The Role Of Wilson In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, published by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the year 1925, illustrates the scandalous lives of the inhabitants of the fictional town West Egg. Taking place three years prior to its publishing date, Fitzgerald writes through the perspective of the book’s narrator, Nick Carraway, as he demonstrates the novel’s protagonist, Jay Gatsby’s, futile quest to regain the love of his childhood inamorata, Daisy Buchanan, and free her from her cuckolding husband, Tom Buchanan. As the diegesis persists, however, we meet a myriad of other characters, including the seemingly naïve husband of Tom’s mistress, Mr. George Wilson. Even though Gatsby’s vast wealth separates him from the impoverished culture that encompasses the life of Wilson, both share

Each man, however, aspires for dissimilar yields; Gatsby seeks wealth to entice the materialistic eye of his dear Daisy, while Wilson seeks affluence to retain the love his wife and give her the prosperous lifestyle he believes she deserves. It is only Wilson, however, that shares Carraway’s realization that the hope brought forth by the American Dream is an utter fallacy, while Gatsby remains disillusioned, leading to his inevitable fall to his nadir.
After having experienced the betrayal of Daisy’s abandoning her promise to wait for Gatsby as he fought in the World War, Gatsby established his goal as reconquering the love that Daisy once had for him, believing his sole step in accomplishing this aspiration was following the paved path of the American Dream, acquiring money, and thereby, acquiring Daisy. As an impoverished seventeen year old, James Gatz found himself infuriated with his economic situation, dropping out of his second week of college due to his lack of desire to conduct any sort of janitorial work to scarcely pay for his tuition. Working on Lake Superior the subsequent summer, Gatz finally found himself surrounded by the wealth and prosperity he so dearly coveted, being hired as

Though Cody was not able to bequeath his wealth upon Gatz, he allowed Gatz the opportunity to establish his moniker as Jay Gatsby, a title “that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent [and a title to which] he was faithful to the end,” (6, 98). However, after hearing of Daisy’s union, Gatsby sets his sights upon accomplishing the American Dream and earning an estate in West Egg, in hopes of restoring the love they once shared in Louisville. His true motives of wealth first manifest when Jordan Baker, a close friend of Daisy’s, is pulled away by Gatsby during one of his elaborate and ornate functions. In recollection of her exchange with Gatsby, she claims, “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay," (4, 78). Her implication is that Gatsby bought his house with the sole purpose of being close to her, and it is only by way of his accomplishing the American Dream that