Daisy Is Responsible For Gatsby's Death Essay

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is widely considered an American classic. The iconic story follows Jay Gatsby’s chase of Daisy Buchanan, a woman from his past, which inevitably leads to his death. Gatsby is shot by a poor car garage owner named George Wilson in the penultimate chapter, after the latter was pressured to do so by Daisy’s wife, Tom. However, while Tom planted the seeds of Gatsby’s murder, Daisy was truly responsible for all of her husband’s decisions, making her the one responsible for Gatsby’s death. The first way Daisy is responsible for the death of Gatsby is by killing Myrtle Wilson. The disaster happens right after Tom confronts Gatsby about their affair, and tensions are high. From Gatsby’s retelling of the event, …show more content…

The other cause of Gatsby’s death was Tom’s disdain for Gatsby, which was also caused by Daisy. Tom was always suspicious of Gatsby’s origins, but he only hated the man because of his affair with Daisy. While Gatsby was over at the Buchanans’ house for lunch, Daisy herself confirmed the affair to Tom. Not being able to contain herself, she tells Gatsby that he “always look[s] so cool,” and in doing so, she “effectively told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw” (Fitzgerald 91). Daisy’s actions here caused Tom to uncover their affair and his seeds of contempt towards Gatsby were validated. If Daisy had been able to contain herself at that moment, Tom and Gatsby’s confrontation could have been postponed, preventing all events afterwards that led to Gatsby’s death. Gatsby’s affair with Daisy and the death of Myrtle were the two events caused by Daisy which influenced Tom to tell George that the car belonged to Gatsby. He justifies his actions to Nick in a circumstantial meeting by saying that “he threw dust in [Nick’s] eyes just like he did in Daisy’s,” and by saying that “he ran over Myrtle like you’d run over a dog” (Fitzgerald

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