The Great Gatsby Chapter 2: Myrtle's Equivocality

As Carraway is led by Tom to meet Myrtle, Carraway acknowledges how she is influenced by her surroundings. At George Wilson’s “shadow of a garage,” which is both “unprosperous and bare,” Carraway can immediately discern that she possesses a “perceptible vitality” (Fitzgerald 25). Nick identifies George’s garage to be gloomy, deserted, and “unprosperous,” which all illustrate the Wilson’s home and environment to be immovable and dull; however, the atmosphere is not entirely dismal because of Myrtle. She possesses a “perceptible vitality” despite her monotonous and barren environment. Her vivaciousness is amplified when Tom takes her to New York, which Nick describes to be set in “glowing sunshine” (Fitzgerald 27). The city’s vitality is so perceptibly radiant that it takes the place of sunshine and reveals a majestic exuberance in great contrast to George’s garage. When Catherine later exposes that Myrtle is extremely unsatisfied in her marriage, one suspects that George’s mundane lifestyle makes Myrtle feel restrained. Fitzgerald reveals earlier that the ashheap’s dust veils George’s “dark suit and his pale hair as it veiled everything in the vicinity—except his wife…” (Fitzgerald 26). This “dust” represents the lifelessness of George and his environment, however Myrtle escapes this uniform dreariness.