The empathy felt for George Wilson in the Great Gatsby isn’t comparable to any other tragic love story of the twenty-first century. George experiences true heartbreak and romantic whip-lash throughout the whole entire novel. Anyone with a sense compassion or sympathy will somehow be able to relate to the way Mr. Wilson feels through the wretched pain his wife puts him in whilst partaking in an affair with Tom Buchanan. George Wilson is portrayed as a typical mechanic. When you think of him, you ultimately think of greasy clothes, oily hair, and large hands stained thick with black substances from working with every ounce of effort he has. His face would be speckled with automotive liquids, causing him to have an exceedingly rugged and almost intimidating appearance. His demeanor although is the opposite of that of his vanity. Instead of a gruff and curt personality; George displays a wonderfully companionable way of treating others, other than when he comes to terms with his wife’s betrayal. Even then, George takes great strides to keep his calm and leave the judgment of her and Tom to the Man upstairs. In the beginning of the Great Gatsby, George is rendered clueless about his wife’s (Myrtle) infidelity. It’s pictured this way as Tom and Nick arrive to George’s automotive repair shop, and George goes at Myrtle’s beck and call to comply with whatever it is she’s requested. In that scene, Myrtle asked that George offer the men drinks and chairs to sit on, which he did ever so promptly. This indicated how much George Wilson cared for and loved his wife, unlike Tom to his wife; he listened to her and acted accordingly to whatever it was Myrtle said to him. The differences between George Wilson and Tom Buchanan are easy to sp... ... middle of paper ... ...But, at the end of the novel, George comes to renown his faith, reaffirming his ultimate belief in God. I believe George Wilson was included as a character in the Great Gatsby to symbolize the lower class of the 1920’s. Almost all of the other characters, Gatsby and Tom more so, are very rich. As the story goes on, the people with wealth always have a way out of dealing with consequences of their actions. For example, Tom and Daisy had run off to Paris to have it so much more palatable to cope with their infractions. But George? He had to stay in his poverty-stricken town to deal with the loss and ultimate betrayal of his wife Myrtle. And what did he do to inflict this upon himself? Not a thing. George is a prime example of all of the hardships people of the beginning of the Great Depression went through, and how awfully different it was from those who had wealth.
more diverse look at the life of Gatsby. Also shows how much Gatsby dwells on
Though one of the smallest characters in the book, Fitzgerald took the time to craft a character that represents weakness just by being himself, and that person is George Wilson. Wilson is one of the smallest yet most important in all of The Great Gatsby. He is claimed by his wife, Myrtle, to be a “‘dirty little coward”, which is most likely one of the reasons she leaves him in the dust behind her(137). This statement establishes the fact that Wilson has a weakness of living almost in fear. Wilson is living in an emotionally abusive relationship, and like most in this situation, he does not have the courage to stand up for himself and fight back. However, this fear backfires when Wilson finds a beautiful, silver dog collar. After finding it,
When Mr. Potter asked him to join his side so he could get more money, George thought better of himself and decided the best thing to do was to turn down the deal even though it was a once in a lifetime deal. George didn’t want to do it, but he at sometime had to face up to the problem of not getting to see the world like he wanted to when he was younger.
George was motivated by the urge to do the right thing, and by helping everyone. When he was in depression he realized that his family, friends and town people were in dire in need of his help he wanted to live again.
"When I was just out of school I worked with a team of engineers in redesigning a nozzle for a nuclear steam turbine generator... It was an awesome machine... And when it ran... lighting up every home in New York, a feeling radiated through the pit of my stomach as if its nerve endings were connected to each of those ten million light bulbs. That was power. But the winds coming around the corners of that house was God" (251). George's experience in the hurricane is just one example of the contrasts between technology and spirituality. George ardently believes that every problem can be solved with rational thinking, planning and plenty of hard work. His obsession with fixing the bridge after the hurricane further illustrates this point; despite assurances from Mama Day and Dr. Buzzard that the bridge would be built in its own time, George diligently pushes the townsfolk beyond their capacity to work. His behavior surrounding the bridge--not to mention the boat he tries to mend--is based on his desire to save Ophelia from a strange illness. He ignores the advice and guidance of Mama Day and plunges into the crisis through rational means. Ultimately, he loses his own life when saving his beloved wife, though George never understands how or why. Dr. Buzzard had warned him that "A man would have grown enough to know that really believing in himself means that he ain't gotta be afraid to admit there's some things he can't do alone" (292).
Cheating in a relationship is a form of dishonesty, and is frequently found in The Great Gatsby. One such example is the marital bond between George and Myrtle Wilson. Myrtle Wilson was not happy in her marriage with George. Evidence of this can be found on page 35, “The only crazy I was was when I married [George].” The person she really loves is her first sweetheart, Tom Wilson. This quote from page 35 and Tom’s reaction when Myrtle died depict this quite clearly, “And Tom’s the first sweetie she ever had.” It becomes quite apparent that she is cheating on Mr. Wilson with someone on page 124, “’I just got wised up to something funny the last two days,’ remarked Wilson. ‘That’s why I want to get away. That’s why I been bothering you about the car.’” Her dishonesty in marriage not only drove her husband to the point of insanity, but also caused her own death on page 137, “Where Myrtle Wilson, her life violently extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick dark blood with the dust.” If Myrtle had never cheated on George, the events that lead to her death would never have taken place. Even if she no longer loved George, it would probably have been beneficial for her to take a more honest path in leaving him. Mrs. Wilson was not the only one cheating on her husband in The Grea...
She became used to him being unfaithful to her that she suggests to him after leaving him during Gatsby wild party “ and if you want to take down any addresses here’s my little gold pencil” (105). Tom and Myrtle relationship caused problems more in Myrtle life rather than Tom’s because unlike Tom’s wide, Wilson was unaware about her unfaithfulness and reacted way differently by becoming sick. In Nick’s perspective, he explains, “He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically sick” (124). Wilson behaves in way by having her locked in a room until he gets the car to move away but soon enough for jealousy to strike among Myrtle about Tom and his wife which later causes her death. Her death occurred because of the greatly amount of envy she has towards Daisy and her lifestyle with Tom. The feelings that she felt showed upon her by having “…one emotion after another crept into her face like objects into a slowly developing picture” (124). This single small affair between Tom and Myrtle became something bigger than expected by a heart broken husband, dishonesty, and death among a mistress. This crime is much relatable to many affairs in the world that ends really bad divorces and trust issues from the dishonesty from their significant
Wilson shows this attribute by telling Michaelis the man who runs the coffee shop adjacent to Wilsons business that he had his wife locked up and, “she’s going to stay there till the day after to-morrow, and then we’re going to move away” (Fitzgerald pg136). This statement shows that Wilson will do what he believes is best when Myrtles involved, and her opinion has no weight in his decision making process. Tom also shows his dominant mentality in chapter 7 when Tom and Gatsby are arguing over Daisy and Tom ejects, “She’s not leaving me!” (Fitzgerald pg133). This statement shows that Tom has a sense as if he has ownership of Daisy and makes her decisions for
Daisy knows very well that tom is cheating on her, but doesn’t care because it's more convenient to stay in her unhappy marriage. Even though she wants to be with Gatsby, she wants to keep her social status and being with Tom makes this all the easier. Now, this is quite the opposite of Myrtle. She has a loving husband who would do anything for her, but her social status is all she cares about. Myrtle is willing to hurt George and ruin their marriage in order to climb up the social ladder. Neither of these women have respect for themselves. Both Daisy and Myrtle allow Tom to treat them
...are shown that Gatsby is prepared to do everything in his power to acquire Daisy’s adoration again, even let her get away with murder and will blindly go to jail for her. This however only leads him to his ultimate doom, as he is killed by Myrtle’s husband, Wilson. He may be a liar, but readers empathize with him as his only fault for being dishonest is his love for Daisy and being so blind to see that she is not worthy of that adoration.
"The Great Gatsby" is a book full of passion. There is Gatsby 's passionate love for Daisy. There is Tom 's passion for money. When reading this book I realized that these people broke the American dream in their time. They couldn 't be happy when all they did was chase money. The Great Gatsby was full of themes, motif 's, and symbolism and the way that fitzgerald used his characters to get his point across of what it was like back them was marvelous. Gatsby just wanted the love of his life back, so he did everything he could so that he could support her. I think that out of every single character, Gatsby 's choices were the most pure. The only reason he wanted all of the money that he got was because he wanted to make the woman he loved happy,
But Gatsby missed much of this, the character developments feel empty adding to the fact that the novel is being told from a boring point of view of the character Nick Carraway. As a result, the book becomes psychologically vacant. Schulz asserts, “The Great Gatsby is less involved with human emotion than any book of comparable fame I can think of. None of its characters are likeable. None of them are even dislikable, though nearly all of them are despicable” (Paragraph 11). It is sadly true, just look at the main character, Jay Gatsby. He seems like an interesting person who is lovable and charismatic, but it would be wrong and unlikely for the readers to feel connected with him because of his criminal past. Daisy Buchanan also display to the audience uncertain characteristics of likability and unlikability. If she is solely portrayed as a careless character who kills Myrtle Wilson and allows Gatsby to take the blame for her then she would truly be despised, but she is simultaneously depicted as an innocent and naive girl which pacify any intense feelings the readers have for her other than the feeling of disgust for nearly all of the characters. In addition, Gatsby fails to engross the readers to a degree of many books of comparable popularity. The book does not appeal to the interest of readers, in that, it does not strike
From the beginning of the book, Tom is shown to be a contentious character. While Tom, Daisy, and Nick are all at dinner, Tom goes into a diatribe about the importance of the dominant race, going on to say “It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things” (17). Later in the text, the readers learn about an argument between George and Myrtle Wilson. During the fight, Myrtle screams at George, “Beat me! Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward” (144). This is one of the first signals to the reader that George may be more contentious than imperturbable.
Tom wanted the "possession" of Myrtle, Myrtle wanted Tom's "luxuries and wealth," and Daisy wanted Gatsby simply for his wealth. Both Tom and Daisy know each other's affairs, but neither one truly cares. As the story progresses, it seems as though each of them is trying to make the other jealous. Honesty and Love, two words known only by the faithful, George Wilson. George certainly had his flaws, but he loved his wife dearly and couldn't live without her. "He was his wife's man and not his own." When he became aware of Tom and Myrtle's affair, he was "really sick, pale as his own pale hair and shaking all over." He locked her up in fear that she would run away with Tom forever.
Myrtle is, as Daisy, impressed with Tom's wealth and appearance, but, like Jay Gatsby, is stuck in a fantastic, idealized perception of her object of affection. Even when abused and trampled over by Tom, Myrtle continues to adore him, just as Gatsby continues to dote upon Daisy after being obviously rejected by her. As far as ethical considerations, Gatsby tends to prove himself a sincere and caring person, while Daisy and Tom just destroy the lives of two people and then leave town to escape the consequences of their actions.