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Who Was Responsible For Gatsby's Death Essay

981 Words4 Pages

Michael Tatten
Ms. Marcucio
American Literature
24 April 2023

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, readers are left with many questions at the end, but the question that triumphs all other questions is, who is responsible for Jay Gatsby’s death? There are many characters that could be deemed responsible. Among those characters is Jay Gatsby. He is the main character in the novel. Some would argue that his obsessions in life, is what leads to his downfall. Another man that could be blamed is Tom Buchanon. Tom is an arrogant, old-fashioned man, who can make a lot of things go his way in life using his money and power. The man who shot Gatsby takes some blame as well. His name is George Wilson. Some could argue Daisy, …show more content…

Tom manipulated George Wilson into believing that it was Gatsby who killed Myrtle in the accident, while in reality, it was Daisy. “He ran over Myrtle like you’d run over a dog and never even stopped his car (Fitzgerald 136).” The excerpt above is what Tom told George Wilson, Gatsby did. He said Gatsby killed Myrtle. This obviously led to Wilson’s hatred for Gatsby. Tom also convinced George that it was Gatsby, having an affair with Myrtle, when in reality, it was really Tom. Tom told George that Gatsby was Myrtle's lover. “I told him the truth (Fitzgerald 136).” Tom told George that Gatsby was the one who was taking his wife from him. Wilson’s anger and hatred for Gatsby grew and Wilson killed Gatsby. All of this misinformation from Tom, got a man murdered. Tom didn’t pull the trigger, but many will argue he is the main cause. Not all the blame can go on Tom though, because he isn’t the one who pulled the …show more content…

Daisy is responsible because she leads Gatsby to believe there is a future between them. At Gatsby’s second party, Daisy is openly flirting with Gatsby in front of Tom. This is an example of Daisy leading Gatsby on. After Gatsby died, Daisy didn’t seem to care. She didn’t attend the funeral, send anything, or even talk to Nick. “There were careless people, Tom and Daisy, — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or vast carelessness… and let other people clean up the mess they had made (Fitzgerald 137).” This shows Daisy really didn’t care about Gatsby and is really just attracted to the lavish lifestyle she lives. She never deserved Gatsby, and could take some blame for his death. This argument deserves refuting because Daisy can’t control how Gatsby feels about her, therefore she probably should not be blamed for his

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His feelings towards Gatsby were negative and full of hate, so he set the target on him when he told Wilson that it was a yellow car who had killed his wife and that he was a friend of the person who owned it. Which also leads to the death of George Wilson since it drives him to insanity and sets him on a mission to go and find that yellow car which didn’t take him that long. Since Tom was the real lover of Myrtle. He was the one driving the yellow car earlier

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The underlying question is; Why did Daisy choose Tom over Gatsby? Even though Gatsby had everything; a large mansion and new money, Daisy still chose the egotistical Tom over him as he represents old money and has a high social and economic status. One can infer that Daisy finds Gatsby too demanding as he forcefully insists that she makes an announcement that she never loved Tom. As a result, she decides to stay with Tom to maintain her status quo. I feel that this was a very selfish move, as she did not take Gatsby’s feelings into consideration.

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Tom was the one to tell Mr. Wilson that it was Gatsby’s car that ran over Myrtle. This is seen, “I told him the truth,” he said” (178. 19). This is when Nick confronts Tom about Gatsby’s death and his suspicion that Tom was the culprit. Tom goes on, “What if I did tell him? That fellow had it coming to him” (178. 24-25).

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Reece Jones Mrs. del Rio English III Honors 14 February 2023 The Great Gatsby Essay In the narrative The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby was murdered by George Wilson. However,the real person who was responsible for Gatsby's death was Tom Buchanan. Tom was the most responsible for Gatsby's death because he provided the information of who hit Myrtle to George.

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Tom had several impacts on Gatsby's death. Tom told George that Myrtle was killed by Gatsby which resulted in George killing him. When Tom was talking to George, he said, “It was a yellow car.” This quote shows us that Tom blamed the death of Myrtle on Gatsby. Tom was always jealous of Gatsby because Daisy showed so much care and affection for him.

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Daisy then got mad at Gatsby and led to a spiral of events that eventually led to her killing Myrtle with the car and Gatbsy dying. Clearly, if Gatsby would have just left Daisy alone, she could've stayed with Tom and nothing would have happened including Gatsby’s death. Gatsby’s death can also be blamed on George for numerous

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“She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me” (Fitzgerald 130) Daisy knew her worth and how Gatsby had no money, she wanted to be respected and wealthy, and not just from her family. She was tired of waiting for Gatsby at war and moved on simply because she was bored and wanted to get married and she wanted to marry a wealthy man. Sure Daisy tried not to hit Myrtle but she also didn’t take on the consequences of her actions and decided to pin it on Gatsby. Nick says, “ they were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let people clean up their mess they had made.”

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As stated earlier, Tom is the most responsible for Gatsby's death for two reasons. The first being the fact that he sold him out to Wilson (Myrtle's husband). After Myrtle got ran over, Wilson went to Tom's house and questioned him about whose car it was and who was driving it. Tom told him gatsby out of fear for what Wilson would have done to him if he stayed quiet. “He was crazy enough to kill a

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Even though other characters may have contributed, Gatsby is ultimately responsible for his own death because he wants to please Daisy, he is a liar, and he thinks he can repeat the past. The first reason Gatsby is responsible for his own death is because he did everything to please daisy. Gatsby bought his mansion and nice things to impress daisy. “He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them one by one before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray.”

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This shows that Daisy didn’t take the blame and even went further as to deny Gatsby’s love leaving him dead. This essentially shows that Daisy’s progression towards impurity left two people dead. Although Daisy killed two people she never had to face the consequences, thanks to her wealth. “It was full of money-that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it….High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl…”

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When George Wilson wanted revenge on who killed Myrtle he went to Tom to see who owned the yellow car and Tom told him Jay Gatsby owned the car. So Wilson went over to Gatsby’s house and shoot Gatsby and himself [Wilson] to have revenge on the murderer even though we find out Daisy was actually was driving that night. All because of Tom having an affair with Myrtle she was killed, then Gatsby, and then Wilson. Nick narrates that “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then treated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever kept them together,and let other people clean up the mess they had made ”(187-188). This is significant to the thesis statement because Tom and Daisy throughout the

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Daisy’s whole character is about self-preservation and doing things that would benefit her. She chooses men who give her the most attention and is the wealthiest. She can’t handle trouble and leaves when things get too complicated for her to deal with. However, I do believe that Daisy should’ve taken the blame. Although it would have had a significant impact on her social status from riding in a car with only Mr. Gatsby and killing a woman, her punishment would’ve significantly kinder.

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On the way home from the hotel, Daisy, driving Gatsby's car, hits Tom's mistress, Myrtle. Gatsby says he'll take the blame for the death of Myrtle, therefore Daisy doesn't have to be arrested. Tom finds out and tells George Wilson, the husband of Myrtle. Enraged with the death of his wife, George shoots Gatsby in the pool. In the next chapter, Tom tells Nick one day passing by, "'That fellow had it coming to him.

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Polo player Tom Buchanan had an ongoing relationship with George Wilson 's wife Myrtle that ended very dramatically with the death of Myrtle in a car accident as well as causing the murder of Jay Gatsby. It was not till this time where George started to realize that his wife was having an affair and this made him very upset as Nick says “He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world and the shock had made him physically sick. ”(Fitzgerald 130). Tom took Gatsby 's car to get gas at George 's garage on his way to the city to meet with Gatsby. While getting gas Myrtle saw that it was Tom in the car and was upset because she was locked in a room and wasn 't allowed to see anyone.

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She kills Myrtle and never takes responsibilities for her crime. Instead, she allows Gatsby to take the blame, leading Wilson to wrongfully murder him. Thus she is responsible for all the travesty around her. She is indirectly responsible for her lover Gatsby’s death, yet she still chooses a comfortable life with Tom instead. In the end, Nick shows that Daisy’s allure has repercussions.

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