The Tragedy of George Wilson in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The idea of tragedy has been around ever since the Greeks. It has always been a major part of literature, from Shakespeare’s plays to modern works. Thousands of authors have written amazing tragedies including the famous American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald in his novel The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby contains many tragic heroes, but the novel is truly the tragedy of George Wilson. The story of George Wilson is truly a tragic because he is a good person, he loses everything and his only part in his downfall is his trust.
George Wilson is one of the few characters in the novel that can actually be considered “good”. He is hardworking, faithful and humble. George lives and works in his small car repair shop, which is “one of the three shops” on Main Street and “one shop was for rent and another was an all-night restaurant” (Fitzgerald 24-25). The Valley of Ashes is a desolate environment with very little wealth in it so to keep a business afloat in it requires a lot of dedication. A car repair shop is even harder to keep afloat, as very few people in the Valley of Ashes would own a car. Despite his hardworking attitude and ability to keep his business alive, George Wilson is not arrogant.
In fact he is quite the opposite; he is very humble. George knows he is “one of these trusting fellas” who does not want to “think any harm to nobody”(158-159). Throughout the novel, humility is rarely seen in any characters but George. He knows that he is not smart and he admits that he is too trusting, which is tragically what leads to his demise. He knows his place in society and does not pretend to be someone else. This unparalleled humility just proves his good nature. He knows that he is too trusting and he knows that he always sees the...

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...s only major test shows up. He trusts in Tom. He asks Tom to tell him who killed Myrtle but Tom did not know who hit Myrtle. Tom thought that Gatsby “ran over Myrtle like you’d run over a dog and never even stopped his car” (178) so he puts the blame on Gatsby, and George as trusting as ever believes him and finishes his tragic tale of demise without actually getting revenge on those that actually caused his pain.
The idea that such an honest and humble man can be corrupted is truly tragic, which is only more emphasised by his total loss, the fact that his only fault is trusting people, and that in the end he never actually gets his revenge. George Wilson is truly tragic because of his good nature, his complete and total loss and that his only hand in his downfall was his trust.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Scribner: New York, 2004. Print.