Myrtle The Great Gatsby Analysis

Every individual runs towards a dream, towards a goal, a chance to achieve true happiness. A happiness which is subjective, based on who they are, their values and background. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald reflects how the desperation for wanting a better life, in the form of the pursual of materialism as dictated by the societal constraints, ultimately imprisons the individual and strips them of the qualities that could allow them to attain the happiness that they inherently search for. This is seen in Myrtle, who in order to pursue her dreams of riches, she ultimately brings about her demise by conforming to the societal pressures imposed on a woman.
Myrtle was an ambitious woman, who had grown up in the slums and had made up her mind, …show more content…
Myrtle had given up on the idea of hard work and as a result, given up on Wilson. Afterwards, instead of going on her own, Myrtle, still dominated by the woman stereotype, had chosen to engage in an affair to attain her goal with another man, Tom. She had fallen into the same pithole as before, but Myrtle believed this time would be different as Tom was everything that Wilson could not be. His was . . . . . . . . He was an embodiment of Myrtle’s dream. . . . . . . . Myrtle often disengaged her social status away from the rest of the poor. She felt that she should have been Daisy, giving her unrealistic expectations and a sense that she was better and worth more, and a status of not being of the lower class. Myrtle had expected Tom to choose her over Daisy, and couldn't understand why Tom didn’t and he even went as far as to strike her when she wouldn’t stop saying Daisy’s name, as according to Tom, she wasn’t worthy enough. However, even though it was self-evident that Tom did not care about her in any way except as a meaningless distraction to make himself feel more dominate, Myrtle still kept returning to him and threw away any possible notion of self-respect and self-worth by doing so. Myrtle never lost hope that the impossibility would occur. She chose to believe in a ideal future that was so blatantly out of her reach, and refused to accept her defeat and pursue wealth . . . . . . . By doing so, Myrtle had become disillusioned with her current life, and become insecure and . . . . . .