The Great Death of the Great Gatsby

The story The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald takes you through the life of the protagonist of the novel, Jay Gatsby, who is shot to death in the end. Who was really the reason for Gatsby’s death? There are many of reasons that lead up to Gatsby’s death and several people who are considered to have caused it. Although George Wilson physically killed him, Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby himself all take part in the death. Tom’s anger, Daisy’s carelessness, and Gatsby’s idea of the American Dream all contribute to his death in the end.

According to Nick, Tom Buchanan is a “sturdy, straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner” (13). Tom shows careless and arrogance multiple times throughout the novel, the reason George Wilson thought it was Gatsby who killed Myrtle was because of Tom Buchanan. Tom infers to Wilson that it was Gatsby who hit his wife and killed her with the “death car” (182). When Tom is asked about the incident, he defends himself and says, “that yellow car I was driving this afternoon wasn’t mine” (187). Later when the police ask him the colour of his car he replies, “It’s a blue car, a coupe.” (187). Tom successfully makes it clear that the car that hit Myrtle was yellow, but his car was blue. His actions showed his carelessness towards others. His actions also show that it’s no surprise he blamed Myrtles death on Gatsby. He was jealous after finding out about Daisy’s past with Gatsby and their current affair and blamed Gatsby to save himself from Wilson’s actions. “He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn’t told him who owned the car. His hand was on a revolver in his pocket every minute he was in the house ——” (236). George Wilson was looking for a targe...

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...her and didn’t stop to think about the consequences he may have from the affair and his actions led to bad karma. Along with all this, he had been lying to Daisy about how he had all his wealth. Tom revealed to Daisy that Gatsby “bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter . . .I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him” (178). Although at that point Gatsby didn’t seem to care much about Daisy hearing the truth but her thoughts differed. His whole plan to have her all to himself backfired, leaving Daisy back with Tom.

Overall, Gatsby’s death involved the actions of multiple people, Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby. Tom’s anger and jealousy, Daisy’s careless actions, and Gatsby being lost and caught up in the American dream all lead up to the ending of the book, Jay Gatsby’s death.