The Role Of George Wilson In The Great Gatsby

The Apocryphal American Dream The American Dream has long been one of the most sought after aspirations since the dawn of the United States. It entails success, freedom, and happiness through hard work. Millions of immigrants and American citizens have sought after this dream throughout generations in hopes that one day it might come true. Unfortunately, the American Dream is recurrently impractical to majority of Americans because of the social hierarchy and the tenacious constraint that the already wealthy Americans have on the citizen implemented caste system. F. Scott Fitzgerald displays the dying nature of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby through the struggles and deaths of George and Myrtle, the failure of Gatsby to get Daisy,

Unfortunately, George’s hardworking and dedicated personality isn’t enough for Myrtle, so she decides to have an affair with East-Egger Tom Buchanan. Tom blatantly abuses both his relationship with George and his relationship with Myrtle throughout the entire book, seemingly stringing them along and using them whenever he deems necessary. “‘You see,’ cried Catherine triumphantly. She lowered her voice again. ‘It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart. She’s a Catholic, and they don’t believe in divorce.’ Daisy was not a Catholic, and I was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie.” (Fitzgerald 33) Tom misleads Myrtle into believing that Daisy is a Catholic and their beliefs on divorce is what is ultimately keeping her and Tom apart. Myrtle’s dream of achieving her American Dream eventually fails when she dies in a fatal car accident chasing after her paramour. This drives George insane and he eventually kills himself and Gatsby, who he assumes is the driver of the car. The premature death of George and Myrtle before fulfilling their aspirations represents the improbable feasibility of lower class citizens obtaining the American Dream in modern