ipl-logo

Myrtle's Loss In The Great Gatsby

637 Words3 Pages

In my English III honors class, we are reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. We have just read chapter 7, where the mood of the story changes along with a hope for a better day, that some of the characters had. George Wilson’s wife Myrtle just died, Gatsby may have lost Daisy, Tom may have lost Myrtle and Daisy. Overall I believe George Wilson has suffered the greatest loss out of all of the characters. George Wilson was always very devoted to his wife and her word. He did whatever Myrtle needed him to do. She had him under her finger. In chapter two when Tom and Nick go to George Wilson's auto-body shop to see Myrtle or “ Talk about selling George his car,” Myrtle comes into the room while they’re are talking and tells George to go get some chairs. He gets up right away and does it. There isn't hesitation at all. From this scene the reader can see that she bosses him around and he does it. Without his wife he may not be able to do much. He wasn't the smartest person and she was there to help. But with her being dead, he may lose his shop too. …show more content…

She wasn’t happy with him and he was trying to do whatever he could to keep her. He needed her more than she needed him. In chapter 7 it talks about how Myrtle wanted to leave. George was trying to do everything in his power to get the money so they could leave together. George locked his wife upstairs just so she wouldn't leave without him. He needed her and he needed to leave with her. Myrtle was angry with her husband, “Beat me!” He heard her cry. “Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward!” Those are the words spoken to George before Myrtle ran into the street. George has to deal with their last conversation being a fight, and the burden of her death being on

Show More
Related
258 Words | 2 Pages

Following her recent death, Mrs. Wilson has been identified as Mr. Gatsby’s ‘Mystery Mistress’ who has been spotted many times inside his large mansion in West Egg. George Wilson, Myrtle’s husband has said that he knew she was having an affair, but with whom he did not know. In light of recent events, he had the following to say; “I loved Myrtle. We were planning

Read More
606 Words | 3 Pages

Myrtle Wilson, wife of Mr. Wilson was murdered last night due to a hit and run at the Valley of Ashes. Witnesses say that the incident occurred because she oddly ran out in front of the moving vehicle. We briefly interviewed Tom Buchanan who claimed to know whose car was at the scene. A policemen suspiciously question Tom as he proclaimed the care to be yellow.

Read More
730 Words | 3 Pages

Tom and Daisy are able to avoid the consequences of Myrtle’s death. After the accident George goes into a rage and to control him Tom tells him “the truth” about “who owned the car” which was Gatsby, but Tom also thinks that Gatsby “ran over Myrtle like you’d run over a dog and never even stopped his car” (Fitzgerald 190-191). George was ready to kill whoever Myrtle was cheating with. Tom then tells George that Gatsby owned the car that had killed Myrtle so George thinks that Myrtle was cheating on him with Gatsby, and that Gatsby killed Myrtle. Tom and Daisy then go on a vacation and leave their problems behind them for others such as Nick to deal with.

Read More
1259 Words | 6 Pages

Although George knows about his wife’s indecencies, it seems as though he had already given up when he says, “I told her she might fool me but she couldn’t fool God... God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing” (159). Since Myrtle has been lying for so long, George has accepted it because deep down he knows he cannot control her. Though Myrtle’s rebellion, George still cares for Myrtle when Fitzgerald explains his suicide, “It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete” (162). He killed himself because he could not deal with the pain of losing Myrtle.

Read More
373 Words | 2 Pages

I definitely did not expect Gatsby to be blamed for Myrtle's murder, let alone for the murder itself to occur. What I expected for Gatsby was for him to run off into the sunset with Daisy. But in the end maybe it was for the best that Gatsby was taken out of the situation he was in. If the murder would have gone to trial, Gatsby still would have taken the fall for Daisy. She was an obsession for him, he probably would have never moved on with his life without her.

Read More
863 Words | 4 Pages

In a novel focused on the extravagant lifestyles of the wealthy in New York, such as Gatsby and Daisy, an unlikely low class character provides the turning point in The Great Gatsby. George Wilson is a hardworking man who owns a garage in the city. He can be used to show the need of God in any society and class, as money, love, and possessions failed all characters in this novel. He is accompanied by his wife who he loves dearly, but she is in return disloyal. George is a loving character who is ultimately changed by the depression and guilt caused by loss.

Read More
1163 Words | 5 Pages

She grew to resent her own husband for being poor and unable to provide her with the lavish things Tom gave her. When talking about why she had married her husband when she seems to dislike him so much Myrtle explained, “‘I married him because I thought he was a gentleman,’ she said finally, ‘I thought he knew something about breeding but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe. ’”(pg. 34). Myrtle assumed that her husband, George Wilson, was a man who would be able to provide for both of them and wanted to live a comfy life.

Read More
750 Words | 3 Pages

Myrtle was actively cheating on Wilson, and she must have known how immoral it was to do so. Not only was she cheating on hi8m, but she didn't want to be with him anymore. Myrtle handled the situation so horribly, it drove Wilson to insanity. He locked her up, threatening to take her away, “she's going whether she wants to or not, I’m going to get her away.” (123).

Read More
1052 Words | 5 Pages

Although the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald emphasizes the parties and prosperity of the American 1920's, it reveals many major characters meeting tragic ends. The characters who meet these ends - Jay Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson, and George Wilson - possess the same tragic characteristic: they endeavor for something more out of their lives than what they have. This ambition for what they could not have ultimately spelled their doom: Gatsby wanted money and Daisy; Myrtle wanted wealth and luxury, and sought it from Tom Buchanan; Wilson earned what he could only to please Myrtle. The Great Gatsby reveals a tragic nature through the trials and tribulations these characters endure to progress and prosper, only to receive death for their ambition. The exciting and wild time period of the "Roaring Twenties" provides a stark contrast to the deaths in order to further highlight the tragic nature of the novel, and leaves a theme that even those with the most hope and strong ambitions can fail and die miserably, no matter how much money they have.

Read More
195 Words | 1 Pages

In the end, James Gatz remained faithful to the illusion of Gatsby, but died as a result. Daisy Buchanan made the choice to leave her love for Jay Gatsby behind and was able to maintain her life of wealth and luxury with Tom. Myrtle Wilson chose to leave her husband and pursue her relationship with Tom, but was killed shortly after. Each person’s decision between two lives ultimately sealed their fate. Lying dead in the road, Myrtle had sealed her fate while fleeing from her home towards a life with Tom.

Read More
1293 Words | 6 Pages

Later associating Myrtle and George’s relationship, Fitzgerald falls in love with a woman named Zelda and is informally engaged to her, but she declines to marry him due to his financial instability. As the realization finally kicks in about their upcoming marriage, Myrtle later says, “I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in, and never told me about it” (Fitzgerald 27). Myrtle becomes disappointed with George’s lack of social status and wealth, and realizes that she has made the mistake of marrying for love, not money. She eventually turns to Tom, who is much wealthier than George, and has an affair to feel better about her stifled marriage.

Read More
951 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout The Great Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson desired to fit in with the upper class; however, her marriage to George Wilson prevented such from occurring. Myrtle failed to recognize her husband’s hard work and true character due to her efforts to rise in social status. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald emphasized Myrtle’s hatred towards her marriage through her conversation with Catherine, depicting how people of the twenties focused more on wealth and power compared to moral American values. As readers closely evaluate the moment of Myrtle’s dialogue, she dictated her feelings towards her marriage in a way that supposedly justified her infidelity.

Read More
1756 Words | 8 Pages

The Corruption of The American Dream in The Great Gatsby In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald illustrates society in the 1920’s and the desire for the people with in it to achieve the American Dream, which embodies the hope that one can achieve power, love and a higher economic/social status through one’s commitment and effort. The novel develops the story of a man named Jay Gatsby and his dream of marrying what he describes as his “golden girl”, also known as, Daisy Buchanan, his former lover. Fitzgerald explores the corruption of the American dream through the Characters; Myrtle, Gatsby and Daisy.

Read More
1149 Words | 5 Pages

Just like Daisy, Myrtle chooses money over love. She cheats on her husband George with Tom. Myrtle was a woman from the lower class who desired to be a part of the higher class. Tom spoiled Myrtle and gave her the lifestyle she always wanted. She belittles her husband and talk bad about him because he is not at the top of the social ladder where Tom is.

Read More
925 Words | 4 Pages

The theme of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald is that the upper class tend to participate in actions that are commonly seen as dishonest, unfaithful, or sketchy. Characters like Nick, Gatsby, Tom and George have twisted views on their own reality due to unfaithfulness and dishonesty. Nick was constantly lied to in the story, for example, Gatsby lied to him about where he got his money. Lies, similar to the one above, gave Nick some twisted views on the reality of his friendship. Gatsby had a twisted view on love due to Daisy marrying Tom right after he left for the war, rather than waiting for him.

Read More

More about Myrtle's Loss In The Great Gatsby

Related Topics

Open Document