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The Past In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Have you ever wondered what would happen if you couldn't escape from the past? In the novel “The Great Gatsby” F. Scott Fitzgerald shows that Nick can't escape what has happened to him and he feels haunted in certain areas because of past experiences. We can see from his perspective throughout the book how bad his experiences were, so that may be a reason why he still dwells on the past. SECTION HEADER One way that the character Nick in the great gatsby can't escape the past is that he had many traumatic experiences in a few days that stacked up onto each other and made it really hard to forget about. The first of these events is when he found out that Myrtle got hit and killed by Gatsby's car, “Myrtle Wilson's body, wrapped in a blanket, and then in another blanket, as though she suffered from a chill in the hot night, lay on a work table by the wall, and Tom, with his back to us, was bending over it, motionless. …show more content…

At first I couldn't find the source of the high, groaning words that echoed clamorously through the bare garage” (Fitzgerald 138). Then the next day, Gatsby, one of his really good friends died which was really bad because Nick ended up having to take care of the funeral and everything else that was happening with his death because nobody else would. SECTION HEADER Another reason why Nick is stuck in his past is because he feels like he is haunted in the east because of everything that has happened to him there. Whether it be the fact that Myrtle died from Gatsby's car, or the fact that Gatsby was murdered next door to him and Mr. Wilson killed himself right after he murdered Gatsby. “After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes power of correction. So when blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home.” (Fitzgerald

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In chapter 7, everything takes a turn for the worse when the “death car” ends Myrtle’s life. As Gatsby and Daisy start to come back from the Plaza Hotel, Myrtle quickly runs out of her house, getting hit by Gatsby’s car. Without a second thought, the “death car. then disappeared around the next bend” leaving her lifeless body on the road (Fitzgerald 105). Since Tom had just gotten seen in Gatsby’s yellow coupe while driving to the Plaza Hotel, this created lots of confusion and blaming.

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Tell ‘em all Daisy’s change’ her mine. Say ‘Daisy’s change’ her mine!’” (Fitzgerald

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