Losing faith in marriage

Essay Sample 1[pic 1]

Discuss the notion of love and marriage in the first chapters of the novel.

                        Losing faith in marriage

To begin with, this essay deals with the novel titled The Great Gatsby written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, which is deemed among the most exquisite literary works in American literature. More precisely, we would like to focus on the marriage models present in this story so as to analyze how love was regarded at that time.

When it comes down to love, there seems to be no place for such a feeling in the materialistic and shallow society where the story happens. We find two marriages which establish the main tenets of this institution. Firstly, it is fair to point out that there is an implicit need for single people to find a partner. For instance, the narrator is usually coupled with other women as it happens when he pays a visit to his cousin, Daisy. Instead of being the three of them (Daisy, Tom and Nick) having dinner, another woman (Ms. Baker) is also invited to the occasion in an attempt to make it a double date. Ironically, the kind of warm-distant relationship Baker and Nick keep, as the plot develops, is the closest to actual love in the story.

From now on, we would like to discuss how marriage is perceived in the story through the main two couples we find: Tom and Daisy Buchanan and George and Myrtle Wilson. Something both unions have in common is that they are loveless and patriarchal. What is more, they are marriages of convenience. The wives are depicted as submissive, fool and beautiful as compared to their husbands who are dominant, smarter than women, sometimes disrespectful to women (who only talk nonsense). Moreover, any problem between spouses is restrained to the social conventions, which is the key for the survival of such loveless unions.

In the case of the Wilsons, it is more blatant the union was a matter of convenience since Myrtle is young and beautiful, whereas George is older. At certain point, Myrtle even confesses that when she was to marry George, she thought he was “a gentleman”, suggesting she hoped he would raise her social status by marriage. In addition, the fact that she is unfaithful seems to be justified by the fact that George was not as wealthy and well-reputed as she thought. Instead of getting divorced, she decides to remain in their union and relish a second life with Tom, who superficially embodies the kind of man she wanted to marry. Although Tom and Myrtle try to keep appearances in public, it is a rather well-known secret as they do not act as discreet as they should be.

At the other end of the spectrum, Daisy and Tom Buchanan present a different situation. They are both young, good-looking and share the same social status and desire for fun and materialistic goods, which makes them a well-suited couple. Nevertheless, not all that glitters is gold. Even though Daisy was once in love with him, she wanted to back out of her marriage to Tom on the wedding day. Furthermore, things do not get better between them when she learns Tom is being unfaithful to her. His betrayal is regarded as the last straw in their relationship and he does not even look like he cares at all. Soon, we learn there is something more significant that keeps them together which is their role in society. No matter whether Tom was unfaithful or never present at important family events (like when their daughter was born), Daisy would never leave him. They are together because the social conventions dictate how their life should be. Should they want to enjoy the privileges of their social cycle, they must play by its rules. That is why we should take for granted social appearances matter more than any event in this story. Gossip is the seed of this social evil that may destroy any individual’s self-respect and self-esteem.

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