Valley of Ashes: The working class
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Myrtle Wilson
Myrtle is Tom Buchanan's "other woman". Tom cheats on his wife, Daisy, with Myrtle, who is also cheating on her husband by having this affair. Myrtle is from the Valley of Ashes, the poor, working-class part of the island. Her husband George owns a struggling auto garage and gas station, which is where Tom goes to pick up Myrtle and has spoken to her husband on several occasions.
Myrtle is introduced in the first few chapters of the novel when she leaves with Tom, temporarily leaving behind the life she despises for the one she's always dreamed of. Myrtle uses Tom to enter the world of those with money, and Tom's little apartment is her own version of Gatsby's house: she is able to invite guests over to impress them with her all of her fancy possessions.
She is the representative of the working class and those trying to become wealthy, but she is also Fitzgerald's way of signifying the consequences that come with acquiring money.
Myrtle is Tom Buchanan's "other woman". Tom cheats on his wife, Daisy, with Myrtle, who is also cheating on her husband by having this affair. Myrtle is from the Valley of Ashes, the poor, working-class part of the island. Her husband George owns a struggling auto garage and gas station, which is where Tom goes to pick up Myrtle and has spoken to her husband on several occasions.
Myrtle is introduced in the first few chapters of the novel when she leaves with Tom, temporarily leaving behind the life she despises for the one she's always dreamed of. Myrtle uses Tom to enter the world of those with money, and Tom's little apartment is her own version of Gatsby's house: she is able to invite guests over to impress them with her all of her fancy possessions.
She is the representative of the working class and those trying to become wealthy, but she is also Fitzgerald's way of signifying the consequences that come with acquiring money.
"Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume some time 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. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur" (pg. 30).
The west Egg: "New money"
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Jay Gatsby
Perhaps the most prominent resident of West Egg, but also the most mysterious. Gatsby is renowned for his extravagant parties, but nobody actually knows much about him, or how he came into his money. There are many rumors about him, one being that he's the cousin of a prince, and another being that he was a murderer. His history varies depending on which guest you ask, but eventually we find out his true story from Nick.
Jay Gatsby began his life as a farm boy named James Gatz, but always dreamed of becoming something more. Then, when he was a soldier, he attended one of the parties at Daisy Fay's house, and fell in love with the beautiful young girl. At the time he was "penniless", but the uniform he wore disguised the fact that he wasn't from her world of money. After he figured out that she would never be with him because he was poor, he determined to become rich enough to give her anything she could ever want and more. He spent his whole life from that moment on working to earn enough money to make Daisy love him.
"'The officer looked at Daisy while she was speaking, in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at some time, and because it seemed romantic to me I have remembered the incident ever since. His name was Jay Gatsby'" (pg. 75)
Perhaps the most prominent resident of West Egg, but also the most mysterious. Gatsby is renowned for his extravagant parties, but nobody actually knows much about him, or how he came into his money. There are many rumors about him, one being that he's the cousin of a prince, and another being that he was a murderer. His history varies depending on which guest you ask, but eventually we find out his true story from Nick.
Jay Gatsby began his life as a farm boy named James Gatz, but always dreamed of becoming something more. Then, when he was a soldier, he attended one of the parties at Daisy Fay's house, and fell in love with the beautiful young girl. At the time he was "penniless", but the uniform he wore disguised the fact that he wasn't from her world of money. After he figured out that she would never be with him because he was poor, he determined to become rich enough to give her anything she could ever want and more. He spent his whole life from that moment on working to earn enough money to make Daisy love him.
"'The officer looked at Daisy while she was speaking, in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at some time, and because it seemed romantic to me I have remembered the incident ever since. His name was Jay Gatsby'" (pg. 75)
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Nick Carraway
Nick is the narrator of the Great Gatsby, and is renting a house in the West Egg for the summer. He's cousins with Daisy Buchanan and was in the same club as Tom Buchanan in college, and the couple lives in East Egg so the group become friends and Nick is thrown into the lavish world of the rich and elite. Nick also happens to have the house next to the one and only Gatsby, so his time is soon consumed by the whirlwind lives of his new friends.
Nick was not born into a great sum of money, nor is he trying to attain great wealth, so he is bothered throughout the story by the behavior of the rich, who he comes to believe use their money to shield themselves from seeing the paths of destruction they've left behind them.
”When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction—Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.”
Nick is the narrator of the Great Gatsby, and is renting a house in the West Egg for the summer. He's cousins with Daisy Buchanan and was in the same club as Tom Buchanan in college, and the couple lives in East Egg so the group become friends and Nick is thrown into the lavish world of the rich and elite. Nick also happens to have the house next to the one and only Gatsby, so his time is soon consumed by the whirlwind lives of his new friends.
Nick was not born into a great sum of money, nor is he trying to attain great wealth, so he is bothered throughout the story by the behavior of the rich, who he comes to believe use their money to shield themselves from seeing the paths of destruction they've left behind them.
”When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction—Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.”
The east egg: "old money"
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Daisy and Tom Buchanan
Daisy and Tom are a married couple with a little daughter, and from the outside appear to have it all. However, after reading it becomes clear that "happy" is not a word that would be associated with either of the two. Tom is cheating on Daisy, as he has with several other women before, and Daisy gladly begins an affair on Tom once she is reunited with Gatsby. They were both born into money, and therefore rely on their wealth to get by. There is not much description that goes deeper than this, since they both let themselves be defined by their money.
"'I've been everywhere and seen everything and done everything.’ Her eyes flashed around her in a defiant way, rather like Tom’s and she laughed with thrilling scorn. ‘Sophisticated - God, I’m sophisticated!’ The instant her voice broke off ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said” (pg. 17).
"Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly.
That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of money — that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it ... high in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl... "(pg. 120)
Daisy and Tom are a married couple with a little daughter, and from the outside appear to have it all. However, after reading it becomes clear that "happy" is not a word that would be associated with either of the two. Tom is cheating on Daisy, as he has with several other women before, and Daisy gladly begins an affair on Tom once she is reunited with Gatsby. They were both born into money, and therefore rely on their wealth to get by. There is not much description that goes deeper than this, since they both let themselves be defined by their money.
"'I've been everywhere and seen everything and done everything.’ Her eyes flashed around her in a defiant way, rather like Tom’s and she laughed with thrilling scorn. ‘Sophisticated - God, I’m sophisticated!’ The instant her voice broke off ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said” (pg. 17).
"Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly.
That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of money — that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it ... high in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl... "(pg. 120)