Myrtle Wilson, a character from The Great Gatsby, is a perfect example of a woman, who failed to gain America dream. Myrtle is a married woman, who is engaged in the love affair with Tom Buchanan. Myrtle’s character is introduced when Tom and Nick visit her household: “ (…) in the moment the thickish figure of a woman blocked out the light from the office door. She was in middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her flesh sensuously, as some women can. Her face above a spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chin, contained no facet or gleam of beauty (...)” . Myrtle was a woman with a curvy figure, who embraced her body with grace. The fabric of the dress that Myrtle is wearing in the particular scene suggests that she had quite a …show more content…
sufficient income, however the simplicity of her attire, that is the lack of any ornamentation or additional accessories, gives a reader the impression that Mrs. Wilson was not a particularly sophisticated lady. However, the color of the dress enhances the vitality of the character. The narrator gives another insight into Myrtle’s wardrobe later in the passage: “She had changed her dress to a brown figured muslin, which stretched tight over her rather wide hips as Tom helped her to the platform in New York” .
The fact that she changed her attire within several minutes, makes Myrtle quite a “fashionista” . Nick goes further with the description of Tom Buchanan’s lover’s choice of clothing later in the novel: “Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume sometimes before, and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream-colored chiffon, which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about the room. With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change. Her laughter, her gestures, her assertions became more violently affected moment by moment, and as she expended the room grew smaller around her, until she seemed to be revolving on a noisy, creaking pivot through the smoky air” . The choice of a dress in this case indicates, that Myrtle’s main goal was to impress the crowd, to boast. The color of the dress is also significant. It is not white as in the case of Daisy and Jordan, but cream. Myrtle is clearly trying to approach the palette of the elite. What is more, another significant element of the dress, is the way it influenced the character’s personality. From a rather miserable wife of a car salesman, Myrtle emerges as a happy and elegant woman. The choice of her attire accentuated her rather ambitious
character. Although Myrtle did not belong to an upper class, with the help of the clothes, she managed to enter the world of elite. The garments that she wore throughout the novel, appeared to have act as symbols of her aspiration to become a member of the rich and famous.
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
Myrtle appears as the total opposite character to the Daisy. She is ‘thick, faintly stout” (Fitzgerald 29), but “sensuously” and “immediately perceptible about her vitality” (Fitzgerald 29). She is the woman from “the bottom” who wants to be acceptable as a lady from the upper class. She is terribly vulgar, but she is more alive and natural than Daisy is. The unpleasant scene in their apartments, where Carraway appeared because of Myrtle’s invitation, is full of the philistine contentment and boasting.
Gatsby Essay Fitzgerald created the characters Daisy and Myrtle wilson to illustrate the similarities and differences between women living in two completely different worlds. Some people live in expensive mansions with expensive things and money to waste, while others have very little and have to work extremely hard for the little they have. Daisy, a beautiful, rich woman is similar to Myrtle Wilson in the sense that they are both in an unhappy marriage. They are seeking love and happiness through affairs. But on they also share many differences.
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.
In the novel, The Great Gatsby, the two central women presented are Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. These two women, although different, have similar personalities. Throughout the novel, there are instances in which the reader feels bad for and dislikes both Daisy and Myrtle. These two women portray that wealth is better than everything else, and they both base their lives on it. Also the novel shows the hardships and difficulties they have in their marriages. They are never satisfied with what they have, and are always longing for more.
Many of the occurrences in The Great Gatsby produced far-reaching effects for several of the characters. Of these occurrences, one of the most influential and important incidents was the death of Myrtle Wilson. While her life and death greatly affected the lives of all of the main and supporting characters, her death had a very significant effect on the lives of Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby.
George Wilson is the naïve husband to Myrtle Wilson, the woman having an affair with Tom Buchanan, who is the "brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen"(Fitzgerald 16) husband to Daisy Buchanan, the woman whom Jay Gatsby, the main character, is in love with: a very removed yet significant role in the story. Evidently playing the role of the common man, in a story revolving around wealth and possessions, George Wilson is the owner of an auto body shop and is described as a "spiritless man, anemic and faintly handsome"(29). Wilson's common man image helps to further develop the theme of Wilson is deeply in love with Myrtle to a point where he is paranoid of losing her. "`I've got my wife locked in up there,' explained Wilson calmly. `She's going to stay there till the day after tomorrow and then we're going to move away"(143).
Myrtle’s perception of reality is blurred. She fails to recognize her social standing as someone of the lower class, and instead brings upon a self lead pretentious charade that she is of the upper class. She has an acquired habit of stating that various aspect in her life are under her expectations. She insists that she only “married him because (she) thought he was a gentleman”, and that he “fit to lick ...
Though Myrtle Wilson makes an attempt to escape her own class and pursue happiness with the rich, she ends up gaining nothing and eventually dies. She is basically a victim of the group she wanted to join. Myrtle tries to become like Tom by having an affair with him and taking on his way of living, but in doing so she becomes unsatisfied with her life. Her constant clothing changes show that she is unhappy with her life, she changes personalities every time she changes her dress: "with the influence of the dress her whole personality had also undergone a change.
Why is the novel so intrigued by Myrtle Wilson’s “immediately perceptible vitality” (30), on the one hand, yet almost viciously cruel in its mockery of her upper class pretension on the other hand? (see for example, pp.29-35 where Nick contrasts Myrtle’s “intense vitality” with her and her sister Catherine’s laughable attempts to posture themselves as modern society women. Indeed, Nick twice remarks Catherine’s plucked and redrawn eyebrows as affronts to her “nature” (see p.34, and again at the very end on pp.171-172). What’s up with that?)
In addition to his dress suit, Myrtle notices that Tom is wearing patent leather shoes. The fact that she is looking down at his feet, represents that no matter how earnestly she tries to behave like a rich woman, she will always be a lower rank compared to Tom. Likewise patent leather shoes are exceedingly glossy and shiny, to the point where a person can look into them and see their reflection. Ironically Myrtle is looking down at his feet which shows her low class self, but she is looking at her reflection in his shoes which is mirroring back an image of a high class version of Myrtle. Patent leather shoes are expensive, which again addresses the fact that Tom has a great deal of money. When they both get off the train, Tom is so close to Myrtle that his “white shirt front” presses against her arm. The word white represents purity, but Myrtle is not pure because she is tricking Tom into liking her, so that she can pretend to be rich and get unnecessary items to show off to her friends and sister. In addition, she is from the Valley of Ashes, which is a dusty, grey area, where no one is pure like the colour
Nick comments, “With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur. Her laughter, her gestures, her assertions became more violently affected moment by moment,” (30). When Myrtle changes her dress, Nick finds that her personality changes as well. Once she is in her elaborate “lounge” dress, she is no longer just full of life, but prideful and arrogant. She acts as though she is above others, more superior. Her actions, as Nick describes, are exaggerated and “violent”, unnecessary. Her whole demeanor changes as soon as she comes in contact with the expensive chiffon fabric. People like the McKee’s and Myrtle’s sister Catherine arrive and a small party begins. Tom reacts and has Myrtle get drinks for the crew, but she complains, "I told that boy about the ice." Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders. ‘"These people! You have to keep after them all the time." She looked at me and laughed pointlessly. Then she flounced over to the dog, kissed it with ecstasy, and swept into the kitchen, implying that a dozen chefs awaited her orders there” (31). She calls ‘the help’
She was a wife and at the same time a lover of another. She was the lover of Tom, who was Daisy's husband, and Daisy was Jay Gatsby's love. A good connection there, right? Myrtle loved Tom, with all her heart. He was her American Dream, and yet she didn't find love near him, but death among his wife, who killed her accidentally.
The biggest difference between the two women is that Daisy was and is still rich. She grew up wealthy and then later married Tom Buchanan, a wealthy man who inherited money from his family. Because Daisy does not know anything else but being rich and wealthy she wears her clothing with style and knows that she does not have to take it over the top. Myrtle on the other hand is not rich and has probably never been. She is married to her husband George, who owns some sort of garage in the valley of ashes. Myrtle is desperate to look rich and always goes over the top with her clothing to make it look as if she is.
The 1920s is the decade in which fashion entered the modern era. It was the decade in which women first abandoned the more restricting fashions of past years and began to wear more comfortable clothes (such as short skirts or trousers). Creating this list really shows the differences in their looks and what each one of Tom’s ladies portrays themselves to be. Starting with Myrtle she was described as “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 smouldering." (23). Myrtles fashion tends to express her very flamboyant personality. Vibrant colors are perfect for Myrtle reflecting her loud voice. Myrtle also wants to come across as wealthy, so a couple gaudy designer items were crucial to the list. Myrtle feels the need of acceptance from all the people around her, she may have to dress to impress. The constant changing of outfits represents her outfits depending on her personality. Constantly changing clothes also is crucial for her to gain some attention. For Daisy, her style is the complete opposite. Although she may dress representing her wealth and attention, she is elegant and lightly subtle. Because it is the roaring 20’s when picturing Daisy in white pearls all over her body from head to toe and a sparkling headband. Daisy is said to