Myrtle Wilson In The Great Gatsby

Throughout the second chapter of The Great Gatsby, Mrs. Myrtle Wilson manifests herself as the paradigmatic portrait of a desperate woman. Her desperation causes her such a sense of deficiency and desire that she cheats on her husband, Mr. George Wilson, the proprietor of an auto repairs shop. The obvious question is: Where does this sense of despair come from? The answer is, simply, that she wants more.

Myrtle lives with her husband George in the upstairs apartment of their “unprosperous and bare” repairs garage, located within a close propinquity of the “valley of ashes.” George, as described by Nick, is “spiritless” and “anemic,” alluding to George’s humdrum lifestyle (p. 25). Myrtle, desperately desiring a more exciting life, feels that she needs to expand her social horizons, break out of the insipid shell that is her marriage, and find for herself a new and improved way of life.

In fulfillment of her desires, one evening, while taking

the train to New York to visit her sister, Myrtle finds herself sitting across from Tom Buchanan, a wealthy, good-looking aristocrat. When describing the encounter, Myrtle states, “He had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off him, but every time he looked at me I had to pretend to be looking at the advertisement over his head” (p. 36); she was immediately enamored with him (p. 36). So enchanted by his masculinity, her awareness of time and place were gone, as she states in her drunken stupor to Nick, “I was so excited that when I got into a taxi with him I didn’t hardly know I wasn’t getting into a subway train” (p. 36). A married woman, Myrtle would be expected to have the self-control to abstain from adultery. However, due to her dire desperacy, Myrtle rationalizes her relationship with Tom when she states, “All I kept thinking about, over and over, was ‘You can’t live forever; you can’t live forever (p. 36).’ ”
Interestingly, when Myrtle is articulating the characteristics Tom possessed that drew her to him, she specifically mentions that “he had on a dress suit.

(p. 36)” This is such a profound statement because when describing why she was “crazy” in marrying George, Myrtle states in particular that “He borrowed somebody’s best suit” (p. 35). In doing so, Myrtle demonstrates her materialistic and meaningless perspective on love, based solely on appearance; when something is meaningless, one tries to find meaning. In Myrtle’s case, however, she isn’t even seeking meaning, just more. Thus, her sense of desperacy is inevitable.

There is no one specifically identifiable explanation for where Myrtle’s sense of despair comes from. However, throughout the second chapter of The Great Gatsby, the multifaceted reasons are self-evident; Myrtle wants more in her life: more excitement, more money, and more power etc. Nevertheless, to her misfortune, the way she goes about attaining more is precarious and cannot guarantee her long-term

happiness.