George Wilson husband Catherine sister. Myrtle Wilson is an ambitious social climber, the sister of Catherine , wife of George Wilson and the mistress of Tom Buchanan.
Wilson owns a run-down garage in the Valley of Ashes. Myrtle herself possessed a fierce vitality. Unfortunately for her, she chose Tom, who treated her as a mere object of his desire. When her husband demanded to know who her lover was, she ran out of the room and onto the road.
She recognized the yellow car driving by, thinking that Tom was behind the wheel. Myrtle aspires to have a better life. To heighten the tragedy of Myrtle's death, Nick emphasized her hunger for life, frequently using the word 'vitality' to describe her.
She had a 'vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smoldering'. Myrtl resented George because he isn't rich - he even had to borrow 'somebody's best suit to get married in'. Myrtle thought she married below her class, she said George 'wasn't fit to lick [her] balls', but she was actually working class herself. This was clear from the way she spoke - she used non-standard grammar and 'obscene' language. Ace your assignments with our guide to The Great Gatsby!
SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. How does Nick Carraway first meet Jay Gatsby? Why did Daisy marry Tom? Why does Gatsby arrange for Nick to have lunch with Jordan Baker? How does Tom find out about the affair between Gatsby and Daisy? How does Gatsby make his money? Myrtle's complete misunderstanding of Tom, as well as her violent death, fit the overall cynical message in the book that the American Dream is a false promise to those born outside of the wealthy class in America.
As hard as anyone tries, they don't stand a chance of competing with those in America born into the old money class. They will never understand the strange internal rules that govern the old money set, and will never stand a chance of being their equal.
This is a prompt that you can obviously use for any of the characters, but it's especially interesting in Myrtle's case, since she has two residences : the house above the auto shop that George owns, and the apartment that Tom Buchanan rents for her in the city.
Myrtle's home with George is a dark, hopeless image of working class life in America: it's an apartment above a bare garage, nestled in the dreadful Valley of Ashes. George is utterly mired in this home, even coated with a thin layer of ash from the factories outside. In contrast, Myrtle is vivacious and free of the ash, which gives her a layer of separation from her actual home. Myrtle's apartment with Tom is overstuffed and gaudy , and she seems much happier and more at home there. The mix of high-brow pretension in the decor with her low-brow entertainment speaks to how Myrtle values the appearance of wealth and sophistication, but doesn't actually understand what upper-class taste looks like the way Tom and Daisy Buchanan do.
So while the Wilson's garage is a testament to the struggle of the working class in American in the s, Myrtle and Tom's apartment is a physical representation of the airs Myrtle puts on and the appearances of wealth she values. One of the novel's most important events is also one that can be confusing for students: namely, Myrtle's death at the end of Chapter 7. How exactly does she end up in the road?
What does it have to do with her strange encounter with Tom, Nick, and Jordan in the garage earlier in the day? Piecing together these three takes on the incident, this is what happens, in order:. Still a bit confused about the climax of the novel? Get a detailed recap of Chapters 7, 8 and 9 to understand exactly how the three deaths play out.
Learn more about Myrtle's marriage and her relationship with Tom over at our post about love and relationships. Read about social class in the novel in our post on the role of social classes in this novel. We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:. Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia.
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Posted by Dr. Anna Wulick Jan 13, PM. Article Roadmap Myrtle as a character Physical description Myrtle's history before the novel begins Actions in the novel Character Analysis Myrtle quotes Common discussion topics and essay ideas Quick Note on Our Citations Our citation format in this guide is chapter. Does he even say hello? Tell her his name?
But this ridiculous performance of masculinity pushes Myrtle's buttons in all the right ways. George is passive, but Tom is controlling and authoritative—and she equates that with masculinity. Obviously Tom tells her his name at some point, and he also tells her a lot more: that the reason he can't leave his wife is because she's Catholic. And Myrtle, the poor fool, believes it. Daisy would be proud. Myrtle and Gatsby have one thing in common: they're both trying to rise above their station.
Like Gatsby, Myrtle isn't happy with the class she was born to. She insists that she married beneath her, and she tries to talk about the "lower orders" as though she's not one of them: "I told that boy about the ice.
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