Wednesday, December 4, 2013

What is something another character says about Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald?

This is a good question to consider if you're thinking about how the author characterizes Myrtle. That is, we can look at the things that Myrtle says and does; we can look at what she thinks, if the narration ever provides a description of her thoughts; and we can look at what other characters say about her. All of these things, cobbled together, should provide a very good representation of who Myrtle is and how she relates to other people. Here are some examples of other characters talking about Myrtle:



"...(after the first drink Mrs. Wilson and I called each other by our first names)..."



The narrator, Nick, says this about Myrtle in Chapter 2, which characterizes her as somewhat friendly and open.



"Catherine leaned close to me and whispered in my ear: 'Neither of them can stand the person they’re married to.'"



Also in Chapter 2, this whispered bit of information, reported to the narrator, reveals that Myrtle really doesn't get along well with her husband and perhaps doesn't even like him much. 



"[Wilson] had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically sick."



From Chapter 7, this quote comes from the narrator, who has been talking with Tom and Wilson about Myrtle. We find out the effect that Myrtle's infidelity has on her husband, and it's not good. The quote reveals the damage that Myrtle has caused in her marriage.



"Her expression was curiously familiar — it was an expression I had often seen on women’s faces, but on Myrtle Wilson’s face it seemed purposeless and inexplicable until I realized that her eyes, wide with jealous terror, were fixed not on Tom, but on Jordan Baker, whom she took to be his wife."



Also from Chapter 7, the narrator, says this about Myrtle, characterizing her directly as someone who is easily prone to fits of jealousy.

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