambition to strive for better, being Tom. Essentially it illustrates that she would rather be treated with little respect to achieve status, rather than to be treated with respect without status. Myrtle not only exudes her ambition through her pompous attitude, but also in the manner in which she carries herself. She is a young woman in her “middle thirties, and faintly stout, but (carries) her surplus flesh sensuously,” and although she is not attributed with beauty she is somewhat charismatic. (25) The way in which she carries herself may be considered sexual, and her persona is alluring for men such as Tom. Her seducing persona illustrates her ambition in being a temptress in order to move up the social ladder.
They were both mentally abusive toward their wives. Tom cheated multiple times with lower class women and Daisy knew about most of the women. George locked his wife, Myrtle, in a room depriving her of human contacted until he was ready to transport her away from the valley of ashes and toward to western region. Both have inflicted some sort of violence onto Myrtle, George’s wife. Tom hit myrtle cross the face while George lied to her about who he was. Even though the two men shared the same victim they had different ways of displaying those acts of violence. Tom, who had an affair Myrtle, slapped Myrtle during one of their drunken nights. This lead to Myrtle having a broken nose and a bruised face. George showed violence toward Myrtle by locking her into their bedroom and made her “...stay there till the day after tomorrow and then we’re going to move away.” (George,76). George himself said that “ …now she’s going to leave whether she wants to or
In the novel The Great Gatsby, the author, F.Scott Fitzgerald, writes about a filthy land named the Valley of Ashes. This valley is located between West Egg and New York which represents what is truly inside the rich. Fitzgerald uses the Valley of Ashes to show the reality of the illusions that the upper class makes to warn his readers about the dangers of what facades mask.
The settings and backdrops in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, are essential elements to the formation of the characters, symbolic imagery and the overall plot development. Fitzgerald uses East and West Egg communities to portray two separate worlds and two classes of people that are technically the same their status, but fundamentally different in their ideals. The physical geography of the settings is representative of the distance between classes of the East and West Eggers. Every setting connotes a different tone and enhances the imagery of story line. From the wealthy class of the "eggs", the desolate "valley of ashes", to the chaos of Manhattan. The imagery provided by Fitzgerald becomes an important tool in establishing the characters and their story.
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows his disapproval of the times by portraying characters attempting to achieve their American Dream by any means possible. Myrtle Wilson, a low class inhabitant of the valley of ashes, puts her morals to the side when pursuing the wealthy life. Not even marriage stops Myrtle from having an affair with Tom Buchanan-- a rich man who enables her to finally buy the life she thinks she deserves. Not only does Myrtle cheat on her own husband, but she has an affair with someone who caught her eye with "a dress suit and patent leather shoes and [she] couldn't keep [her] eyes off him" (Fitzgerald 40). It is not a love for Tom that attracted Myrtle, but his money and power that she lusts after.
“It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart. She’s a Catholic, and they don’t believe in divorce’. Daisy was not a Catholic, and I was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie” (Fitzgerald 33). While Tom is being corrupt for lying to Myrtle about his wife being a Catholic, Myrtle seems to be desperate to marry Tom. So much so that Tom had to make such a lie so that she won’t want to marry him. The quote implies that Myrtle has asked Tom to divorce Daisy. “The only crazy I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake…” (Fitzgerald 35). Myrtle couldn’t care less about her husband. In the American Dream, the typical married couple treat each other with love and respect. In the quote, though, it is clear that she doesn't love him. After all, she cheats on him with Tom Buchanan. She strives to become rich through Tom, achieving the American Dream but also destroying it by being unfaithful. “For Myrtle Wilson, the truth gets in the way of her personal goal: to become a woman of class. She hides her affair with Tom Buchanan because the truth would prevent her from living life in the city as the well-kept mistress of a wealthy man. As Tom's lover, she can live a better life than George can provide” (Gale 271). Myrtle shows corruption of the American Dream by cheating on her husband for her own
Failure is the necessity for human growth. Without the hopelessness and poverty of the lower class, there would be no structure; no difference of human construction. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the ever present “Valley of Ashes,” displays the human drive for wealth, greed, and the plight of the poor. Because there is the rich, there must be the poor, because in society, one group must continually fail. Geographically speaking, the valley lies in between Manhattan and East and West Egg. It represents the distinct difference of the excitement and luxurious lifestyle of the upper-class to the desire and bleakness that pervades the valley’s helpless and poor. Because of both humans moral and societal expectations, the pursuit
Myrtle Wilson. Tom uses Myrtle for sex and in return she receives money and gifts. There is no actual love between the two, just the lure of material possession. The reasoning behind this is Myrtle is sick of here husbands lack of success and longs for wealth, which Tom has. Tom who is from the West Eggs, looks down on anyone not in his “class” there fore treating Myrtle like trash, you could even say just using her. This theme is continued when Tom marries Daisy. The marriage is not about love, yet again, it is about wealth and all the way to the end of the story with the death of Gatsby. Daisy only loved Gatsby because he...