How Is Myrtle Portrayed In The Great Gatsby

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The Great Gatsby Essay - Flowers in the Jazz Age - The Great Gatsby was defined as “one of the greatest love stories”. However, it was the novel’s vivid reflection of the 1920s that had drawn attention from the pubic. Female characters are the most significant part of this novel; they had received both criticism and pathos from years of analyzing and researching of Fitzgerald’s novels . When examining this reputed work, the tragic female figures shouldn’t be regarded as victims of the author’s dislike towards female, but rather were reflections of the 1920s as a whole. In order to fully discover the traits of characters such as Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle, infuriation needed to be put aside and one should recognize their unfortunate life…show more content…
Myrtle was certainly the character with the least pathos in the novel. As the most degraded person in the novel, she was also very proactive on things related to sexuality. However, passion for life was best shown on Myrtle, she kept on repeating, “You can’t live forever, you can’t live forever.” Myrtle was using her sexuality to earn herself a better life. She reflected the darker side of the society in the 1920s, where people were pursuing wealth and fame no matter what they would sacrifice. If Daisy was leaning between “new woman” and the traditional role, Jordan was completely a “new woman”, then Myrtle would be pursuing the roles of a traditional woman. Although she was hit by Tom, she was glad that she could become Tom’s mistress and enjoyed his wealth. From the beginning to the end, she had not once thought about being independence and escaping from the control of Tom. At the same time, she did not want to change her role in the society that she depend her living on the supports of Tom. There were still many working class women in the Jazz Age who were not yet conscious of what they were capable of doing. They settled in their low status compare to men and therefore they were determined to be become the victim of the society. Earning a better life had always been an illusion of them that would never

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