A main event in The Great Gatsby occurred at the end when Gatsby was found dead in his pool at his luxurious mansion. However, his murder was not solely the responsibility of the person who committed the crime. Many characters in the novel contributed to Gatsby’s final downfall into the pool. The responsibility of Gatsby’s murder was divided between the obvious killer, the sly betrayer, the guilty initiator, and the dead man himself. A big part of responsibility for Gatsby’s murder lies with the man who pulled the trigger on him, George Wilson. George Wilson was the owner of an old auto-shop in the Valley of Ashes. He had a wife named Myrtle whom was secretly having an affair with a wealthy man who helped with the auto-shop named Tom Buchanan. In most of the novel, Wilson seemed oblivious to the second life Myrtle was living until he started to become suspicious. After Wilson realized there was another man in Myrtle’s life he became deranged. When Tom saw Wilson the day of Myrtle’s death he described it as; “He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically sick” (124). Later that day, A speeding yellow car in front of the auto-shop killed Myrtle. Wilson was overcome with grief and anger. He claimed he will find out who killed Myrtle and believed it was the same man with whom she was having an affair. After confronting Tom Buchanan about what information he knew, he ended up at the Gatsby mansion
When a devastated Wilson locates the “murderer” of his wife, Gatsby, after walking from his garage to Gatsby’s mansion, he shoots Gatsby and commits suicide right after.
In doing so she was responsible for killing Gatsby indirectly. When Gatsby reached for the wheel to avoid hitting Myrtle he was too late and he told Nick “it must have killed her instantly”(Fitzgerald 144). This quote says not only did Gatsby not hit her he tried to steer the car so it would not hit Myrtle but was too late. Daisy was driving Gatsby’s car and struck Myrtle killing her on impact without ever stopping or slowing down. Because Daisy was driving Gatsby’s car Tom had told Myrtle’s husband George that Gatsby was the one who had hit her. Daisy was aware that Tom had told George that and she never told anybody the truth of what happened. When Nick asked Gatsby if Daisy was driving he said “Yes but of course I’ll say I was”(Fitzgerald 143). Gatsby took the blame for Daisy because Daisy was too worried about herself getting in trouble. In order to get his revenge George sneaks up to Gatsby while he is swimming and he shoots and kills him. He then turns the gun and shoots himself after saying that “God sees everything”(Fitzgerald 160). It can be argued that Daisy is also responsible for the death of George too but there is almost no doubt that she was the reason Gatsby was killed. Daisy could have saved Gatsby if she had come out with the truth and George may have not been able to kill Daisy if he .went after her. Even if George did go after her she was the one who had
The characters in The Great Gatsby are all connected in some shape or form. Each character is influenced by the other. This intricate web is what makes pinning one particular person for the deaths of Myrtle and Gatsby very difficult. The deaths of Myrtle and Gatsby is truly to be blamed on all of characters since they are all careless and reckless in their actions. Even though this statement may be true, there is however one person who can slightly blame more for each of the deaths. The death of Myrtle Wilson should mainly be placed upon Daisy Buchanan and the death of Jay Gatsby should be mainly placed upon Tom Buchanan.
Myrtle Wilson’s death is a major event in The Great Gatsby. She is married to George Wilson and is a member of the lower class. She has an affair with Tom Buchanan. This allows her to escape from her lower class life and feel the joys of being rich. However, George Wilson discovers something isn’t right and won’t let Myrtle leave the house. She is able to get away and runs in front of a car that she believes is being
The plot of The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is driven by Jay Gatsby's
Is Gatsby a Christ figure? Why or why not? In the Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is depicted as a Christ-like figure. There are several reasons why Gatsby is considered a christ figure.
Tom, Nick, and Jordan arrived to Wilson’s Garage Myrtle had already been killed by the car. When Tom saw that his mistress had been killed he was distraught. When he was “comforting” George, he was really manipulating him into killing Gatsby. Before he goes to kill Tom, he thinks that the yellow car that killed Myrtle was Tom’s. “‘How do you like this one?”’ inquired Tom. “‘I bought it last week’” (Fitzgerald). Tom made Wilson think that he owned the yellow car. But when the yellow car was used to kill Myrtle, Tom’s story completely changed. When George goes to kill Tom, Tom tells him “I was bringing you coupe we’ve been talking about. That yellow car I was driving this afternoon wasn’t mine - do you hear? I haven't seen it all afternoon”(Fitzgerald). He then proceeds to tell George that Gatsby owns the yellow car. Which in turn causes George to want to kill Gatsby. Tom not only used his words to manipulate Tom, he even had a plan from the beginning to kill
This adds an element of tragedy on Gatsby’s obsession over Daisy by getting forgotten by her even though Gatsby took blame for the death of Myrtle. Vengeful for his wife’s demise, George Wilson was determined to kill the culprit of the accident. After receiving a hint from Tom that Gatsby was the owner of the yellow car, Wilson, deranged with his vengeance, heads to the West Egg where Gatsby’s mansion was located. Wilson shoots Gatsby, still waiting for Daisy’s call, and shot himself soon after in Gatsby’s garden. In this climax, Fitzgerald wrote “It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete.” (162) Gatsby dies unable to to acquire Daisy’s love with all his efforts in vain. Gatsby could be described the tragic hero, looking only one way and tirelessly chasing for his old love, Daisy while sacrificing his ambitious life for her. Through this dramatic climax of the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald once again demonstrates his deeper meaning behind the story that pursuing impossible love could lead to devastating
Myrtle is the fourth person responsible for Gatsby’s death. If she was not having an affair with Tom then none of this would have happened. Myrtle was taking advantage of her husband’s kindness and his lack of intelligence, “A white ashen dust veiled his dark suit and his pale hair as it veiled everything in the vicinity-except his wife, who moved close to Tom” (Fitzgerald 30). if her affair with Tom was non-existent then George would not have known who Gatsby was and he might not have shot him to avenge his wife’s murder. If Myrtle had not run in front of the car that she would still be alive and so would Gatsby. She could have just waited until the next day to see Tom she did not have to run in front of his car.
In the Novel “ The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald,they blame Gatsby for the murder of Myrtle. Tom goes and tells George that the Yellow car belongs to Gatsby so he walks over to Gatsby's house and fires a bullet at him then, he shoots himself. Imagine if someone is driving a car that belongs to you and they end up committing vehicular manslaughter with the car. Then when you hear about it you are blamed for the crime. Someone tells the victim’s family member and that person goes and kills the owner of the car.
“The orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” is the unattainable goal of those living in Tom and Daisy’s world—a world where lives are wasted chasing the unreachable (Fitzgerald 180). In his 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests that making any progress whatsoever toward this aspiration often requires people to establish facades that enable them to progress socially, but that a crippled facade will backfire and cause detriment to its creator. In the passage where Nick realizes who Gatsby is on page 48, Nick observes two different versions of Gatsby—one that is reassuring and truthful and another who “pick[s] his words with care” (Fitzgerald 48). Nick is at first attracted to Gatsby’s constructed
Gatsby was murdered by Wilson, because he thought that Gatsby was the one that hit his wife and killed her. Tom is a main contributor to Gatsby’s death because Myrtle was his mistress. Tom was the one that suggested he drive Gatsby’s car to town with Jordan and Nick. Myrtle saw them that day and Nick noticed “her eyes, [which became] wide with jealous terror were fixed not on Tom, but on Jordan Baker, whom she took to be his wife” (125). On the way back home, Gatsby and Daisy were driving the yellow car, which was the car that Tom was driving earlier. Myrtle ran out in front of the car as if “she wanted to speak to [them], [thinking they] were somebody she knew” (143). She ran thinking that it was Tom and that he would stop but, it wasn’t.
Good morals and values are considered to be good qualities in most people’s perspective. In Fitzgerald’s, morality is something that many characters lack. Murder, bootlegging, and adultery are all traits that the characters in the novel possess. Myrtle Wilson is one of the two characters that is murdered in the story. In this conversation between Nick and Gatsby, “’Well, I tried to swing the wheel—‘ He broke off and suddenly I guessed the truth. ‘Was Daisy driving?’ ‘Yes’” Gatsby reveals the truth about who was driving (Fitzgerald 143). This proves that Daisy was driving when Myrtle was hit and killed. Gatsby is also murdered in the story. George Wilson, Myrtle’s husband, kills Gatsby because he is told that Gatsby is who killed his wife. Hickey writes, “He shot Gatsby and killed himself,” talking about George when he goes to Gatsby’s house in pursuit to Murder Gatsby (4). This proves that George murdered Gatsby.
“The Great Gatsby” is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in 1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922. The novel takes place following the First World War. American society enjoyed prosperity during the “roaring” as the economy soared. At the same time, prohibition, the ban on the sale and manufacture of alcohol as mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment, made millionaires out of bootleggers. After its republishing in 1945 and 1953, it quickly found a wide readership and is today widely
To understand the nature of Gatsby’s death, first you must know the circumstances that precede it. Myrtle, Mr. Wilson’s wife, was run over by Gatsby’s car, which Daisy was driving. Driven by vengeance and the mistaken belief that Gatsby had killed Myrtle, Mr. Wilson proceeded to murder Gatsby and then himself.