Obviously Jay Gatsby was physically killed by George Wilson, however, who was actually to blame for the downfall of Gatsby? Tom Buchanan was ultimately accountable for the death of Gatsby. He didn’t pull the trigger himself, but he sure did help get the gun pointed at Gatsby. One way Tom was to blame for Gatsby’s downfall is by him messing around with Myrtle. If he hadn’t been doing that in the first place, she wouldn’t have ran out to the car the night she got killed. She was fighting with her husband, George, shortly before she was killed because he had found out she wasn’t being faithful to him (Fitzgerald 136). He was trying to keep her in the house, but she escapes and runs into the street. Earlier in the book, she had seen Tom driving …show more content…
Daisy was the actual driver of the car that ran over and killed Myrtle, now making this Tom’s problem (Fitzgerald 137). Tom clearly knows about Daisy driving the car, but continues to not tell the truth and lets Gatsby take the blame; even though he was in the passenger seat. Tom could have come forth and told George Wilson and the police the truth about who was driving Gatsby’s car that night, but being married to Daisy made that hard. Money and being high up on society’s ladder is important to Tom and Daisy (mostly Daisy), and her being a criminal wouldn’t be a very popular opinion among the rest of the people of New York City. Lastly, Tom is responsible for Gatsby’s death because he told George Wilson that Gatsby was the owner of the yellow car that ran over Myrtle. When George came at Tom with a gun, ready to kill him, he pointed the finger at Gatsby to save himself (Fitzgerald 159). He didn’t tell George that his wife was actually the one driving, so George assumed it was Gatsby since it was his car. Tom knew Wilson was going to shoot Gatsby, since he came to him first ready to shoot him. Tom throwing Gatsby under the bus about Myrtle’s death is probably the biggest factor to show that Tom is responsible for Gatsby’s death. With all of that being said, the actions Tom takes throughout the book certainly led to the downfall of Gatsby. Him having a mistress, being married to Daisy, and hiding the truth to save his own life all make Tom ultimately accountable for Gatsby’s
Death is something that comes to everyone at some point in their lives. No one knows when they will die until it happens. Some are prepared for death and others are completely blind sided by death. In the novel “The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is killed by the character Wilson, because of rumors that Gatsby Killed Wilson's wife Myrtle as well as having an affair with her. Many people are to blame for Gatsby death including: Tom Buchanan , Daisy Buchanan, Nick Carraway and even Jay Gatsby himself! In order to determine who was most responsible for Jay Gatsby's death we must analyze each character and the role he/she played in the death of Jay Gatsby.
Tom knew Myrtle better than any of the main characters. He had met her on a train headed for New York. When the train reached the city, she went with him in a taxi, and their affair began. Tom never made much of an effort to keep their relationship secret. In fact, he almost paraded her around in the presence of his acquaintances. They made frequent trips into New York so that they could be together. Myrtle was Tom's escape from his own life in East Egg. While Daisy provided him with a wealthy, acceptable social image, she was not much more to him than a mere possession. His affair with Myrtle offered him a chance to defy his social expectations. Their relationship was important to him because of this opportunity to escape. When Myrtle died, it shook him deeply, especially because he believed Gatsby had been driving the yellow car. After leaving George Wilson's garage the night of the accident, he managed to drive slowly until he and Nick were out of sight. Then he slammed his foot down on the accelerator, driving much faster. He began quietly sobbing, privately mourning her death. He immediately blamed Gatsby for bringing their relationship to an abrupt halt. "That God damned coward!" he cried. "He didn't even stop his car." His feelings of anger and hurt were greatly intensified by the day spent in New York....
There are many conspiracies in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. One of them that many people believe is that Daisy Buchanan had killed Myrtle Wilson on purpose. Myrtle was Tom Buchanan’s mistress. Tom and Daisy were married and had a child but that didn’t stop Tom from cheating on her. At the same time, Daisy was having an affair with Jay Gatsby who was her childhood lover. There is much evidence that can prove that Daisy and Tom set up to kill Myrtle and put the blame on Gatsby.
...but it seems like Gatsby has assumed the fault of Tom. George not only believes Jay ran over his wife, but also kills Gatsby thinking that Gatsby had an affair with Myrtle. So, it is justiciable to blame Tom for his irresponsibility for Gatsby’s death.
She became used to him being unfaithful to her that she suggests to him after leaving him during Gatsby wild party “ and if you want to take down any addresses here’s my little gold pencil” (105). Tom and Myrtle relationship caused problems more in Myrtle life rather than Tom’s because unlike Tom’s wide, Wilson was unaware about her unfaithfulness and reacted way differently by becoming sick. In Nick’s perspective, he explains, “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). Wilson behaves in way by having her locked in a room until he gets the car to move away but soon enough for jealousy to strike among Myrtle about Tom and his wife which later causes her death. Her death occurred because of the greatly amount of envy she has towards Daisy and her lifestyle with Tom. The feelings that she felt showed upon her by having “…one emotion after another crept into her face like objects into a slowly developing picture” (124). This single small affair between Tom and Myrtle became something bigger than expected by a heart broken husband, dishonesty, and death among a mistress. This crime is much relatable to many affairs in the world that ends really bad divorces and trust issues from the dishonesty from their significant
Gatsby is portrayed as a good person once again when he taked the blame of Daisy running over Myrtle. Later on Gatsby tells Nick that he intended to take the blame for Daisy even though daisy was driving the car. SInce Gatsby took the blame of Myrtle's death he sacrificed his own death for
Gatsby holds a certain beauty which can be attested to his innocence, “Yet if Gatsby's destruction by "the foul dust" which "floats in the wake of his illusions" is thus inevitable, his inexhaustible store of wonder and good will still confer upon the very actuality which eventually extinguish them whatever truth, beauty or goodness that American actuality ever fully attains” (Gunn). There was no possible way for Gatsby to avoid his death because he is extremely naive when it comes to real life situations. Since Gatsby is out of touch with reality it keeps him from keeping his true feelings at bay, “What Gatsby lacks is the critical ability to temper his generous, if also innocent, feelings, which are in turn responsible for the splendor and naivete of his illusions” (Gunn). Clearly Gatsby’s temper gets the best of him, as seen in his moments with Tom, which leads to Tom wishing to destroy him. James firmly believes in what many see as a lost cause, “‘Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can’” (Fitzgerald.116). This quote from Gatsby proves his naive nature immensely; he has no idea that he can not actually change the choices and actions he has previously made. It is a pity that Gatsby always has his head stuck in the clouds. One fateful night Daisy and Gatsby run into an immense amount of trouble, “‘Anyhow-Daisy stepped on it. I tried to make her stop, but she couldn't so I pulled on the emergency brake’” (Fitzgerald.144). The situation that plays out here paints Gatz as an innocent victim. Daisy is the one who kills Myrtle, but Gatsby is willing to keep quiet, take the fall, in order to protect her from the wrath of Tom. Therefore, Gatsby’s naive actions lead to the destruction of
Daisy knows very well that tom is cheating on her, but doesn’t care because it's more convenient to stay in her unhappy marriage. Even though she wants to be with Gatsby, she wants to keep her social status and being with Tom makes this all the easier. Now, this is quite the opposite of Myrtle. She has a loving husband who would do anything for her, but her social status is all she cares about. Myrtle is willing to hurt George and ruin their marriage in order to climb up the social ladder. Neither of these women have respect for themselves. Both Daisy and Myrtle allow Tom to treat them
Their choices led to the death of Myrtle, Gatsby and Wilson. Myrtle wouldn 't have died if Tom didn 't cheat on Daisy. Tom 's choice to stray from his wife caused Myrtle to run out into the road because she thought Jordan was Tom 's wife so she ran to stop the car. The car was actually being driven by Daisy who was accompanied by Gatsby. This accident also put Daisy at fault because if she hadn’t of cheated as well, her and Tom never would have had the argument about her love for Gatsby. This would have prevented the accident altogether. Tom was also at fault for telling Wilson who the owner of the car was which was Gatsby. Although Gatsby wasn 't the one driving, he ended up with the blame for it. Wilson wasn 't in the right mindset and went to Gatsby 's house and shot him. Gatsby was found floating in the pool on an air mattress looking up at the sky. Wilson was found not too far away on the grass. All of these deaths were a result of Tom and Daisy not thinking through the choices they made, knowing that they had their money to fall back on if anything were to ever go
George Wilson, who is married to Myrtle, and Tom Buchanan, married to Daisy, are most responsible for Gatsby's death. Wilson went up to Tom asking who owned the yellow car that killed his wife. Tom revealed that it was Gatsby’s car, knowing that Wilson had intentions of killing whoever owned the car, yet Tom didn’t add to the fact that Daisy was driving. Gatsby did have a relationship with Daisy, and Tom knew about it. Tom allowed Daisy to go in Gatsby’s car back to West Egg to prove that he did not care if Daisy and Gatsby were together, had Tom not let Daisy go in Gatsby’s car, both Myrtle and Gatsby would be alive.
Is Gatsby to blame for his own downfall? Some may argue that Tom was to blame or that
The passage in which Myrtle Wilson is killed exemplifies the recklessness of Daisy and Tom. Daisy sees Myrtle running out into the road and at first swerves toward the other car and seems to change her mind and just collide with Myrtle and continue on. Afterwards, Tom and Daisy just pack up and leave, without even attending Gatsby’s funeral. Nick seems to think they used their position in society to escape any mess they had gotten themselves into. Later on in the book, Nick says, "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness." That quote supports the way Daisy and Tom acted with the Myrtle incident. In this passage they retreat back into both their money and carelessness by running away.
... period. He should have been grateful for what Gatsby gave to him, yet he couldn’t make the time for his funeral. Nick couldn’t find anyone to attend Gatsby’s funeral, which goes to show how selfish people were. The partygoers used Gatsby for his house and his things, Daisy ended up using Gatsby to end up closer than ever to Tom, and because Tom was so self-centered and irresponsible, he used Gatsby to save himself from being killed by Wilson.
Tom Buchannan is not fully responsible for Jay Gatsby’s death because others were also involved in the murder. Tom Buchannan played a part as well as his wife, George Wilson and Gatsby himself took part in it. The major role for this death was from Daisy. Daisy is the main killer of Myrtle, which led to Gatsby’s death. Daisy only cared about Gatsby’s money not Gatsby himself. Gatsby and Nick are from a working background but Daisy is not. Tom and Daisy didn’t care about if they hurt the felling of others they only cared for themselves. If daisy truly loved Gatsby she would have told Wilson that it was her not Gatsby who ran over Myrtle.
Throughout Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, there is a broad spectrum of moral and social views demonstrated by various characters. At one end, is Tom, a man who attacks Gatsby's sense of propriety and legitimacy, while thinking nothing of running roughshod over the lives of those around him. A direct opposite of Tom's nature is Gatsby, who displays great generosity and caring, yet will stop at nothing to achieve his dream of running off with Daisy. The moral and emotional characteristics of Gastby and Tom are juxtaposed, Tom, the immoral character and Gastby, the moral character while the other characters' moral and emotional developments appear between these two.