Myrtle (and her husband George) represent the lower classes. They live in the 'valley of ashes', an area literally and symbolically impoverished, a great contrast to the luxury of the mansions of Long Island.
The myrtle tree coined its name back in Ancient Greece, derived from the word 'myrtos' meaning 'sprig'. Both the myrtle tree and its flowers are adored by many and thus became a symbol of all things love, good luck, and prosperity.
Myrtle represents the New Woman in her social and sexual progressiveness. She is not happy with her social status and desires to climb the social ladder. To become affluent, she has to marry a wealthy man.
Daisy flower petals represent an external appearance of purity and innocence, in contrast to the yellow center that shows how corrupt Daisy was by her materialism and desire for wealth. Myrtle, the other flower, is stark in comparison to the delicate beauty and ephemerality of the daisy.
The valley is a place of hopelessness, of loss, and of giving up. Highlighting this is the fact that Myrtle Wilson is the only ash heaps resident who isn't covered in the gray dust—she has enough ambition to try to hitch her wagon to Tom, and she hopes to the very last that he will be her ticket out of this life.
In short, Tom and Myrtle's relationship allows Fitzgerald to sharply critique the world of the wealthy, old-money class in 1920s New York. By showing Tom's affair with a working-class woman, Nick reveals Tom's ugliest behavior as well as the cruelty of class divisions during the roaring twenties.
Answer: Myrtle, introduced as Tom's immoral mistress, is strongly dependent on men which shows the type of women in Fitzgerald's writing. Myrtle's immorality comes to light in the readers first glimpse of her, as she describes the unhappy marriage.
First, Daisy Buchanan is the driver of the mysterious “death car”—she's the one who accidentally runs over and kills Myrtle. This is ironic because while the reader knows that Tom Buchanan had been having an affair with Myrtle, Daisy has no idea that the woman she killed was her husband's mistress.
In perhaps one of the great ironies of the novel, Daisy kills Myrtle when Myrtle runs in front of Gatsby's car. It is a hit and run. The irony is that the wife kills her husband's mistress without knowing that it's his mistress. This irony leads the novel toward the conclusion.
Tom has inherited a set of expectations along with his wealth, one of the reasons why he marries Daisy. She is the kind of woman he is expected to marry, even if she is not the type of woman he would necessarily choose for a companion. He also sleeps with Myrtle because she makes him feel strong and important.
Character Analysis: Myrtle
Marxist feminist sees the relatedness between women and social class. Myrtle is not happy with her marriage because her husband cannot provide her enough possession, so she gets into an affair with Tom, who has high social status.
Myrtle changes her behavior based on the people around her and the setting. She puts on the air of a socialite to impress others. Her desire to feel better about herself rules her. Myrtle uses the images of status to appear more impressive and desirable.
Myrtle is jealous of all things to do with Daisy, as Daisy is an aristocratic woman with high status and wealth, this is everything that Myrtle aspires to have along with an aristocratic lifestyle. Myrtle is also jealous of Daisy's marriage to Tom, the man she is apparently supposed to be in love with. “Daisy!
Myrtle Wilson symbolizes the rise of female sensuality and independence that took place during the 1920's. Her full figure and flirty nature are evidently what makes her unique from daisy and other women.
Possibly drunk from the day in the city, Daisy carelessly strikes Myrtle with Gatsby's car. She then negligently speeds off from the scene of the accident without stopping. She is only thinking about herself rather than the woman she struck.
When Myrtle sees the yellow car coming down the road, she assumes it's Tom, breaks out of her room, and runs out to seek his help. Myrtle's mistake proves fatal when Daisy, who's driving Gatsby's car, accidentally hits her, killing her instantly. How does Gatsby make his money?
Daisy “taking it pretty well” indicates that she had little remorse after killing Myrtle, especially since the woman was Tom's mistress. Unlike Tom and Nick, Daisy was not as devastated over Myrtle's death.
Tom realises that it was Gatsby's car that struck and killed Myrtle. Back at Daisy and Tom's home, Gatsby tells Nick that Daisy was driving the car that killed Myrtle but he will take the blame.
Myrtle says she will say Daisy's name any time she wants, so Tom slaps her across the face and breaks her nose.
Gatsby's funeral is ironic because only three people attend, while enormous crowds attended his parties. Despite being a popular figure in the social scene, once Gatsby passes, neither Daisy, his business partner Henry Wolfsheim, nor any of his partygoers seem to remember him or care.
To Tom, Myrtle is just another possession, and when she tries to assert her own will, he resorts to violence to put her in her place. Tom at once ensures and endangers her upwardly mobile desires.
' Myrtle suffers because she doesn't love her husband, has dreams of a better life with Tom but he won't leave his wife and treats Myrtle badly.
George, who now knows about his wife's affair but doesn't know it's with Tom, reveals that he needs money because he and his wife are going to move out West.
Daisy And Myrtle Wilson Essay
Daisy married Tom because of his wealthy background and Myrtle became Tom's mistress also because of his wealth. Both Myrtle and Daisy were not satisfied with who they were married to.
Wilson believes that Gatsby killed Myrtle because Tom gave him intentionally misleading information. Earlier in the story, Tom stopped by Wilson's garage while driving Gatsby's yellow car, leading Wilson to believe that the car was Tom's.