How and Who Killed Myrtle: the Symbolism in 'The Great Gatsby'

“It is the preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly” - Bertrand Russell. Materialism precludes one from living unrestrictedly and having principles. “The Great Gatsby” is an epitome of decline in moral virtue because of the desire of possessions. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby”, uses the motifs of automobiles and the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg, to demonstrate how the upper class uses their wealth to prove their dominance over society and escape ethical obligation, demonstrating the moral collapse of the wealthy class in the 1920’s due to materialism. The depiction of how and who killed Myrtle in 'The Great Gatsby' is also one of the main symbolism that author use to demostrate dominance of upper class. 

Fitzgerald uses Gatsby’s car as a representation of materialism and how the upper class escapes repercussions of real world events. The garish attributes of Gatsby’s car, reflect Gatsby's own excessive display of material wealth and social status. Fitzgerald describes Gatsby’s car as, “... a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns. Sitting down behind many layers of glass in a sort of green leather conservatory...” The description of the car is rich with imagery using diction that has a positive, luxurious connotation. The use of the words, ‘rich cream’, ‘green leather’, ‘bright’, and ‘nickel’ evoke luxury. Furthermore, words like 'swollen' and 'monstrous' have negative connotations, alluding to the fact that Gatsby’s loud and garish vehicle is not completely positive because it draws attention to the fact that he is showing off his car to assert his wealth. The symbolism of Myrtle’s death demonstrates how the wealthy class was careless because they knew their wealth would protect them from facing repercussions. When Daisy is driving Gatsby’s car she hits Myrtle, “The ‘death car’ as the newspapers called it, didn’t stop; it came out of the gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment and then disappeared around the next bend..Myrtle Wilson, her life violently extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick, dark blood...there was no need to listen for the heart beneath...” The tone shifts and becomes more serious with the gruesome diction in the description of Myrtle's death, representing the way that the upper class' lack of morality and disregard of the lower class harms the poor. Myrtle’s death symbolized the death of morality, killed by the upper class.

Fitzgerald uses Doctor T.J. Eckleburg's eyes and the way they have been abandoned by the upper class to show how its materialism has led to moral decay in the society. The eyes of T.J. Eckleburg symbolize God looking upon society.' But above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg...But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground.' The diction of the location of the eyes demonstrated how the eyes are in the poor part of society, while the wealthy people have moved away from them and morals to a part of society where they do not have to worry about been seen by God. Addiotionally, the use of the words “dimmed” and “paintless days” suggest that the eyes have been neglected, further proving that people have started to drift away from God and ethics.