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Why Is George Wilson Important In The Great Gatsby

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One could use felonious ways for wealth to adapt to a progressive society. (Telgen) “F. Scott Fitzgerald viewed the callousness and moral irresponsibility of the affluent American society of the 1920s.” (Telgen) As such, the American dream was an ideal of self-made money. Similarly, selling illegal alcohol, also known as bootlegging, was a massive trend to become richer. F. Scott Fitzgerald used this era in “The Great Gatsby” to show how certain individuals like George Wilson, Tom Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby were affected: Wealth may secure status but also influences each character’s actions.
The status of the lower class results in many limitations. To demonstrate, Tom Buchanan once stated: “He’s so dumb, he doesn’t know that he’s alive” (Gatsby 30). George Wilson is “A victim of circumstance, he has a poor life and can only work to make a living and must ask the man who is having an affair with his wife” (Telgen). As a result, working his hardest for him and his wife to move out west, Wilson discovers that Myrtle has been cheating with the man “helping” …show more content…

Talking about the Buchanans, Nick expressed that they “retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness” because of what Tom led George Wilson to do. (Gatsby) “The Buchanans' thirst for the good life victimizes others to the point of murder”. (Telgen) With Tom’s wealth, he escaped a scene where he was at fault. Completely different, Gatsby showed a dream believing in a “green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” (Gatsby) “Only Gatsby, could be construed as fulfilling the author's vision of the American Dream”. (Telgen) He built himself up, following what the Americans wanted: money. The American dream is so corrupt now that it’s not a happy, relaxing life in the end. With certain levels of wealth, they each have a separate goal to reach, but all include the demand for

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Brandon Montiel Mrs. Primeaux English 3 Period 5 18 May 2015 Gatsby Essay The novel “The Great Gatsby” by Scott Fitzgerald tells a story of some distinguishing people. Throughout the novel Fitzgerald uses color symbolism and characterization to describe these complex character’s personalities. Several settings, objects and people are described with a certain color, behind the color is a significance that can help us get a better picture of the type of character being described. Characterization is used throughout by describing personality traits of each individual character. Two of the main characters that are described through these ideas are Gatsby and Wilson.

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When I finished reading The Great Gatsby, there was a question that lingered, and that question is: Who is responsible for Gatsby’s death? George Wilson has to be the most responsible; he is the one who ultimately pulled the trigger and kills Gatsby. Everyone else had a part to play, but their role in the death is ancillary, related to the cause, but not the primary cause. Some say that one character can’t be held accountable for Gatsby’s death, it has to be multiple. As I said before, I believe this isn’t true, and that George Wilson is responsible.

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One of the more important symbols was where Jay Gatsby and George Wilson lived, and how it symbolized their dreams. The difference between living in East Egg and West Egg. The simple difference was that if you lived in East Egg you were already wealthy, powerful and had the American Dream in your hands. But those who lived in West Egg were trying to get wealthy, powerful and the American Dream. Gatsby who could afford an estate in East Egg chose to buy an estate in West Egg so he could be near Daisy.

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The perfect society would be a society, where everyone is born with the same opportunities and privileges. Until then, the fortuitous born would have all the chances thrown at them, while the rest would fight blood and nails for a better future. Especially in the 20s, where your birth wealth determined your future, it was essential to have stealth and quick mind. That was what separated and connected Jay and George together, the same birth condition, but different aspirations. Gatsby was uneducated, but well accommodated to the rich life, George was uneducated and knew nothing about the lives of the rich.

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When a dream is taken too seriously to the point where reality is forgotten, it can physically harm a person. When Gatsby was shot by Wilson, Nick Carraway sheds light on the reason behind this tragic incident. Nick describes the loss of Gatsby 's life as Gatsby “[pays] a high price for living too long with a single dream”(Fitzgerald 165). Gatsby’s life was dedicated to achieving one dream, to be happy with Daisy. His dedication to his dream effected his view of reality.

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Social Economic Lens In The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald the effect of different social classes and the influential ways of the viewed higher classes demonstrates how hollow and ignorant having money and being perceived as wealthy can make a person. Compared to how the lower-class characters are viewed and treated by the upper class. The Great Gatsby is a good representation of seeing literature through a social-economic lens, this is shown in many different ways in the story. The reader is shown the ignorance of the upper class, the things that the characters do not know they have compared to the lower classes, and the opportunities they do not have, the little things that the rich take advantage of.

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The most shocking moment in the novel The Great Gatsby was ultimately when George Wilson snuck into Gatsby’s backyard and shot him in the back, sending him falling into his pool. If you were to ask a student who was responsible for the murder of Jay Gatsby, they would respond with the answer “George Wilson”. However, simply putting the word “morally” at the front of that question, you can now be provided with several different answers. Any main character in the novel The Great Gatsby, including Nick, Daisy, Tom, or Gatsby himself can be seen as morally responsible for the death of Jay Gatsby besides George Wilson. How would you feel if the woman you worked hard to be with and were deeply in love with was the one morally responsible for your death?

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Nick had attempted to escape from this lifestyle but because he was unable to make a complete decision in the beginning, he kept living it through the Buchanans; they were Nick’s window to the past. He witnesses Tom’s affair being “insisted upon wherever he was known” (21) without shame, and Daisy “[turn] out the light” (117) in her relationship with Gatsby, as it it never happened. A quiet bystander, never interfering, he experiences their life of ignorance, one with no repercussions, the one he had. Unwilling to remove himself from them, he instead complies to their wants, their decisions that create a sense of accomplishment. Doing nothing to change and move on from his past, Nick makes his choice to move to the east pointless.

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He was seen as a “fine type of the successful American,” (Howells 3) who was able to work his way up in society through his skill of being able to recognize opportunity and his ambition to reach his goals. But since the protagonist was not raised in a wealthy environment, he is also willing to lie, cheat and steal in order to fit in with the upper class.

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The impact of socioeconomic status can be examined through a myriad of lenses. F. Scott Fitzgerald aims to show the relationship between socioeconomic status and power. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Tom’s character shows that socioeconomic status is equivalent to power within the novel. Tom puts great pride and emphasis on his socioeconomic status and wealth.

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Fitzgerald condemned the American Dream by showing how even though Gatsby became rich, he was not happy nor did he have a happy life. Tom Buchanan dehumanized Gatsby by how he thought badly of him because he was nouveaux riche. Tom was old money. Nick was also newly rich like Gatsby. He dehumanized the Buchanans in the fact that he thought of them as careless except when it comes to their image or their money.

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In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald characterizes the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values. One of the major themes explored in this novel is the Hollowness of the Upper Class. The entire book revolves around money including power and little love. Coincidentally the three main characters of the novel belong to the upper class and throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows how this characters have become corrupted and have lost their morality due to excess money and success and this has led them to change their perspective towards other people and they have been portrayed as short-sighted to what is important in life. First of all, we have the main character of this novel, Gatsby who won’t stop at nothing to become rich overnight in illegal dealings with mobsters such as Wolfsheim in order to conquer Daisy’s heart.”

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In “The Great Gatsby” Fitzgerald presents editorial on an assortment of topics, — equity, control, insatiability, treachery, the American dream. Of the considerable number of subjects, maybe none is more all around created than that of social stratification. The Great Gatsby is viewed as a splendid bit of social discourse, offering a clear look into American life in the 1920s. Fitzgerald deliberately sets up his novel into particular gatherings in any case, at last, each gathering has its own issues to battle with, leaving an effective indication of what a problematic place the world truly is. By making unmistakable social classes — old cash, new cash, and no cash — Fitzgerald sends solid messages about the elitism running all through each stratum of society.

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In the 1920’s, social classes were divided with a large gap. The poor wanted nothing to do with the rich, and the rich wanted even less to do with the poor. In the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he uses the class structure in the 1920’s to redefine poverty. While the rich people in the novel are material rich, they are still “poor” socially and psychologically. Poverty is shown in a differently in this book than other books being written in this time era, and in doing this, it shows the rich what they are, and how they treat others from a different perspective.

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