(THE GREAT GATSBY ESSAY)
Myrtle Wilson had a dream to be wealthy. She did not make it to wealth. Myrtle Wilson was a lower class citizen that lived in the City of Ashes. In F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, various characters pursued their visions of the American Dream. The pursuit of wealth, however, proved difficult for Myrtle, who was ultimately unsuccessful. Myrtle Wilson was unable to accomplish her vision of the American Dream due to various events that took place that led to her death.
Myrtle’s dream of wealth was ruined and her with Tom was doomed to fail. Myrtle wanted to be wealthy, but Tom and Daisy had a bit of a “code” so to speak. Tom and Daisy often made up to each other’s affairs by moving to a new city. With a lot of money, they could. Myrtle, however, was married to George Wilson, a low income man, who suspected she was having an affair. George was highly frantic to move west with Myrtle so he could end the affair. “‘She’s been talking about it for ten years...And now she’s going whether she wants to or not...’” (Fitzgerald 131). George was unwilling to let Myrtle have an affair, but she was too self-absorbed and greedy to give up her wealth. Myrtle was unable to “make up” to George in a financial sense because she wasn’t wealthy. George was trying to get her away from the man she was having an affair with, and needed to do so by buying the car from Tom. Myrtle’s dream of wealth was set up to fail at this point because George found out about the affair and wanted to take her away.
Myrtle’s dream of wealth was unsuccessful because of her greed. Myrtle had a dream to be wealthy with Tom. Her dishonesty with George made him feel sick. When George made the discovery he began to frantically attempt to get Tom’s car so he could move west with her. Nick witnessed how Myrtle treated a low class boy when she was with Tom. “Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders” (Fitzgerald 35). With Tom, Myrtle believed she was superior to the “lower orders” and treated them as a reader could assume she was treated. Myrtle’s greed led her to be quite arrogant and overall snappy. This is ironic because she is a lower class person. Myrtle also mentioned she was unhappy being with George. She also mentioned that she thought marrying him would raise her social status and she believed he was a nice man. She does state that George wasn’t worth licking her shoe. Myrtle ruined her own dream by being overly greedy and selfish. Her arrogance led her to believe she was better than the “lower class” while she was with Tom, regardless of her being a lower class citizen herself.
Myrtle’s dream could have been reached regardless of her dishonesty and greed, but instead it culminated in her death. Many other characters were able to get wealthy by dishonest means, such as Gatsby, revealed to be a bootlegger indirectly at the end of the novel. Myrtle’s greed also contributed to the ultimate downfall of her relationship with Tom and the conflict between Tom and Daisy. “It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart. She’s a Catholic and they don’t believe in divorce” (Fitzgerald 37). Nick was surprised that people believed that lie, and had Tom not been having an affair with Myrtle, Daisy possibly wouldn’t have run her over. Dishonesty between characters and irrational decisions made in part with other characters contributed to her ultimate death. Some characters were successful, at least in some way, but not everyone was entirely transparent with everyone else. Myrtle was dishonest with George in her affair with Tom, and it ultimately led to her death; she believed Tom was driving the yellow car and ran out in the middle of the street hoping he would recognize her and stop. Little did she know, Daisy was driving, and Tom wasn’t able to take her and marry her.
Myrtle had a chance to achieve her American dream. She was beginning to be successful, but her arrogance and greed mixed with her dishonesty led to her losing her vision of her dream. Myrtle’s death was a tragedy, but her dishonesty was the initiator. Tom was just a dream in the end. And Myrtle was just a lower class citizen whose big dreams ultimately got her killed.
