The Great Gatsby (Blog 13)

By: F. Scott Fitzgerald

After a sleepless night, Nick gets up very early to talk to Gatsby.  Nick tells Gatsby that his car will be easily traced, and he suggests that Gatsby leave West Egg immediately.  Gatsby ends up telling Nick of he and Daisy's past in Louisville.  At the time, Gatsby was not wealthy; this was the reason that Daisy did not marry him.  "However glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby, he was at present a penniless young man without a past, and at any moment the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders" (Fitzgerald, 149).  After talking for awhile, Nick realizes that he must leave in order to catch his train.  "'They're a rotten crowd,' I shouted across the lawn.  'You're worth the whole damn bunch put together'" (Fitzgerald, 154).  I thought this was nice of Nick because, as he mentions, he never complimented Gatsby.  Meanwhile, back in the city, Wilson is struggling immensely with his wife's death from the previous night.  Honestly, he kind of goes crazy.  He starts saying that he knows Myrtle's lover is the one that killed her.  He begins a search to find Tom Buchanan, who he thinks will help him identify the car.  (Little does he know that Tom was Myrtle's lover.)  Tom tells Wilson that Gatsby was the driver.  Enraged, Wilson heads to Gatsby's West Egg mansion.  When he arrives at Gatsby's, he shoots Gatsby in the pool.  He then kills himself.  Both are dead by the time Nick arrives at Gatsby's house.  I could not believe this!  I didn't expect either of these men to die, especially not Gatsby!  This ending is already depressing, and I wonder how Nick is going to cope with the death of his good friend.  I also am curious to see how Daisy handles Gatsby's death, since she chose Tom over him the night before.