"God Sees Everything"

Perhaps the most underrated character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, is George Wilson. He is a man of ash obsessed with the wrath of God. Wilson is truly a man of the scriptures: humble, righteous, and God-fearing. Wilson is the physical hand of God once his wife, Myrtle, the one thing tying him down to the Earth, is murdered. Introduced as the oblivious husband to a cheating wife, George Wilson overcomes his limitations and from there, steamrolls into becoming the hand of fate.
George Wilson is a nobody. He has no money, no land, and no power. The only things he has to his name are his business and his wife, Myrtle. In Chapter Two, when Wilson is introduced, it is only through observations: “one of three shops,” “the third was a garage,” “repairs. GEORGE B. WILSON. Cars bought and sold” (Fitzgerald 25). Fitzgerald has the reader notice the surroundings first: the interior and the “wreck of a Ford.” To further emphasize his mediocrity, the reader’s attention is drawn to the shadow of the garage. It is only then that the man is noticeable. He is described as a “blond, spiritless man, anaemic, and faintly handsome.” Upon Tom Buchanan's arrival, Wilson has a “damp gleam of hope in his light blue eyes.” He is socially awkward, not knowing what tones and physical reactions are appropriate in conversation. Even when Tom greets him like a friend, Wilson brings up an obviously sore issue between the two of them that instantly changes Tom’s demeanor toward him. The only thing that vanishes the tension is Wilson’s wife. Wilson instantly vanishes into the background when his wife comes down from the stairs. Myrtle is the complete opposite of her husband; she is the volcano and he is the ash. She walks through him as “if ...

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...h Tom and Wilson both share a woman, they are intertwined in a weird friend-like relationship. Yet, it is evident that Tom controls Wilson after getting Wilson to do the dirty work to murder Gatsby so that Daisy and Tom can run away. Wilson is also Gatsby’s foil. Gatsby is rich in West Egg while Wilson is trapped in the valley of ashes. Wilson has a wife who cheats on him while Gatsby seduces Daisy, who is the wife to Tom. Gatsby is fake; his world only the pages and frames of the books but not the words on the pages. Wilson is a hardworking man trying his best to provide for his wife. Ultimately, Wilson is the instrument of justice in the novel. Although he did not kill the adulterer who slept with his wife, he successfully doled out punishment and is a constant reminder of the presence of God (how he and the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg are always in the same context).