As soon as the group arrives in New York, Myrtle shows herself to be not nearly as nondescript as is her husband. She is, however, far from refined, despite how she may try. Her purchases at a newsstand (two tabloid-like publications), as well as the way she painstakingly selects just the right taxicab (lavender with gray upholstery) suggests that she is concerned with appearance and fashion, aspiring to be part of the jet-set that she reads about in her magazines and which, she thinks, she can gain entrée to through her wealthy lover.
At the apartment in New York, after “throwing a regal homecoming glance around the neighborhood,” Myrtle undergoes a transformation. By changing her clothes she leaves behind her lower-class trappings, and in with donning new clothes she adopts a new personality. She invites her sister and some friends to join the afternoon’s party, but her motivation for doing so goes beyond simply wanting to enjoy their company. Her intent is largely to show off what she has gained for herself through her arrangement. It is irrelevant to Myrtle that what she has gained comes through questionable means; clearly, for her (and Tom, too), the morality of infidelity is not an issue. Her affair with Tom allows her to gain something she wants — money and power — and therefore it can be justified.
As Nick describes, when Myrtle changes her clothes, she exchanges her earlier “intense vitality” (clearly a positive and refreshing attribute) for “impressive hauteur” (a decidedly unappealing quality invoking Nick’s respect and disgust simultaneously). While entertaining, Myrtle comes across as perceiving herself to be superior, although that isn’t hard to do, given the people with whom she surrounds herself. The McKees, for instance, are trying desperately to be accepted by the upper class, but are really shallow, dull people. Mr. McKee, despite his attempts to be seen as an artist, is conventional (even boring) in his photography. He skill is technical, at best, rather than artistic, as he would have people believe, as evidenced by the completely unoriginal titles he gives his photos — ‘Montauk Point — the Gulls’ and ‘Montauk Point — the Sea.’
