How Does Myrtle Behave As The Party Progresses

How Myrtle Behaves as the Party Progresses: A Deep Dive into The Great Gatsby

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece The Great Gatsby, the valley of ashes serves as a stark backdrop for one of the novel's most critical scenes: the party at Tom and Myrtle Wilson's apartment in New York. As the gathering unfolds, Myrtle Wilson's behavior undergoes a remarkable transformation that reveals her deepest desires, her vulnerability, and ultimately her tragic fate. Understanding how Myrtle behaves as the party progresses offers readers profound insights into the social dynamics of the 1920s, the destructive nature of obsession, and the human cost of class inequality.

The Anticipation: Myrtle's Excitement Before the Party

Before the party even begins, Myrtle's behavior already signals her intense anticipation and her desperate longing for a life beyond the gray confines of the valley of ashes. On top of that, when Tom Buchanan announces that they will be going to New York, Myrtle's face "bloomed with a sudden intense beauty" — a detail that reveals how rare moments of joy are in her monotonous existence. This initial reaction establishes Myrtle as a woman starved of excitement, someone who sees this trip as an escape from her humdrum life with George Wilson, her husband.

Myrtle's behavior in the moments leading up to the party demonstrates her eagerness to reinvent herself for the occasion. She changes her clothes several times, showing a woman who is acutely aware of the importance of appearance in the social hierarchy she desperately wants to penetrate. When Nick Carraway observes her "selecting" a dress, it becomes clear that Myrtle is deliberately choosing her armor for the battle of social climbing she is about to undertake. Her behavior suggests that she understands, at least intuitively, that in the world of the wealthy, presentation is everything.

The Arrival: Myrtle's Bold Transformation

As the party progresses in the New York apartment, Myrtle's behavior shifts dramatically from the timid wife George Wilson knows. The moment she enters the apartment with Catherine, her sister, Myrtle demonstrates a confidence that seems almost artificial — a performance of the sophisticated woman she wishes to be. She speaks in a louder voice, laughs more freely, and adopts a demeanor that clearly imitates the carefree attitude of the wealthy guests she so desperately wants to impress.

Myrtle's behavior during this phase of the party reveals her fundamental misunderstanding of the social class she is trying to infiltrate. On the flip side, she genuinely believes that by mimicking their superficial behaviors — their drinking, their casual attitudes, their apparent freedom from consequence — she can somehow become one of them. When she tells Nick that she finds Daisy "charming," she is performing the role of the gracious socialite, unaware that the Buchanans view her and her husband as little more than entertainment for the evening.

The most telling aspect of Myrtle's behavior during the early stages of the party is her complete absorption in Tom Buchanan. On top of that, she gravitates toward him constantly, touching his arm, laughing at his remarks, and positioning herself near him whenever possible. This behavior exposes Myrtle's illusion that her relationship with Tom represents something more than a casual affair — she genuinely believes she is on the path to becoming his equal, if not his wife.

The Escalation: Myrtle's Increasing Boldness

As the party continues and the alcohol flows more freely, Myrtle's behavior becomes increasingly reckless and desperate. Think about it: her transformation is almost theatrical in its intensity. She begins to speak more loudly and assertively, making statements about her opinions and her life with a confidence that borders on aggression. When she declares that she can "run a garage" and implies that she is more capable than her husband, she is attempting to establish herself as a woman of substance and capability — qualities she believes will make her worthy of Tom's attention.

The behavior that most dramatically illustrates Myrtle's deterioration is her repeated references to Daisy. In practice, when the conversation turns to Daisy, Myrtle makes a critical mistake in judgment: she begins to speak about Tom's wife with familiarity and even contempt. On top of that, she says that Daisy should "make him [Tom] stop" from coming to see her, and she makes cutting remarks about Daisy's voice being "full of money. " This behavior reveals Myrtle's fundamental misreading of her situation — she believes that by diminishing Daisy, she can elevate herself in Tom's eyes.

Myrtle's behavior reaches its peak of recklessness when she declares that she will speak to Daisy herself. Practically speaking, "I'm going to make a guest list out of a telephone book," she says, demonstrating her naive belief that she can simply insert herself into the world of the wealthy by sheer force of will. This moment represents the height of Myrtle's delusion, and it sets the stage for the tragic confrontation that is about to unfold.

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The Climax: Myrtle's Confrontation with Reality

The important moment in Myrtle's behavior during the party comes when Tom becomes angry at her references to Daisy. And his reaction — his sudden violence and his breaking of Myrtle's nose with a single blow — represents a brutal awakening for Myrtle. The behavior she exhibits in the aftermath of this violence is significant: she retreats to the bedroom, crying and bleeding, with Catherine attending to her wounds.

This moment exposes the harsh truth that Myrtle has been denying throughout the party. Despite her bold assertions and her attempts to position herself as an equal, she is still merely a plaything for Tom Buchanan — a woman from a lower social class who can be discarded or punished at will. The violence of Tom's response shatters Myrtle's illusion of romance and possibility, if only momentarily.

What is particularly telling about Myrtle's behavior after the assault is her continued attachment to Tom. In practice, rather than recognizing the incident as a sign of his true character and her precarious position, Myrtle seems to accept the violence as simply part of the dynamic of their relationship. This behavior reveals the depth of her desperation and her inability to see her situation clearly — she would rather accept abuse than return to the colorless life she leads with George in the valley of ashes.

The Aftermath: Myrtle's Tragic Fate Foreshadowed

As the party draws to a close, Myrtle's final behaviors foreshadow the tragedy that awaits her. That's why despite everything that has happened — the humiliation, the violence, the clear demonstration of her powerlessness — Myrtle still clings to the hope that her relationship with Tom will lead to something better. When Tom gives her a hundred dollars to fix her face, she takes it, further demonstrating the transactional nature of their relationship.

The final observations about Myrtle's behavior reveal a woman who has been fundamentally diminished by the evening's events, yet who refuses to abandon her dreams. In real terms, when George Wilson later tells Nick that Myrtle has changed since her trip to New York — that she has become "restless" — we understand that the party has only intensified Myrtle's dissatisfaction with her life. The behavior Tom has exhibited, rather than deterring her, has only made her more determined to escape her circumstances.

This determination ultimately leads to Myrtle's death in Chapter 7, when she runs into the road and is struck by Daisy, who is driving Tom's car. The behavior she exhibited at the party — her restlessness, her ambition, her willingness to pursue a married man — all contribute to the chain of events that will claim her life. Her death is the ultimate consequence of the desires and illusions she displayed so openly during that fateful evening in New York.

Conclusion: The Tragic Arc of Myrtle's Behavior

The progression of Myrtle's behavior throughout the party in The Great Gatsby tells a tragic story of aspiration, delusion, and ultimately destruction. From her initial excitement to her bold assertions, from her confrontational statements about Daisy to her submission after Tom's violence, Myrtle's behavior reveals a woman trapped between social classes — too refined for her current life, yet never truly accepted into the world she seeks to enter.

Fitzgerald uses Myrtle's behavior to illustrate the devastating effects of the American Dream on those who pursue it without understanding its true cost. Consider this: myrtle believes that wealth and status can be attained through imitation and determination, but the party exposes the cruel reality that the social walls she is trying to scale are impenetrable. Her behavior throughout the evening is both a testament to human hope and a warning about the dangers of delusion.

Understanding how Myrtle behaves as the party progresses allows readers to appreciate Fitzgerald's nuanced portrayal of a character who, despite her flaws, represents something fundamentally human: the desire to escape one's circumstances and become something more. Her behavior is a tragic dance of aspiration, and by the time the party ends, both Myrtle and the reader understand that the steps she has been dancing are leading her toward a darkness from which there is no return.