Jay Gatsby Is To Blame For Daisy's Death

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby falls victim to death by a series of events he helped create all in favor of regaining the love of Daisy. Although Daisy became Mrs. Buchanan, it did not stop Gatsby from wanting to rekindle the past. Moving to West Egg was no coincidence, “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald, 1925, p. 89). Gatsby made it a sole purpose of building a life worthy of attracting Daisy. Brooks declared that an individual is causally responsible “if someone pushes me into you and you drop your phone, then I am causally responsible for dropping your phone” (2012, p. 17). According to Brooks description of punishment, Gatsby shares a causal responsibility for his own death. On the night Myrtle was killed, Gatsby revealed to Nick that Daisy was behind the wheel, “yes he said after a moment, but of course I’ll say I was” (Fitzgerald, 1925, p. 143). Without hesitation, Gatsby took the initiative to take blame for what occurred and flee the scene of the accident with Daisy. If Gatsby would have stayed or returned to the scene and let Daisy deal with her legal responsibilities, George would not have had the chance to be misled and seek

The unthinkable would have occurred if it meant Daisy was his, “that fellow had it coming to him” (Fitzgerald, 1925, p. 178). If Gatsby left the past behind he would have no part in the death of Myrtle as well as his own. Brooks stated, “the distinction between causal and moral responsibility is crucial because retributivists punish a criminal’s moral responsibility for his act” ( 2012, p. 17). Gatsby held no moral responsibility for his death and it can not be seen as a punishment. However, he is causally responsible for his death because he saw the death of Myrtle and his car was the murder