The Mirage of Marriage

One of the most common misconceptions about life involves the subject of marriage: a boy and a girl meet, fall deeply in love, and live happily ever after. As young teenage girls, I'm sure we've all spent a not-so-small fraction of our time piecing together the perfect future husband in our heads and fantasizing about our long-awaited wedding day to The One - the day that marks the beginning of a whole new era, the day that assures us we'll be loved forever, the day that our high school un-sweethearts will, once and for all, become mere figments of our imagination. Until we read the Great Gatsby, that is. (Actually the Bluest Eye already kind of ruined it but that's beside the point.)

After reading the first two chapters of Fitzgerald's prized novel, I am sure of exactly one thing: marriage is not all happiness and rainbows. In fact, marriage is more like storm clouds and tornadoes. In chapter one, it is evident that Tom and Daisy's marriage is far from loving - I could literally feel the tension between them jumping out from the page as I read. Between Daisy calling Tom "a great, big, hulking physical specimen" (Fitzgerald 12) and Tom's discussion about white superiority, it is clear that the couple cannot stand each other. A tone of tension and annoyance is set, with Daisy's "impersonal eyes absent of all desire" (12) and Tom "glancing at her impatiently" (12). The fact that Tom's mistress calls in the middle of dinner does not do anything for the awkwardness of the situation. Sorry Daisy, but looks like having such good looks doesn't work in your favor here.

Haha it's an egg...and they live at West Egg...get it

The second couple in the book seems equally miserable - Myrtle and George Wilson. After lying swiftly to her husband and running off to New York with Tom (and Nick), Myrtle cannot help but pour out all her heart's miseries concerning her marriage at the party, giving a "violent and obscene" (33) response to the mention of Wilson's name and calling her self "crazy" (35) for ever marrying him. As Myrtle's sister Catherine tells Nick, "'neither [Tom or Myrtle] can stand the person they're married to'" (33).

So is marriage really this depressing? Will we all make a horrible mistake by marrying one person, just to secretly fall in love with another? Dun dun dunnnnnnn...