Myrtle Wilson

Myrtle is the cause of this scene.  It was her death that threw George into this state of shock.  She had been a woman full of life.  “Her face…contained no facet or gleam of beauty but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves in her body were continually smoldering.”  Her life had been one that affected many others.  There had been so much life in her.  She was responsible for keeping George connected to this world.  She was also the mistress of Tom Buchanan.  She was one of the loves of his life.  When she died his life changed to compensate for this loss.  Her relationship with Tom in turn affected Daisy and that then affected Gatsby.  Myrtle had so much life in her that she did not feel that she needed a God.  Her life was enough for her.  Her husband on the other hand did not have that life and so was easily drawn into the arms of God, or Dr. T.J. Eckleburg as represented in the book.  So, when he warned her that she could not fool God about her double life, she was unable to be affected by this.  This was because the idea of God was unimportant in her life.

(Myrtle was big and full of life; George was ghostly.  Myrtle brought life into his body.)

Return to Index                                                                                 Abby Sup