The Role Of Myrtle In The Great Gatsby

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One of the central themes within the novel “The Great Gatsby”, is the strive for the ‘American dream’. The ‘American dream’ encapsulates the ideals that through hard work you can achieve a successful status, individualism and freedom of opinion. The evolution of this ideal intertwines the ‘American dream’ with one’s social status, defined by an individual's wealth. This is the reason that Myrtle, a veteran of the City of Ashes, develops the desire to gain riches. “I married him because I thought he was a gentleman, I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe” (Fitzgerald 3), revealing her materialistic beliefs as her intentions to marry Wilson were solely based on the assumption that he was a member of high-class. …show more content…
The drawn setting is Tom’s household. It illustrates a trophy case revealing numerous interpretations of Myrtle. Demonstrating her traits of greed, materialism, and her ease in the ability to abandon the merits of marriage. Consequently, her acts have led to the objectification of her character, allowing Tom to treat her dreadfully. Illustrated in when she attempts to defy Tom’s desires, he reacts violently “Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” (Fitzgerald 125-126). Society often portrays females as beings of objectification, as symbols of beauty to be used to fulfill lustful pleasures, as Tom accomplishes. Furthermore, I have drawn Tom wiping dust off of the preeminent Trophy of Myrtle; this is symbolic for how she is trying to strive from the ‘City of Ashes’ to a position of stature, escaping her past. The color spectrum applied in my sketch impresses upon how senseless her actions were, pursuing a complete abandon of human ethics. Moreover, the decision to use an animated approach was to further emphasize the foolishness in Myrtle's aspirations for wealth; her selfish desires develop an inability to create meaningful relationships with
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