What is the Role of George Wilson in the Novel? A Comprehensive Analysis of George Wilson’s Function in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
Author: MARTIN MUNYAO MUINDE
Email: Ephantusmartin@gmail.com
Website: https://academiaresearcher.com/
Date: September 22, 2025
Abstract
George Wilson, though a minor character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece “The Great Gatsby,” serves multiple crucial functions that significantly impact the novel’s thematic development and narrative structure. This comprehensive analysis explores Wilson’s role as a symbol of the forgotten American working class, his function as a catalyst for the novel’s tragic conclusion, and his representation of moral awakening in a morally corrupt society. Through careful examination of his interactions with other characters and his symbolic significance, this paper demonstrates that George Wilson’s role extends far beyond his limited appearances, making him an essential component of Fitzgerald’s critique of the American Dream and 1920s society.
Keywords: George Wilson, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, American Dream, symbolism, working class, moral awakening, tragedy, Valley of Ashes
Introduction
- Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” remains one of the most analyzed novels in American literature, renowned for its complex character development and intricate symbolism. While much scholarly attention focuses on Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, and Daisy Buchanan, the role of George Wilson—the humble garage owner from the Valley of Ashes—deserves equally rigorous examination. Wilson’s character serves as more than a plot device; he represents the forgotten masses of American society, embodies the moral conscience absent in other characters, and ultimately becomes the instrument through which justice is served in the novel’s climactic moments.
George Wilson’s role in “The Great Gatsby” operates on multiple levels: as a symbol of the working class struggling beneath the wealthy elite, as a representation of genuine grief and loss in contrast to the artificial emotions of the upper class, and as the agent who brings about the novel’s tragic resolution. His character arc from passive victim to active agent of retribution mirrors the broader themes of disillusionment with the American Dream and the moral bankruptcy of the Jazz Age. This analysis will explore these multifaceted roles, demonstrating that Wilson’s presence is essential to understanding Fitzgerald’s critique of American society and the ultimate failure of the American Dream.
George Wilson as a Symbol of the Working Class and Economic Disparity
The Valley of Ashes and Social Stratification
George Wilson’s most significant symbolic function lies in his representation of the American working class, particularly those trapped in poverty while surrounded by wealth. His residence and business in the Valley of Ashes—described by Fitzgerald as “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens”—positions him geographically and metaphorically between the wealthy enclaves of East and West Egg and the vibrant city of New York (Fitzgerald, 1925, p. 23). This liminal space reflects Wilson’s social position: neither part of the established aristocracy nor completely excluded from the American economic system, yet perpetually struggling to achieve upward mobility.
Wilson’s garage serves as a potent symbol of honest labor in contrast to the inherited wealth and criminal enterprises that fund the lifestyles of other characters. While Tom Buchanan enjoys inherited wealth and Jay Gatsby accumulates riches through questionable means, Wilson represents the traditional American work ethic—the belief that hard work and dedication will lead to prosperity. However, Fitzgerald uses Wilson’s character to demonstrate the failure of this ideology in 1920s America. Despite his diligent work and honest business practices, Wilson remains trapped in poverty, unable to provide adequately for his wife Myrtle or to compete with the wealthy men who can offer her luxuries he cannot afford. This economic disparity highlights the widening gap between social classes and the increasing impossibility of achieving the American Dream through legitimate means.
Economic Dependence and Powerlessness
Wilson’s relationship with Tom Buchanan further illustrates his position as representative of the economically powerless. Tom’s promise to sell Wilson a car represents the kind of empty gesture typical of the wealthy toward the working class—a promise that provides hope but remains unfulfilled. This dynamic reflects the broader relationship between the upper and lower classes in Fitzgerald’s America, where the wealthy maintain their position partly by keeping the poor dependent on their goodwill and false promises. Wilson’s eagerness to believe in Tom’s assurances, despite repeated disappointments, demonstrates the desperation of those trapped in economic circumstances beyond their control.
The irony of Wilson’s situation becomes particularly apparent when examining his relationship with the very car that will eventually kill his wife. Tom’s automobile, a symbol of wealth and modernity, represents everything Wilson aspires to but cannot attain. His professional competence as a mechanic who can repair and maintain these luxury vehicles, yet cannot afford to own one himself, underscores the cruel irony of his position in society. He possesses the skills and knowledge valued by the wealthy, yet remains excluded from their world of privilege and comfort.
Wilson’s Role in Exposing Moral Hypocrisy and Authentic Emotion
Genuine Grief Versus Performative Emotion
One of George Wilson’s most important functions in the novel is his embodiment of authentic emotion in a world characterized by artificial feelings and performative relationships. When Myrtle dies, Wilson’s grief stands in stark contrast to the reactions of other characters. While Tom Buchanan quickly distances himself from responsibility and Daisy retreats into her “vast carelessness,” Wilson experiences genuine, overwhelming sorrow that transforms him completely. His description as appearing “sick” and “guilty” reveals a depth of emotional authenticity absent in the wealthy characters who treat relationships as commodities and emotions as performances (Fitzgerald, 1925, p. 136).
Wilson’s mourning process exposes the shallow nature of the relationships among the novel’s upper-class characters. His desperate attempts to understand how and why his wife died contrast sharply with Tom and Daisy’s immediate concern with protecting themselves from consequences. Where the wealthy characters view Myrtle’s death primarily in terms of how it affects their own comfort and security, Wilson experiences it as a profound personal loss that shatters his understanding of the world. This authentic grief serves as a moral benchmark against which the callousness of other characters can be measured.
The Search for Truth and Justice
Wilson’s quest to discover his wife’s killer represents a search for truth and justice that stands in opposition to the web of lies and cover-ups that characterize the behavior of the wealthy characters. His methodical investigation—visiting the garage where the car was purchased, following leads despite his grief—demonstrates a commitment to uncovering reality that contrasts with the other characters’ preference for comfortable illusions. While Gatsby constructs elaborate fantasies about his relationship with Daisy, and the Buchanans retreat behind their wealth to avoid accountability, Wilson pursues the truth with single-minded determination.
This pursuit of justice, though ultimately misguided, represents the moral center that the novel otherwise lacks. Wilson’s belief that the person who killed his wife should face consequences reflects a basic sense of right and wrong that has been corrupted or abandoned by the other characters. His transformation from passive victim to active agent of retribution, while tragic in its misdirection, represents the only attempt at moral accountability in the entire novel. The irony that he kills the wrong man does not diminish the significance of his role as the only character who attempts to restore moral balance to a morally bankrupt world.
Wilson as the Agent of Tragic Resolution
The Instrument of Poetic Justice
George Wilson’s ultimate role as Jay Gatsby’s killer positions him as the instrument through which the novel achieves its tragic resolution. However, this function operates on multiple symbolic levels beyond mere plot mechanics. Wilson’s act represents the collision between the American Dream’s promise and its reality—the working-class man destroying the figure who embodies both the dream’s allure and its corruption. Gatsby’s death at Wilson’s hands can be read as the symbolic destruction of the American Dream by those it has failed to serve.
The circumstances of Gatsby’s death carry profound ironic weight that enhances Wilson’s symbolic function. Gatsby dies believing he is protecting Daisy, maintaining his romantic idealism even in his final moments. Wilson, acting on information provided by Tom Buchanan, becomes the unwitting tool of the very class system that has oppressed him. This tragic irony underscores Fitzgerald’s critique of American society: the working class, manipulated by the wealthy, ultimately destroys those who might represent hope for social mobility and change.
The Cycle of Destruction and Moral Blindness
Wilson’s murder-suicide represents the ultimate consequence of the moral blindness that pervades the novel’s world. His misdirected revenge—killing Gatsby instead of Tom, who was actually driving the car—reflects the broader theme of characters’ inability to see truth clearly. The wealthy characters’ selfishness and dishonesty create a chain of misunderstanding and misdirected blame that ultimately destroys both Wilson and Gatsby, the novel’s two most sympathetic characters.
The tragic irony of Wilson’s final act lies in its simultaneous representation of justice and injustice. While he succeeds in killing someone connected to his wife’s death, he kills the wrong person, allowing the truly guilty parties—Tom and Daisy—to escape without consequences. This outcome reinforces Fitzgerald’s pessimistic view of American society, where the wealthy manipulate circumstances to protect themselves while the poor and idealistic suffer the consequences of moral corruption they did not create.
Wilson’s Function in the Novel’s Thematic Structure
The Failure of Communication and Understanding
George Wilson’s character serves to highlight the novel’s themes of failed communication and mutual misunderstanding between social classes. His inability to comprehend his wife’s affair, his misinterpretation of her desires and motivations, and his ultimate misdirection of blame all reflect the broader failure of characters throughout the novel to truly understand one another. Wilson’s genuine love for Myrtle contrasts with her desire to escape their shared circumstances, creating a tragic gap in understanding that mirrors the misunderstandings between other character pairs.
Wilson’s interactions with the other characters consistently demonstrate the impossibility of genuine communication across class boundaries. When he speaks with Tom about purchasing a car, when he confronts Myrtle about her affair, or when he seeks information about her killer, his earnestness and directness clash with the duplicity and manipulation that characterize upper-class behavior. These failed communications contribute to the tragic misunderstandings that drive the novel’s plot toward its inevitable conclusion.
The Geography of Moral Landscape
Wilson’s association with the Valley of Ashes extends his symbolic function to encompass the novel’s moral geography. The Valley represents moral desolation—a wasteland between the artificial paradise of the Eggs and the vibrant corruption of New York City. Wilson’s presence in this landscape makes him a guardian of this moral wasteland, the only character who consistently occupies this space of honest poverty and genuine emotion. His movements from the Valley to West Egg for the novel’s climax represent the intrusion of authentic moral feeling into the artificial world of the wealthy.
The contrast between Wilson’s moral authenticity and the corruption of other characters becomes particularly apparent when examining their respective relationships to place. While Gatsby transforms his estate into a fantasy playground and the Buchanans retreat into their inherited privilege, Wilson remains rooted in the harsh reality of the Valley of Ashes. His final journey to Gatsby’s pool represents the migration of authentic moral consequence into the world of artificial dreams, bringing reality and accountability to a place that has existed solely as an escape from both.
Wilson’s Representation of Religious and Spiritual Themes
Divine Justice and Moral Awakening
George Wilson’s character development includes elements that suggest religious or spiritual awakening, particularly following his wife’s death. His transformation from passive acceptance to active pursuit of justice can be interpreted as a spiritual journey, with his grief serving as a catalyst for moral awakening. His references to God’s eyes watching over the Valley of Ashes—specifically his identification of the billboard’s eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg with divine observation—positions him as the novel’s most spiritually aware character.
Wilson’s equation of the billboard’s eyes with God’s eyes represents a desperate attempt to find divine order and moral supervision in a world that appears godless and morally chaotic. His declaration that “God sees everything” and his belief that divine justice will ultimately prevail contrast sharply with the other characters’ assumption that they can escape consequences through wealth and social position (Fitzgerald, 1925, p. 159). This spiritual dimension of Wilson’s character adds depth to his role as moral conscience and agent of justice.
The Search for Meaning in Suffering
Wilson’s response to tragedy demonstrates a search for meaning and purpose that distinguishes him from other characters who face adversity. While Gatsby responds to loss by intensifying his romantic delusions and the Buchanans respond by retreating into protective wealth, Wilson seeks to understand and respond to his suffering through action. His investigation into his wife’s death represents an attempt to impose meaning and justice on senseless tragedy, even though his efforts are ultimately misdirected.
This search for meaning extends to Wilson’s final act, which can be interpreted as both revenge and sacrifice. His suicide following Gatsby’s murder suggests recognition of the magnitude of his action and acceptance of responsibility for it—a level of moral accountability absent in other characters. While his justice is misdirected, his willingness to accept consequences for his actions provides a stark contrast to Tom and Daisy’s ability to “smash up things and creatures and then retreat back into their vast carelessness” (Fitzgerald, 1925, p. 179).
Conclusion
George Wilson’s role in “The Great Gatsby” extends far beyond his function as a plot device or minor character. Through his representation of the working class, his embodiment of authentic emotion and moral conscience, and his ultimate function as the agent of tragic resolution, Wilson serves as an essential component of Fitzgerald’s critique of American society and the American Dream. His character provides the moral center that the novel otherwise lacks, demonstrating through contrast the corruption and callousness of the wealthy characters who dominate the narrative.
Wilson’s symbolic significance lies not only in what he represents—honest labor, genuine emotion, moral accountability—but also in how his story intersects with and ultimately resolves the novel’s central conflicts. His transformation from passive victim to active agent of retribution, though tragically misdirected, represents the only attempt at justice in a world characterized by moral abdication and social irresponsibility. His death alongside Gatsby’s symbolizes the destruction of both the authentic working-class values and the corrupted dreams that defined American society in the 1920s.
The enduring power of Wilson’s character lies in his humanity—his capacity for love, grief, and moral outrage in a world where such authentic emotions have been replaced by performance and manipulation. His role in the novel demonstrates Fitzgerald’s understanding that true tragedy lies not merely in the fall of the great, but in the destruction of the good and honest by forces beyond their comprehension or control. In this sense, George Wilson represents not only the failure of the American Dream for the working class, but also the moral cost of a society that values wealth and status above truth and human dignity.
Through George Wilson, Fitzgerald creates a character whose limited appearances belie his enormous significance to the novel’s thematic and structural integrity. Wilson’s role as representative of forgotten America, moral conscience, and agent of tragic justice makes him indispensable to understanding the full scope of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece and its enduring critique of American society.
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