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Great Gatsby Essay

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Great Gatsby Essay
“Is Tom most responsible for Gatsby’s death? Daisy? Myrtle? Gatsby himself? Give reasons why or why not each character is implicated in the murder.”
Great Gatsby Essay

There are five people that are responsible for Jay Gatsby’s death. One of them is directly to blame, since he pulled the trigger. The other three were involved in the murder. The one who pulled the trigger was George Wilson. He was in pain because of the murder of his wife. He loved her, and he was completely insane with grief. Wilson thought that Gatsby was Myrtles lover. He said, “She ran out to speak to him and he wouldn’t stop” (Fitzgerald 166). This means that Wilson thinks that Myrtle knew the owner of the yellow car. Since Wilson had found out about the affair, he must have thought that Gatsby was part of it. He thought that Gatsby had run over Myrtle, when in reality Gatsby did not do anything.

Daisy was the real killer of Myrtle, “Daisy stepped on it” (Fitzgerald 151) and the second person responsible for Gatsby’s death. This makes Daisy also responsible for Gatsby’s death. She was the real murderer, but she let Gatsby take the blame. She caused the whole problem by killing Myrtle. Daisy should not have been driving after watching her lovers argue and get all flustered. She was nervous and did not know what she was doing so she should have let Gatsby drive. Also she did not have to turn around after they passed Myrtle. She could have kept driving and she should have listened to Gatsby and stopped the car after she hit Myrtle.

The third person who is responsible is Tom. He is responsible but he is not the one who is most responsible for the death of Gatsby. He told Wilson that Gatsby was the owner of the car. And he did it to get revenge, “what if I did tell him? The fellow had it coming to him” (Fitzgerald 187). Tom also did not have to send Gatsby and Daisy home early. He could have just waited a little for all of them to go home



Cited: |Book |Fitzgerald, Scott F. The Great Gatsby. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. |

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