Comparing and Contrasting Daisy and Myrtle in the Great Gatsby
Daisy and Myrtle are similar, however; in many ways they are opposites. Firstly, Daisy’s reaction towards Myrtle— “She looked at Myrtle and laughed pointlessly,” Daisy’s laugh is absurd. This shows what Daisy’s bad impression of Myrtle. The major difference between the two is their status. Daisy is richer and lives in a better part of town than Myrtle. Daisy lives in East Egg, the richest town. Myrtle lives in the Valley of Ashes, a place where things go to die, the opposite of East Egg.
They have these statuses mostly because of their husbands. Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan, a rich aggressive man that doesn’t work because he has a lot of old money. In contrast, Myrtle is married to George Wilson, the lifeless, exhausted owner of a rundown auto shop at the edge of the Valley of Ashes. However, later on in the story Tom and Myrtle became lovers. This is mostly because with Myrtle Tom feels more powerful and superior. But with Daisy Tom didn’t feel this. Overall, this shows that Myrtle is powerless and has lower status than Daisy.
For example, one of Tom’s gift for Daisy was a string of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. However, Tom gives Myrtle a puppy for $10. A quote that shows that Daisy has a high status is, “Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean towards her, an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming. ” This shows that people care about what she says and that she is important to people. “The answer… came from Myrtle.. and it was violent and obscene” Daisy is innocent and pure, Myrtle is obscene and insensitive. The next aspect is that Daisy is civilized and classy.
Daisy always wears white and she doesn’t drink. For example, when Nick finally met her at Tom’s mansion she is wearing a white dress with white heels, like Fitzgerald said “She dressed in white, and had a little white roadster”. In contrast, Myrtle is just trying to imitate that. She pretends to have a higher class. Additionally, she has a lot of gossip magazines and thinks wealth is the most important thing to look for in a man. Myrtle is a girl who shows she wants to have fun. However, to a party Myrtle wore a “Dress of cream” Daisy always wears white, the cream dress
Myrtle wears shows she is trying to impersonate her. This shows Daisy tries hard to fit in with the rich. Towards the end of Chapter two Myrtle shouts “Daisy! Daisy! Daisy! I’ll say it whenever I want to… ” Here, Myrtle tries to show Tom that Myrtle is better than Daisy. This resulted in Tom punches Myrtle because Tom doesn’t want her to be like Daisy; Tom wants to feel the superiority. Throughout the book, Myrtle does this, she tries to be like Daisy and acts spurious just to be part of the rich crew. Some similarities are that both have an affinity toward other men other than their husbands.
Daisy has an affair with Gatsby that developed from the past feeling they had for each other. Myrtle has an affair with Tom that developed after meeting in a train car. Additionally, both women want a man that will make them happy and a man that will keep/make them wealthy. Other than this, Daisy and Myrtle are very different people. To conclude, both Daisy and Myrtle have an affair with other men besides their husbands. Both come from complete opposite families and statuses. While Myrtle tries hard to get to the top, Daisy is already there looking down upon Myrtle.
