George Wilson

George is a worn-our mechanic in the Valley of Ashes whose world comes crashing down upon finding out about his wife’s infidelity with one of his clients. Starkly different to his bubbly and vivacious wife, Wilson is rather quiet and passive. He blends into his grey surroundings – a “spiritless man, anaemic,” – which he does not venture out of during the novel until he finally murders Gatsby. It is unusual that the only character to speak about God during the novel is the one who commits such a crime. As a man of the working class, in such a bleak environment, perhaps God was his only sense of hope and comfort in his life. When God proves unable to deter Myrtle from her relationship with Tom, and she is eventually killed, his faith is shot. He kills Gatsby before committing suicide. Daisy and Tom escape the scene unscathed despite their respective involvement in her murder. Unlike the wealthy, his lower status comes with greater responsibility for his actions, unable to pay off anyone or flee with any assets to support him. Thus, unable to go on with the devastation of his loss, or the implications of his crime, his demise is the closest thing to liberation that George can get.