Through​ The Great Gatsby, ​people are always trying to get somewhere better in society.

People like Myrtle felt like they could convince a man to leave his wife for her so that she could

have the money and social status and Gatsby did everything for Daisy. He didn’t have the old

money that would allow him to be accepted in society but he worked for the money to show he

was worthy enough for Daisy. Nick was never trying to get money or social status which

contrasts nearly everyone else in the novel. Nick had to work from day to day and never really

cared about how much money anyone had and never tried to take advantage of his friends for

their money. Throughout the novel the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg are looking down on society but

how would he have felt about the desires of some of the characters and society as a whole at the

time?

Myrtle was from a lower social class but she always felt she deserved to be elevated into

high society. She married George because she felt he was a nice man who would make for nice

children but she felt he was below her. She said “he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe” meaning she felt

like he didn’t even deserve to lick her shoes. She felt like she should be where Daisy is but

thought that her affair with Tom was the only way to achieve it and to literally be where Daisy is.

These dreams wouldn’t come to fruition for her because this ended up being what got her killed.

She got caught by George and he was upset his wife was having an affair so he planned on

moving them out west but Myrtle didn’t want that so she had to figure out a way out and she did.

She was going to escape and get in Tom’s car well Tom wasn't driving his car and so they didn’t

stop for her killing her with the car. Her desire for a life she could never have got her killed in a

very gruesome and unpleasant way.

 Jay Gatsby did everything for Daisy. He was born James Gatz to a poor family but was in

love with daisy but was told by her father that he wasn't worthy of her. He lived his life with one

dream and that was to get Daisy and everything he did from his parties to his mansion was for

her. He felt like you could go back on the past. He felt like he had to break up Daisy and Tom.

He even told Tom “Your wife doesn’t love you” and “She’s never loved you” because he felt she

didn’t. She didn’t love Tom for his personality because he was a narcissist and womanizer just to

name a few things about him but the thing she did love was his money. She loved the status she

got from him. She didn’t love him she loved what he had. He had old money which meant social

acceptance while she did love Gatsby she knew even though he now had money that he didn’t

have the status and acceptance that she desired. Gatsby’s interference with Tom and Daisy’s

lives ended up being the death of him. He was in the car that hit Myrtle which made George

think he was the one she was having an affair with so he went and killed Gatsby and then killed

himself.

Nick was different than nearly everyone else in this story. He didn’t care about money

and status. He cared about personality. He knew Tom was a terrible person and didn’t let his

money cloud that observation. He had realized that Gatsby was better than them. He even told

Gatsby “They’re a rotten crowd” and that “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.”

He knew that Gatsby had a personality but he let his desire to impress Daisy. Nick just wanted to

have his own successes and life and didn’t care if he was rich. He lived in a small house that

used to be for servants if he cared about his image he wouldn’t have lived there.

Everyone was trying to achieve their own version of the American dream but these

dreams weren’t good for the most part. It got two of them killed and left Nick practically where
he started but now he had lost a friend. This shows how society at the time was just a bunch of

facades that everyone put on to impress someone else. T.J. Eckleburg wouldn’t have approved of

any of them, not even Nick. Myrtle and Gatsby were just trying to get something that wasn't

meant to be and Nick let things happen. Nick rarely stepped in to stop things from happening.

Nick did try to convince Gatsby he was better than the rest of them but by then it was too late.

T.J. Eckleburg would have been disappointed in the characters and society because nearly

everyone’s leading motive was to acquire material possessions.