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The Great Gatsby


The flipside to this relationship between Tom and Myrtle are the motives of Tom for being with a lower class women. He tries to show off to people that he can attain whatever he wants, and displays this behavior when he tells Nick about Myrtle. Tom is not as smooth as he thinks; otherwise he would have an upper class woman for his mistress, instead of Myrtle.
             Gatsby's unfeasible dream of being with Daisy is stopped by the social class difference. One day, early in Gatsby's life, he meets a man named Dan Cody, and from that day on Gatsby's life is centered on being like Cody in the sense of wealth. Gatsby decides that he's going to be rich, and when he loses Daisy to Tom, this goal becomes dominant in his life. "Gatsby lacks the maturity to realize that Daisy cannot be obtained by money alone and in a vulgar display of conspicuous consumption, he flaunts his nouveau wealth"(Canterbery). He wants to show Daisy that he lives the same lifestyle as her and is not the poor boy who she fell in love with. As Gatsby becomes closer and closer to Daisy, after finally being reunited with her, the differences between them is much more noticeable. Nick points this out to Gatsby, but he denies it, and he eventually falls victim to his own dream. "Jay Gatsby, has risen from much the same stratum as Myrtle Wilson. The limitations of this background finally make it impossible for him to win the enduring love of Daisy Fay Buchanan. And, like Myrtle, he is guilty of a crucial error in judgment. They are alike unwilling or un-- able to comprehend that it is not money alone that matters, but money combined with secure social position"(Donaldson, Scott). Tom also points this out in a crude manner, and this just gets Gatsby mad. "Tom describes the party (one of Gatsby's numerous parties) as a "menagerie" and says of Gatsby, "A lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers, you know""(Sutton, Brian).


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