Wilson's Garage

Wilson's Garage is a desolate auto repair shop located in the Valley of Ashes, the industrial wasteland between West Egg and New York City. It is the place of business and residence of George B. Wilson and his wife, Myrtle Wilson. The garage is a small block of yellow brick, one of only three shops in a compact, isolated Main Street that serves the ash heaps. Its interior is unprosperous and bare, with the only visible car being a dust-covered wreck of a Ford crouching in a dim corner. The proprietor, George Wilson, is a blond, spiritless, anaemic man who appears faintly handsome but utterly defeated by his surroundings. A white ashen dust veils everything in the vicinity—the walls, the cars, and even Wilson's dark suit and pale hair—except for his wife, Myrtle, who carries herself with a smouldering vitality that stands in stark contrast to the decay around her.

The Site of the Affair

The garage is the primary setting for the affair between Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. Tom, who keeps a mistress in New York, forces Nick Carraway to get off the train with him at the Valley of Ashes to "meet his girl." Inside the garage, Myrtle emerges from the office, and her husband, George, is so oblivious that she walks through him "as if he were a ghost" to shake hands with Tom. The affair is conducted with a brazen disregard for George's presence; Tom and Myrtle arrange their meetings in front of him, with Myrtle pretending to visit her sister in New York. The garage is also where Myrtle's sister, Catherine, later reveals that Tom and Myrtle plan to marry, but that Tom's wife, Daisy, is a Catholic and does not believe in divorce—a lie that underscores the elaborate deception centered on this place.

Myrtle's Death and the Aftermath

The garage becomes the scene of Myrtle Wilson's violent death. After a confrontation with her husband, who has locked her in her room, Myrtle rushes out into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting. She is struck by a passing car—Gatsby's yellow car, driven by Daisy Buchanan—and killed instantly. Her body, with her left breast swinging loose and her mouth ripped at the corners, is laid on a work-table in the garage, wrapped in blankets. George Wilson, devastated and deranged by grief, rocks back and forth on a couch inside the garage, uttering a high, horrible call: "Oh, my Ga-od!" The garage becomes the focal point of the investigation, with a motorcycle policeman taking down names and a crowd gathering. Tom Buchanan, who had been driving Gatsby's car earlier, arrives and, in a panic, tells Wilson that the yellow car belongs to Gatsby, setting in motion the final tragedy.

Symbol of Decay and Despair

The garage is a powerful symbol of the moral and physical decay of the American Dream. It is situated in the Valley of Ashes, a landscape of industrial waste presided over by the giant, faded eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. The garage itself is a place of entrapment: George Wilson has lived there for eleven years, and his wife dreams of escape. The garage is also where Wilson discovers the dog leash that confirms his wife's infidelity, a small, expensive object that represents the luxury and deceit of the world beyond the ashes. After Myrtle's death, the garage becomes a site of obsessive grief, with Wilson staring out the window at the eyes of Doctor Eckleburg, whom he mistakes for the eyes of God. The garage is ultimately the place where Wilson's madness crystallizes, leading him to murder Gatsby and then commit suicide, completing the novel's cycle of violence and despair.