forever” (40). Corruption is further shown through the gossiping and spreading of rumours: “Well, they say he’s a nephew or a cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm’s. That’s where all his money comes from” (37). The attendants’ immorality is also shown through the consumption of alcohol at a time when the Prohibition Act banned it: “The bottle of whiskey – a second one – was not in constant demand by all present” (39). In her drunkenness Myrtle becomes increasingly arrogant and starts ordering people about: “I told that boy about the ice […] these people! You have to keep after them all the time” (36). Myrtle’s comments show she is a petty and small-minded woman. One could infer that they give her a false sense of superiority and make her feel more equal to Tom. For Myrtle, the whole purpose of the apartment party was to show off what she had gained through her affair with Tom. Moreover, questionable means through which she achieved it make it clear that morality of infidelity means nothing to her. Fitzgerald details the corrupt behavior and immorality of the apartment party in preparation for the climax of the party scene. This occurs when Tom punches Myrtle after she shouts Daisy’ name: “‘I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dais-’ Making a short deft movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” (41). …show more content…
Fitzgerald uses this callous act of violence to convey his perceptions of the overall decline in morality, by revealing the cruel side of Tom’s privileged upbringing and alluding to the dark side of the
From early civilizations to modern day social systems, economic status has always been a determining factor of power. Kings, queens, dukes, princes, and princesses possessed the greatest amount of wealth and thus the greatest amount of power over others. By having large amounts of wealth, royalty could control the actions of others below their economic status. This fact even applies the functions of modern American society. For instance, regardless of the specific circumstance, wealthy individuals have power over the actions of those below them. They control others by buying their loyalty or simply through others’ envy of them. Such principles can be applied to both men and women of wealth. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald,
By associating the cruelness of Tom Buchanan with that of Meyer Wolfsheim, Fitzgerald argues that rich individuals of both old wealth and new money are capable of extreme cruelty. In fact, both characters caused the death of their wives’ lovers – Tom caused the death of Gatsby, and Wolfsheim likely caused the death of the man whose teeth Wolfsheim
Fitzgerald uses his character’s immoral behaviors to show how individuals of the Lost Generation are trying to fill the void that they have after World War I. The character’s loss of morals are a result of their carelessness and
The first time that the reader catches an insight of Myrtle, Fitzgerald develops Myrtle to be a mere object of Tom's’ desire. Fitzgerald does this to extenuate the fact that Tom will not move on past Daisy to be with her. Tom “got some women” that supposedly is a secret but there is a lack of secretism on Myrtles end seeing as she is now calling during evening meals from “New York” just to talk to Tom. This further proves that she is in need of attention, something her husband can not fully give her at any random moment of the day. Myrtle is willing to express herself even when she’s already married. It reveals that she is deceiving her own husband, who is later mentioned in the novel. This allows for Myrtle to be looked down upon by the reader, it also entails her to be seen as an attention seeker. Again, Fitzgerald appeals to present-day behaviors by allowing Myrtle to be viewed as someone who wants to be showcased. Almost everyone can relate that they’ve wanted attention in their life at some point. This connects Myrtle to the reader's past or current feelings. Fitzgerald uses this to let readers feel compassion for Myrtle which emphasizes all she needs is for someone to properly love her, treat her, and show her what she needs to do to become successful in her
“Nick-” she reluctantly drew words. “-Did I ever tell you of the letter Myrtle sent Tom, back in Christmas, about three years ago?” I already knew I didn’t want to have this conversation. I wanted to sit and hold my breath like a toddler until I got my way and she withheld this talk with me.
There are many conspiracies in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. One of them that many people believe is that Daisy Buchanan had killed Myrtle Wilson on purpose. Myrtle was Tom Buchanan’s mistress. Tom and Daisy were married and had a child but that didn’t stop Tom from cheating on her. At the same time, Daisy was having an affair with Jay Gatsby who was her childhood lover. There is much evidence that can prove that Daisy and Tom set up to kill Myrtle and put the blame on Gatsby.
When the readers first meet Daisy, she is living the party lifestyle. Daisy is a nice woman, but she is very superficial (Fitzgerald 8). This tells the readers that although Daisy is fake, but is kind. On the other hand, when Myrtle is talking to Tom and her sister Catherine, she becomes defensive and aggressive. “The answer to this was unexpected. It came from Myrtle, who had overheard the question, and it was violent and obscene” (Fitzgerald 33). These to statements show that although they are both clueless, they have personality traits that set them
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
Cruelty plays a major part in developing an author’s portrayal of different characters, as well as the connection between these characters and what they represent. As a young writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald grew up in Minnesota, and in many ways his life is paralleled by the background of Nick Carraway, the narrator and a character in his book The Great Gatsby. In this novel, Fitzgerald uses many strategies to develop each character - among these is the cruelty of one character towards another. The most significant act of cruelty in the book is Daisy Buchanan’s role in Myrtle’s death, and her actions following this death. By connecting her to the high class, the author articulates his outlook and attitude towards the ideologies and values of the
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
Thesis: In this passage, Fitzgerald's stylistic choices illustrate his concern with America's path of loneliness and isolation if they continue to pursue a corrupted American dream.
Myrtle is, as Daisy, impressed with Tom's wealth and appearance, but, like Jay Gatsby, is stuck in a fantastic, idealized perception of her object of affection. Even when abused and trampled over by Tom, Myrtle continues to adore him, just as Gatsby continues to dote upon Daisy after being obviously rejected by her. As far as ethical considerations, Gatsby tends to prove himself a sincere and caring person, while Daisy and Tom just destroy the lives of two people and then leave town to escape the consequences of their actions.
As stated before, Fitzgerald had attended these extravagant parties and witnessed first hand the disappearance of prior morals. Though the Roaring 20’s was an incredibly prosperous time for the American culture, it also involved a lot of levity among the people of this time in their pursuit of wealth and their own ideal lifestyles (Arkett, 2011). With this new morality came about the self-centered state of mind, where people only focused on their own successes and how they would easily accomplish them. America came to be a land of immorality and irresponsibility, where the primary goal was wealth, through any means (eNotes). Fitzgerald wrote his novel to portray this skewed morality in order for the people of his time to better understand their evident downfall of
Tom Buchanan epitomizes the advent of moral uncertainty of the Modernist Era. Upon Tom’s introduction in the novel, Fitzgerald makes his lack of morals very evident. When Nick goes to have dinner with the Buchanans and Jordan, he learns something new about Tom. Jordan tells Nick something she believed everyone knew.
Fitzgerald shows vice through Tom because of the way he thinks he is superior to everyone and how Nick, the narrator, describes him in the book. Nick loathes Tom and what he is doing to his cousin Daisy. Tom shows vice, or wicked behavior, by thinking and doing the things that he does. Such as, cheat on Daisy or feel he is superior to everyone around him. Nick gets a bad vibe from Tom the moment he meets him and as we go through the book, once Nick is around Tom enough, he starts to not like him more and more because of the thing he does and the people he hurts in the way. Tom is a selfish man with bad