The Great Gatsby Book Report
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The roaring twenties truly were roaring with the lavish, extravagant lifestyle of parties and immorality. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald attributes to this lifestyle. In the novel, the narrator Nick Carraway moves to Long Island and develops relationships with Jay Gatsby and Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Fitting perfectly with the theme of the twenties, Tom Buchanan has a woman on the side named Myrtle Wilson. Soon after, the reader is informed that Gatsby had a former relationship with Daisy and there love soon rekindles into a second affair in the novel. As the drama explodes, Tom confronts Gatsby and Myrtle, Gatsby, and Myrtles husband George all die in a suspenseful conclusion. Throughout the novel it is revealed that Fitzgerald does not have much respect for women through the characters. It is almost impossible to become akin to the immorality, carelessness, and greediness of Myrtle Wilson and Daisy Buchanan.
For the most part, they both seem to have an affinity towards men other than their husbands. Daisy has a minor fling with Jay Gatsby that developed from a previous love affair. Myrtle has an affair with Tom Buchanan that began after a meeting in a train car. Despite the fact that they seem to have an indifference to the general feeling that cheating is wrong, they both have different reasons for doing what they did. Daisy cheated because she is a romantic of the worst kind; a romantic with no moral standing and a somewhat obscure sense of reality. This would be best reflected by her statement in chapter seven when she claimed that she would be leaving Tom until his statement, “Shes not leaving meÐCertainly not for a common swindler whod have to steal the ring hed put on her finger.” (
Despite their contribution to marital dysfunction in their lives, Daisy and Myrtle both had husbands that loved them. Even though Tom and Daisy were leading separate lives from their marriage, Tom has made it clear that Daisy is the one he finds worth coming home to,”ÐI love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time.” (
Finally, these women proved to be quite similar in their desire to play a particular