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English Social Issues 11th Grade

Andres Llorente
Naomi Finnegan
April 10, 2013
Block 3
Character Analysis Essay: Myrtle Wilson
In the book The Great Gatsby written by Scott Fitzgerald, Myrtle Wilson is
an important character that every single character has a connection with her.
Myrtle appears throughout the whole story.
Myrtle is a character that is very insecure, emotional and is very fake of her
personality. Her personality was garrulous, which made it very annoying. She
had no money nor was she pretty. She is George Wilsons wife, but Toms lover.
She is in her mid thirties and is part of the lower class. When she got married to
George she really didnt love him. As the years passed by she realized that George
didnt have a lot of money. He worked in a garage that sells and buys cars. Myrtle
lives in the Valley of Ashes with George. Tom always went there to take Myrtle to
New York. George would always think that Myrtle was going to go visit her sister.
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Tom breaks Myrtles nose because she keeps on repeating Daisy. She is very
jealous of Daisy.
"...in a moment the thickish figure of a woman blocked out the light from the
office door. She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried
her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can. Her face...contained no
facet or gleam of beauty, but there was immediately perceptible vitality
about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering."
(Fitzgerald, 1925, 25)
Myrtle symbolizes in this book, how people try to achieve the American
Dream but fail. She was very meretricious. All the pretty things she had, Tom had
given it to her. Myrtle was treated by Tom as a mistress. She rather spends all her
time with Tom than with George. Myrtle was part of the lower class, but she
wanted to be part of the upper class. Her dream was to be happy with Tom and
live the American Dream. Throughout the story what made Myrtle strong was
being with Tom because of all the wealth he had. Tom was Daisys husband.
When Myrtle saw Tom and Jordan together se thought he was never coming
back. She had thought that Jordan was Daisy. Myrtle didnt want to be with
George and Tom didnt want to be with Daisy.
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Myrtle and Wilsons relationship was apathetic. He never gave Myrtle what
she wanted. She wanted to be wealthy and be part of the upper class. But, by
marrying George she wasnt able to obtain that. Her dream of living the American
Dream was never going to become true. She desperately wanted to be with Tom
but she knew that she couldnt. George was sick and very weak. They needed
money to move, when they move to the west. Throw me down and beat me, you
dirty little coward! (Fitzgerald, 1925, p146) Myrtle screamed this to George, but
he didnt react. She was so mad and desperate she wanted to run away. But she
didnt get too far. George found her dead, runned over a car.
Fitzgerald shows us how Myrtle represents the women in the 1920s. They
want to achieve happiness in their lives and how they suffered. Myrtle does not
change throughout the story, she stays the same. Women in that that time were
mistresses of upper class men to be able to be happy and have what they want.
Finally, I think Myrtle symbolizes how strong women are even if they have a
difficult life. At the end she sacrifices herself because she was not happy.
Bibliography
Fitzgerald, S. (1925). The Great Gatsby . New York: Simon and Schuster .