When looking at the character Myrtle, I’m not sure what to think about her. She changes her clothes 3 times in a span of a couple hours. Nick describes her clothes as a “costume” she wears. Along with her change of clothes, her personality also changes with each new costume. It’s like she’s trying to be the person that the situation calls for, not herself, which makes me think that she’s insecure and always trying to fit in. But another way to look at is that she could use clothing as a way to feel more confident in herself. I know that when I wear clothes that are more formal, I feel more confident. And in Chapter 2, it says that “her laughter, her gestures, her assertions became more violently affected moment by moment, and as she expanded the room grew smaller around her.” From this quote, it seems that she’s just feeling herself in her new outfit.
But I’m on the fence about whether or not she’s supremely confident or insecure and overcompensating. The question arises; is Myrtle really insecure or is she really confident? And we can even put this into the context of the purpose of clothing. Is someone who doesn’t care what they look like and wear clothes that don’t flatter them, are they insecure because they’re not showing off their assets or confident because they feel like they don’t need to? On the flip side, is someone who goes out of their way to wear clothes that are flattering confident because they know what they have and enjoy feeling good and showing off or are they actually insecure about themselves and trying to use clothing as a mask to hide their flaws? I’m not sure if I even know the answer to this.