Who Is Myrtle Wilson In The Great Gatsby

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, the character Myrtle is portrayed as someone who wishes to climb up the social ladder. Myrtle Wilson is married to George Wilson, a lowly mechanic that lives above his garage in the Valley of the Ashes. She is not wealthy or rich or high class, but Tom Buchanan, a sturdy, arrogant, unfaithful, wealthy man in his thirties, finds interest in her lively manner. She is bored with George and his way of life. She likes the risk, thrill and expensive living she can get from Tom, even though both lovers are married. Myrtle Wilson latches onto Tom Buchanan and his old money to climb up the social ladder, consequently she tries vigorously to pretend to be someone that she really is not.
Through extravagant

actions, pointless complaints, and pride filled sentiments, Myrtle is clearly trying too hard to project a wealthy image that she does not live up to. As Myrtle, Tom and Nick arrive at the apartment in New York, Nick automatically notes a change in Myrtle’s demeanor.

Nick comments, “With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur. Her laughter, her gestures, her assertions became more violently affected moment by moment,” (30). When Myrtle changes her dress, Nick finds that her personality changes as well. Once she is in her elaborate “lounge” dress, she is no longer just full of life, but prideful and arrogant. She acts as though she is above others, more superior. Her actions, as Nick describes, are exaggerated and “violent”, unnecessary. Her whole demeanor changes as soon as she comes in contact with the expensive chiffon fabric. People like the McKee’s and Myrtle’s sister Catherine arrive and a small party begins. Tom reacts and has Myrtle get drinks for the crew, but she complains, "I told that boy about the ice." Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders. ‘"These people! You have to keep after them all the time." She looked at me and laughed pointlessly. Then she flounced over to the dog, kissed it with ecstasy, and swept into the kitchen, implying that a dozen chefs awaited her orders there” (31). She calls ‘the help’

lazy and inefficient. She complains about having to do all the work herself. In this apartment that they are all staying in, the only ‘help’ that is really available in the tiny building is most likely a bellhop or manager, and their jobs do not include waiting on Myrtle hand and foot. The reality is that she has no servants or chefs to complain about. She once again acts prideful and above the lower class, even though she is the lower class. Nick uses language such as “laughed pointlessly”, “flounced”, and “swept into the kitchen” to describe Myrtle’s exaggerated manner. Her actions seem stretched out and and fake, like she is trying too hard to be someone she is not; to live up to this rich girl facade she so violently keeps.
Mrs. Wilson is someone that many would call a gold-digger, a person that latches onto others purely to extract wealth from them. Mainly in the context of women dating rich men for their money. Myrtle uses Tom to try and climb up from her low social standing. She wants to seem rich, superior, and upper-class. She uses his money to buy expensive dresses and decor for the apartment he bought for her. This in turn causes her to act a certain way; to act filled with pride and arrogance. She has a supercilious demeanor about her. The connotation in her phrases and sentiments, the forcefulness of her actions, and some of the senseless thoughts she expresses prove that she is pretending in order to heighten her social position.