Myrtle Wilson

1. Describe what the character is like in the novel. What are their main characteristics? Provide quotes for each
characteristic/quality you come up with.
a. Toms lover, whose lifeless husband George owns a run-down garage in the valley of ashes. Myrtle herself
possesses a fierce vitality and desperately looks for a way to improve her situation. Unfortunately for her, she
chooses Tom, who treats her as a mere object of his desire (SparkNotes).
b. "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."
i. Myrtle thinks acting like a snob makes her sound fancy and upper class.
2. Describe what the character is like in any flashbacks to the past in the novel.
a. Myrtle, a few drinks of whiskey inside of her, confides to Nick how she met Tom. She was heading to New York City
to see her sister. She and Tom ended up on two little seats on the train facing each other "that are always the last
ones left on the train." Myrtle was attracted initially by Tom's patent leather shoes and dress suit. This suggests she
was attracted by his money. She says she kept pretending to look at the advertisement over his head, but
apparently she was able to signal her interest--or Tom saw her as ripe for the plucking--because he ended up sitting
next to her. Again, it is his clothes that she remembers. She never provides any physical description of him, because
it's his wealth, not himself, that interests her. She recalls his "white shirt front" pressed against her arm. She tells
him she is going to call the police, but he knows she is lying. Myrtle describes being so excited when she gets into
the taxi with him that she hardly knows it's not a "subway train." She tells Nick that she kept thinking, "You can't live
forever, you can't live forever."
i. Myrtle only loves Tom and lets him treat her the way he does because he is upper class.
3. What do you think it is about the characters society, or upbringing, that has made them the way they are, or value the things
they value?
a. Myrtle is lower class, but she dreams of being in the upper class. Having an affair with Tom allows her to pretend
she is upper class by wearing fancy dresses and acting fashionable. She values money and class over her marriage. It
is the allure and change in belief during 1920 that you can become someone and get rich that may lead to Myrtle
being this way. She also shows the pursuit for wealth many people in 1920s society chased after by moving East.
4. Find and write down the four most important quotes about the character, or said by the character, and explain what the quotes
teach us about the character, 1920s society, or a main theme.
a. "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."
i. Myrtle says this at her apartment with Tom. She thinks acting snobby makes her sound fancy and upper
class. Instead, it just makes her sound more like herself, a cheating and pretending common woman.
b. Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing, in impassioned voices,
whether Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy's name. "Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!" shouted Mrs. Wilson. "I'll say it
whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai "Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open
hand.
i. When Tom hits Myrtle, breaking her nose, he reminds her that she is still poor, and will never be upper
class no matter what she does.
c. Beat me! he heard her cry. Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward!(130).
i. This quote demonstrates that Myrtle would rather be treated badly by a rich man then well by a poor man,
She is willing to submit herself to Toms abuse in order to feel a connection with the upper class.
d. "Well, I married him,." said Myrtle, ambiguously.
"And that's the difference between your case and mine.." "Why did you, Myrtle?." demanded Catherine.
"Nobody forced you to.." Myrtle considered.
"I married him because I thought he was a gentleman,." she said finally.
"I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn't fit to lick my shoe.." "You were crazy about him for a
while,." said Catherine.
"Crazy about him!." cried Myrtle incredulously.
 "Who said I was crazy about him? I never was any more crazy about him than I was about that man there.." She
pointed suddenly at me, and everyone looked at me accusingly. I tried to show by my expression that I had played
no part in her past.
"The only crazy I was was when I married him.
i. Myrtle has been spoiled through her affair with Tom. Suddenly she has a New York apartment, a puppy
and fancy dresses. She fully buys into all of Toms ideas on class and social status, but she thinks shes
made it to the top. She is able to say she regrets ever marrying George.
5. How do people treat this character/view them? How does the character treat other people?
a. Myrtle is looked down upon because she is lower class. Tom refuses to be seen with her and abuses her, Daisy kills
her, and she is never really treated as part of the upper class.
6. What does this teach us about 1920s American society in the east?
i. The class system was very much alive and well. People from the lower classes wish to be part of the upper
class, and people in the upper classes look down upon the lower class. Lower class people are not worth as
much to upper class people. This also shows peoples belief in the materialistic American Dream in the
1920s. Myrtle thinks she can reach the dream on money and wealth and focuses on these things, rather
than her husband.
7. Why do you believe the author has included this character in the novel? What message or theme do they help develop and how?
(Themes =Failure of the American Dream, Love/obsessive love, social status (poverty, old money, new money), social and moral
decay, Appearance vs reality, shallowness of the Upper Class.)

a. We dont know a ton about Myrtle Wilsons background except what we can gather from the passing comments from
other characters. For example, we get the sense Myrtle loved her husband when they got married, but has since been

disappointed by his lack of cash and social status, and now feels stifled by her twelve-year marriage:
"I married him because I thought he was a gentleman," she said finally. "I thought he knew something about breeding, but he

wasn't fit to lick my shoe." SHOWING APPEARANCE VS REALITY.

"You were crazy about him for a while," said Catherine.

"Crazy about him!" cried Myrtle incredulously. "Who said I was crazy about him? I never was any crazier about him than I was

about that man there."

She pointed suddenly at me, and everyone looked at me accusingly. I tried to show by my expression that I had played no

part in her past.

"The only crazy I was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody's best suit to get
married in and never even told me about it, and the man came after it one day when he was out. She looked around to see
who was listening: " 'Oh, is that your suit?' I said. 'This is the first I ever heard about it.' But I gave it to him and then I lay

down and cried to beat the band all afternoon."

"She really ought to get away from him," resumed Catherine to me. "They've been living over that garage for eleven years.

And Tom's the first sweetie she ever had." (2.112-7)

8. What symbols or motifs are associated with the character and what do these help us understand about them? (symbols could be
colours etc, motifs could be geography 9places characters live), parties, automobiles etc)

a. Myrtle helps to emphasize the theme of class and wealth in The Great Gatsby. Her hypocrisy is illustrated in her belief that
she is 'above' her husband, but then is obviously below Tom's. Myrtle puts up with Tom's abuse because she thinks it is
'manly' and that this is what the wealthy act like. Her character shows how wealth and class are assumptions and facades

that people assume. She is connected to the symbol of The Valley of Ashes and how she is trapped in poverty, no matter how

hard she tries to get out, also showing the failure of The American Dream.