Tom and Myrtle have a passionate love affair. But as they are both married to other people, the timing is wrong to the conventions of marriage. And even if they were both single, their relationship would likely not last long in a society that would judge Myrtle poorly because she is not from a wealthy family like Tom.
Myrtle sees the affair as romantic and a ticket out of her marriage, while Tom sees it as just another affair, and Myrtle as one of a string of mistresses. The pair has undeniable physical chemistry and attraction to each other, perhaps more than any other pairing in the book.
She is the wife of George Wilson, who owns a car repair shop and sells cars, and she is the mistress of Tom Buchanan. Her existence is first noted in a conversation between Jordan Baker and Nick Carraway, when Nick is visiting his cousin, Daisy, and her husband receives a phone call.
Tom is involved with Myrtle because he is bored, and their affair offers him an exciting break from his normal life. He likes the idea of having a secret. As a member of the upper class, he is supposed to comport himself with decorum and restraint.
Tom hits Myrtle because she refused to obey him, but also in defense of Daisy; he feels strongly about both women. Tom's outburst therefore shows that he has difficulty handling complex emotions. He responds with violence to maintain control.
While Tom is forced to keep his affair with Myrtle relatively discreet in the valley of the ashes, in New York he can appear with her in public, even among his acquaintances, without causing a scandal. Even Nick, despite being Daisy's cousin, seems not to mind that Tom parades his infidelity in public.
The party breaks up after Tom punches Myrtle in the face and breaks her nose. He does it because she mentions Daisy's name.
Their love affair makes Gatsby optimistic that Daisy is his true love, but he really only sees and loves an idealized version of her that he has carried for years. In the end, Daisy chooses to stay with her husband even when knowing he had also had an affair.
Tom hits Myrtle because she will not stop saying ''Daisy. '' In his mind, she is showing him disrespect and challenging his authority, and he refuses to tolerate this kind of behavior from her. This scene reinforces the idea that, beneath his veneer of calm civility, he has a penchant for violence.
Answer: In The Great Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchanan's relationship is based on wealth and material possessions, and lacks a passionate love that only offers them an empty, materialised version of happiness which imperfectly binds them together.
Myrtle (and her husband George) represent the lower classes. They live in the 'valley of ashes', an area literally and symbolically impoverished, a great contrast to the luxury of the mansions of Long Island.
Although Daisy may have loved Gatsby once, she does not love him more than the wealth, status, and freedom that she has with Tom.
George Wilson
George loves and idealizes Myrtle, and is devastated by her affair with Tom. George is consumed with grief when Myrtle is killed. George is comparable to Gatsby in that both are dreamers and both are ruined by their unrequited love for women who love Tom.
Since the early days of his marriage to Daisy, Tom has had affairs with other women. Throughout the novel he commits adultery with Myrtle Wilson, a working-class woman married to a garage mechanic.
Myrtle longs for a life that is fun and rich, but being married to a mechanic means that she has no status. This led to her having an affair with Tom Buchanan so she could have somewhat of a status. Myrtle would do anything to have a status, being in the upper class, without caring about the consequences.
She runs into the road, intending to speak with him but she is hit and killed. The car fails to stop. There are witnesses to the incident, including the Wilsons' neighbour, Michaelis. Nick, Tom and Jordan, following in another vehicle, stop at the scene and learn of Myrtle's death.
The narrative switches back to Nick. Tom realises that it was Gatsby's car that struck and killed Myrtle. Back at Daisy and Tom's home, Gatsby tells Nick that Daisy was driving the car that killed Myrtle but he will take the blame.
How does Tom react to Myrtle's death? Tom immediately establishes his alibi and states that he has no idea where the yellow car is and that it was not his. However, later on, during the ride home, he begins to cry.
She starts to talk about Daisy. Tom cautions Myrtle not to use Daisy's name, but she mocks him by chanting her name. He strikes Myrtle in the face, breaking her nose. Following this incident, the gathering comes to a close and Nick heads back to his place by train.
He clearly loves her with all his heart, moreover, he is obsessed with Daisy and unable to imagine his life without her in it. Daisy's real feelings remain confused and unclear. But if we think a bit more about it, we'll see the other side of Gatsby and Daisy relationship. He is obsessed with her, he idolizes her.
In a queer reading of Gatsby, Nick doesn't just love Gatsby, he's in love with him. In some readings, the tragedy is that Gatsby doesn't love him back. In others, Gatsby is as repressed as Nick, each chasing an unavailable woman to avoid admitting what he truly desires.
To Gatsby, the innocent and naive Daisy comes to embody the American dream, in other words wealth and social status, a goal he will have reached by winning her hand.
Tom is restless and unhappy, and his wife, Daisy, is the primary victim of the side effects of Tom's emotions. Tom not only has a visible affair with a woman in town, but he is abusive to both his wife and his mistress.
Myrtle believes that the only reason Tom will not divorce Daisy is because Daisy is Catholic. But we learn that Tom's feelings for Myrtle are far less intense than he has led her to believe and that social pressure prevents him from ever leaving Daisy, who comes from a similar upper-class background.
That poor bruised little finger is like a symbol of Tom and Daisy's marriage: he hurts it unintentionally, and Daisy just cannot stop talking about it. You get the feeling that Fitzgerald kind of wants her to stop whining already.