The Murder of Myrtle

I read the novel "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald when I was a teen in high school. Actually, I cheated. I read the Cliff Notes and watched the movie. The poetry of the book was nice, but I just wanted to know the story so I could get through my assignments and be done with it. I did not like the novel at all when I first learned of it. I hated Daisy right away because she acted like what happened to Myrtle and Jay was no big deal, when both of their murders are really her fault. Jordan admits that she's "irresponsible" but Daisy never does. Daisy is a spoiled, worthless, emotional piece of junk who doesn't appreciate her wealth, her husband, her child, or the love of other people who were obsessed with her. F. Scott Fitzgerald actually has the nerve to end the novel with her as a Winner. If you want to see Evil Triumph over good, then by all means agree that The Great Gatsby is the Great American novel. But I disagree. As a woman and as a writer, I think The Great Gatsby is the worse piece of literature ever to be written as American fiction, and I think that women should be ashamed of themselves if they think it's any good. It right up there with the trash of "50 Shades of Gray". Please women! Use your brain! Do you want to end up dead like Myrtle or miserable like Daisy? That's what Fitzgerald promises you.

It could have been written so much better. It could have had a much happier ending. Why didn't Tom just take Jay to the side and say "Hey Jay, I have a way we can solve all of our problems? I'd like you to meet Myrtle." If Jay and Myrtle and Tom and Daisy could have sat down and had dinner together, perhaps they could have worked it out. Oh, but what about poor George? Isn't it unfair that Myrtle would just dump him to go to a richer guy? Well, that's what Daisy did, so why can't Myrtle?

Yet even if you spin the novel for the happy ending that I propose, the real winners would be George, Nick, and Jordon, the three that would be single. Because they wouldn't have to have the old ball and chain. They wouldn't have to compromise about their living space. They wouldn't have to deal with all the bologna that comes in marriage and money. So even though Jay and Myrtle could go live their rich and happy love life together, George could be happy without the stress of trying to please a woman on a mechanic's income. He could just take care of himself and stop worrying about her.

I can't believe that I actually bought into the hoopla that this novel is one of the classics and one of the greatest of all American fiction. I hated Daisy from the first read, but now (30 years later) I hate her even more. I was spoiled as a child, but I was never spoiled as an adult woman, and especially not while I was married. I can't stand this novel. It is the most treacherous of novels to any women who want to be independent or any women who enjoy the pursuit of happiness. Fitzgerald basically told women, "Well, if you're not born rich, you're dead and miserable." I don't appreciate that.

I suppose the only nice thing I have to say about Daisy is that Fitzgerald didn't tell us what she went through AFTER the deaths of Jay and Myrtle. We don't know if she really lived happily ever after with Tom and her daughter and just pretended like those murders didn't matter. Maybe she was haunted every night and every day by both of their ghosts. Maybe she went crazy and Tom had her committed into the mental hospital and Myrtle's sister tortured her there. Maybe there are many ways that Daisy suffered that we don't know about. Thinking about Daisy suffering the way that Jay and Myrtle suffered is the only comfort I have after this stupid novel.