He is the owner of a garage in the Valley of Ashes, which shows that he is rather poor. His only hope for starting a new and better life somewhere else, seems to be Tom selling his car to him. But he does not see that Tom does not intend to sell his car and that it is just and excuse to show up there and to meet Myrtle.
Wilson is ”so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive”(p.25, l.21) and that is the reason why he never notices that Tom is the one his wife is having an affair with.
In the end, he is even so desperate that he is not able to think of another way than killing Gatsby and himself, to get out of his misery.
