The Marriage Crisis
Marriage has been considered as the mark for love between two people. For a long time, it has been considered as a long term and divine commitment between a man and woman to become a husband and a wife and stick together until death put them apart. Today, this perception of marriage is changing where marriage is no longer viewed as a long-lasting commitment as a result of love, but just a financial affair that binds most of the marriages. Marriage is constantly losing its honor in the society. This perspective is the main idea that Scott Fitzgerald focuses on in his novel The Great Gatsby. He uses characters who are in marriages that are not bound by love and divine commitment, but relationships that are unhappy and full of deceit. To understand this prospect, this essay will focus on Buchanans and Wilson’s marriage.
Tom and Daisy’s marriage is full of deceit and unhappiness. Tom is rich and married Daisy to add his status and image. Tom continuously confess how he loves Daisy. Tom claims to “Love Daisy in his heart, and he will forever love her.” (Fitzgerald, 130). However, this is ironic as he is involved in a series of affairs with different women. This is an indication of the absence of real love because if Tom truly loves Daisy, he would be faithful to her. Deceit and unfaithfulness is a contributing factor to an unhappy marriage. Therefore, Tom and Daisy (Buchanans ) have an unhappy marriage due to deceit and unfaithfulness of Tom.
Fitzgerald portrays another marriage full of deceit and unfaithfulness. Myrtle’s marriage to Wilson was not out of love but for money and material things. She overestimated Wilson’s money but finding later that he is married to a mechanic. Living in the Queen’s garage makes her unhappy with her marriage (Fitzgerald, p.156). This propels her to be involved in a number of affairs, even with Tom Buchanan. Her being involved in several affairs is a clear definition of unhappy and deceitful marriage.
With today’s marriages full of deceit and unhappiness, many people are deciding to remain single and not get married. In the 21st Century, we are witnessing a lot of divorces that what was observed in the 1960s. For instance, a couple that could be happily married in the 1960s, divorce could not be a solution even if the marriage started to wobble and coupled with unhappiness (GABEL). Comparing to couples married in the 2000s, the couples will divorce even for the simplest melee.
Deceit and unhappy marriages are significantly affecting society. Marriage breakups result in an increased number of street children. This is because when a husband and wife separate, there are high chances of reduced income to take care of the children. As a result, these children will find their way out to survive by becoming street children. Also, divorces are propelling the increased rate of prostitution, which poses the society to an array of Sexually transmitted diseases.
To sum-up, marriage is one of the pillars that supports a decent society. Marriage is the source of society expansion through the siring of children. Ideally, marriage should be an eternal companion between husband and wife with full of happiness. However, this does not happen so often due to external factors like unfaithfulness that results in deceit. As a result, most couples have a deceitful and unhappy marriage that is propelling most of the divorce. This is the prospect that Gatsby portrays, which has a negative impact on most marriages.
References List
Fitzgerald, F. S. The Great Gatsby. Penguin Books, 1950.
GABEL, AJA. “The Marriage Crisis: How Marriage Has Changed in the Last 50 Years and Why It Continues to Decline.” Virginia Magazine, 2012, uvamagazine.org/articles/the_marriage_crisis.