Myrtle’s Importance in The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby is a book about the unattainable American dream, and is widely loved for its symbolism and universal themes. Every character and place has its own symbolism behind it that can be deeply analyzed and understood. One of these is Myrtle. Myrtle is in the Valley of Ashes in New York as George Wilson’s wife, who eventually dies from a car crash. Myrtle is an important part in The Great Gatsby because she symbolizes the lower class, materialism, and the death of the American dream. Myrtle is represented in the book as the lower class. There are three main places where characters live in The Great Gatsby; West Egg, East Egg, and the Valley of Ashes. The most notable people who live here in the Valley of Ashes are George and Myrtle. When Nick & Tom arrive in the Valley of Ashes, they remark on how terrible of a place it is (26). This shows how they are in a more awful place compared to the others like Nick & Gatsby in West Egg and the Buchanans in East Egg, making them lower class. Nick also remarks on an abandoned Doctor T. J. Eckleburg sign, which foreshadows later in the book (23). This abandoned sign is another indicator on how where they live is the worst of the three places, where the most notable thing in the area is …show more content…
When Myrtle, Tom, and Nick are in a car driving, Myrtle notices someone with dogs and immediately wants to buy one, despite Tom having no attention towards it (27). This shows her materialism, as she seems to not care about Tom at all, she just cares about the money he has so she can buy things. Shortly after, Myrtle Is shown to be constantly buying things on the way to their apartment (28). This further shows her materialism and carelessness towards Tom. Since she is the lower class, she leans on people like Tom so she can buy expensive things and seem higher class, showing that she is