The functions of Mrs. Wilson in The Great Gatsby

王少佳++李昀姍

1. Introduction

The Great Gatsby was one of the masterpieces written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Many experts and learners have studied this book and the concerns focus on its theme the disillusionment of “the American dream”， symbolism， plots development and characters. However， few people studied the character Mrs. Wilson. Because having a good and comprehensive analysis of this character can surely help us understand the whole story， this essay will pay attention to Mrs. Wilson from tow aspects symbolism and tragedy.

2. Symbolism represented by Mrs. Wilson

“In literature a symbol is a thing that refers or suggests more than its literal meaning.”（袁憲軍， 2004） In The Great Gatsby， F. Scott Fitzgerald wisely uses symbolism which makes a big contribution to the completion of the story. And the symbolism represented by Mrs. Wilson was from two aspects the symbolism of her cloths color and the symbolism of the view of Mrs. Wilsons death.

2.1 Symbolism of the cloths color

Color symbolism was really popular in novels written during the 1920s and The Great Gatsby was not an exception. For example， “White” represented beauty， cleanliness， wealth， and innocence. “Gray” allowed the reader to notice that the dreams of each character were slowly disappearing. And “blue” showed calmness. To fully understand the novel， recognize the associated colors given in the story are essential. The cloths color of Mrs. Wilson was the most obvious symbolism.

In the first appearance， she wore a spotted dress of dark blue. And the readers should pay closely attention to the three words： spotted， dark， and blue. Blue was one kind of colors symbolizing the calmness which has a contrast with the yellow symbolizing the vanity of the whole state. Actually， this kind of color belongs to Mr. Wilson instead of Mrs. Wilson because he lacked the characteristic of inexhaustible energy belonging to that time and was not affected by vanity. Whats more， he believed in God， worked hard and was loyal to the family. The reason why Mrs. Wilson wore the blue dress was she was the wife of Mr. Wilson. However， from the other two words spotted and dark， we knew the difference between them. Dark means Mrs. Wilsons life was not calm but gloomy as a result of the disparity between reality and the ideal about her marriage and from which she tortured a lot.

The only crazy I was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebodys best suit to get married in and never even told me about it， and the man came after it one day when he was out. She looked around to see who was listening： “‘Oh， is that your suit？ I said. ‘This is the first I ever heard about it. But I gave it to him and then I lay down and cried to beat the band all afternoon.” （Fitzgerald， 2010： 54）

From these words， it was not difficult for us to feel the deep level of her disappointment which can be symbolized by the color of dark blue. Moreover， spotted was also a word transferred Mrs. Wilsons misfortune though some kinds of changes would occur， such as to be the mistress of Tom. All in all， the spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine showed the tragedy of Mrs. Wilsons life.

She had changed her dress to brown figured muslin when Mrs. Wilson decided to go to New York with Tom. New York was a place full of money， greed， and vanity. Its color was obviously yellow which had a contrast with the brown one of Mrs. Wilsons dress. This phenomenon expressed Mrs. Wilson didnt belong to this place. In another word， no matter how hard she tried， she was always a mistress and a woman from the lower class. In a word， brown symbolized the lowly status of Mrs. Wilson， having a contrast with the color yellow which was the symbol of the upper class.

During the party， Mrs. Wilson changed the dress to cream colored chiffon. The color cream was similar to the white and white was used frequently in the story. The first time Nick met his cousin Daisy at Tom and Daisys home， she was dressed totally in white and so was the house and its furnishings. So white symbolized beauty， cleanliness， wealth， and innocence. However， because the color cream was just like the white， things presented by the white dont belong to Mrs. Wilson， no matter what ways she used， she couldnt take the place of Daisy and to be a member of the upper society.

In a word， from the above analysis of the color， we can see the tragedy of Mrs. Wilson.

2.2 Symbolism of the view of Mrs. Wilsons death

The last symbolism about Mrs. Wilson was the view of her death. The gathering darkness when the car accident happened compared with the bright light in Gatsbys party symbolizing a dark world which was full of materialism and lacking of human care.

Mrs. Wilsons death also symbolized the disillusionment of the American dream， in detail， the breaking of every main characters dream. For Gatsby， Myrtles death led to Daisys decision to choose Tom instead of him. For Nick， that car accident made him disappointed about the life in East. For Tom， his lover was gone， and then the casual style of life would stop for a certain period of time. For Daisy， she had to stay in the marriage full of torture. For Baker， as a result of the incident， she lost the man she loved a lot.

3. Tragedy represented by Mrs. Wilson

To some extent， the fate of Mrs. Wilson was just like Gatsbys because both of them came from the lower class and want to be a member of the upper society， but failed as the disillusionment of “the American dream”.

3.1 Tragedy of Mrs. Wilsons marriage

Myrtle agreed to marry Mr. Wilson because she thought he was a gentleman. After the marriage， when she realized he was anything but rich， Myrtle said Mr. Wilson even wasnt fit to lick her shoe. However， Mr. Wilson was a good husband who supported the family by his hands and treated his wife considerately. When Tom and Nick went to the grey land to see her， Mrs. Wilson smiled slowly and walking through her husband as if he were a ghost and said to him： “Get some chairs， why dont you， so somebody can sit down.” （Fitzgerald， 2010： 39） At last， Mr. Wilson knew the affair of his wife， and he wanted to leave the place with Myrtle instead of some bad behaviors. From these we knew Mr. Wilson was a nice man， while Mrs. Wilson couldnt accept her husband， she hated his weakness， his dirty garage， and his lowly status.

3.2 Tragedy of Mrs. Wilson as Toms Mistress

Tortured by the sadness of her own marriage， Myrtle regarded Tom as her dependence. However， this made her tragedy even deeper because for Mrs. Wilson was just a toy in Toms eye. From the narration of Miss Baker， we knew after the honeymoon of Daisy and Tom， there was an affair between Tom and a girl who was one of the chambermaids in the Santa Barbara Hotel. So Mrs. Wilson was just one of Toms mistresses. Whats more， Tom lied to her by saying he couldnt devoice because his wife was a Catholic. Besides， though both of them had some affairs， there was true love between Tom and Daisy. On the one hand， Mrs. Wilson even had no right to mention Daisys name before Tom.

And after knowing the abnormal relationship between Daisy and Gatsby， Tom tried to win Daisys mind back instead of abandoning her. On the other hand， Baker said， after the honeymoon of them， it was touching to see them together. And when Gatsby wanted Daisy to tell Tom she never loved him， Daisy couldnt help hiding her emotion.

Moreover， Daisy paid no attention to Myrtle although she knew Myrtles existence because she quite understood this kind of woman was unable to threaten her position in the family.

3.3 Tragedy of Mrs. Wilsons social status

Mrs. Wilson was from the lower class， while she wanted to be a lady living in the upper society through the marriage. Unfortunately， her marriage was a tragedy which made her love towards Tom just a kind of vanity.

When they met each other the first time， she fell in love with him just because of his gentle wears and this proved that she didnt love Tom but his wealth， social status and in another word the luxurious life he had which couldnt be given by her husband. Trying to be a member of the upper class， Mrs. Wilson even had no care of the morals to take the risk of destroying two families. Though taking some parties and making friends from the upper society， in others eyes， she was just a toy of Tom and an amusing mistress.

4. Conclusion

To sum up， through Mrs. Wilson， F. Scott Fitzgerald focused on two important aspects symbolism and the disillusionment of “the American dream”.

From the above analysis， we know a lot of information about the symbolism of Mrs. Wilson， so the function of her is evident.

About “the American dream”， F. Scott Fitzgerald identified the illusion of the world with mental perception. So he gave every character in the story a symbolic meaning. Obviously， the most outstanding one was Gatsby. No matter how hard he tried， the dream couldnt come true. And things were similar for Mrs. Wilson， although she was the mistress of Tom， she could not be a member of the upper class.

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