Sunday, May 17, 2009

26. Who was responsible for Gatsby's death.

Who was responsible for Gatsby's death? Explain your choice.

16 comments:

  1. There are three people that are responsible for Gatsby’s death. One of them is directly involved, as in he pulled the trigger. The other two were the cause of the murder. The one who pulled the trigger was Wilson. He was in pain because of the murder of his wife. He loved her, and he was completely mad with grief. I also think that Wilson thought that Gatsby was Myrtles lover. He said “she ran out to speak to him and he wouldn’t stop” (Fitzgerald 166). This means that Wilson thinks that Myrtle knew the owner of the yellow car. Since Wilson had found out about the affair, he must have thought that Gatsby was part of it. He thought that Gatsby had run over Myrtle, when in reality Gatsby did not do anything. Daisy was the true murderer “Daisy stepped on it” (Fitzgerald 151). This makes Daisy also responsible for Gatsby’s death. She was the real killer, but she let Gatsby take the blame. She caused the whole problem by killing Myrtle. The third responsible person is Tom. He told Wilson that Gatsby was the owner of the car. And he did it as a way to seek revenge “what if I did tell him? The fellow had it coming to him” (Fitzgerald 187).

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  2. I agree with Ana in that Wilson and Tom were responsible for Gatsby’s death, but not Daisy. Wilson was the one who actually pulled the trigger on Gatsby because Tom told him that the car that ran over Myrtle was Gatsby’s not his. Tom wanted revenge on Gatsby for trying to take Daisy away from him, like Ana said. Daisy is not Gatsby’s killer because she never actually wanted to hurt him. When Gatsby came back into her life, she was sure she still loved him, but when they went into the city, she became confused. “I did love him (Tom) once – but I loved you (Gatsby) too.” (Fitzgerald 140). Daisy did not want to get caught running over Myrtle because people would have supposed that she did it on purpose even if she did not. Gatsby didn’t want to blame her because he was trying to protect her and she was ok with him protecting her.

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  3. I agree that there were multiple people responsible for Gatsby's death, though it is too general to make a final conclusion. It is important to look as all these people as part of a chain. Tom is the true person to blame. Had he not offered Wilson the car (Fitzgerald 130), he would reach no conclusion that the other car was Gatsby's and finally over the murder of his wife and would not have jumped to murder him. Tom, in a way, pointed all the fingers toward Gatsby, making him the real cause for his murder. Though there is the physical act of the murder, both Daisy's and Wilson's, they had no control over their actions when emotion was involved. Daisy felt altered over the big argument in the city, which makes her more a victim to have to live with the murder on her hands. Wilson too was taken by grief and acted on impulse. Having a loved one die is of course a very hard impact emotionally. In the end, Tom is to blame for lying and cheating.

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  5. I disagree with Eduardo's point of view on who was responsible for Gatsby's death. But I do agree with what he, Ana and Tania said about there being multiple people involved in Gatsby's death.
    First of all, if I were to blame someone for Gatsby's death it would be Daisy. Basically because she was the one driving the car who hit Myrtle, and that was a catalyst for Wilson to go seek the person who hit her. Wilson found out that it was Gatsby because of Tom. Even though some people may think this was one of the events that cause Gatsby's death, I disagree. Wilson had his mind already set about killing the person who ran over his wife, the fact that Tom told him who he was, only guided him towards Gatsby. So yes, there were multiple people involved in his murder, the one who caused it (Daisy), the one who pulled the trigger (Wilson), and the one who guided Wilson to Gatsby (Tom).
    So in conclusion, if it weren’t for the fact that Daisy had been so shaken and hurried to leave so she decided to drive the car instead of Gatsby (Fitzgerald 133), none of it would have happened.

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  6. I agree with Eduardo in that the true culprit is Tom Buchanan. In the beginning, it was Tom who decided to drive Gatsby’s car in the first place. ““Is it standard shift?” demanded Tom. “Yes.” “Well, you take my coupĂ© and let me drive your car to town.”” (Fitzgerald 127). If Tom wouldn’t have taken Gatsby’s car, he wouldn’t have needed to stop for gas at Wilson’s. Wilson wouldn’t have seen the car or recognize it later when Myrtle was killed. It was also Tom that, in “magnanimous scorn” (Fitzgerald 142), told Daisy and Gatsby to leave. ““You two start on home, Daisy,” said Tom. “In Mr. Gatsby’s car.”” (Fitzgerald 142). If Daisy and Gatsby hadn’t have left in that moment, Daisy wouldn’t have hit Myrtle in the road. Also, if Myrtle hadn’t seen Tom in Gatsby’s car when he stopped for gas, she wouldn’t have approached the yellow car when it was Daisy who was driving on the way back.
    In reality, the one person that is the most responsible for Gatsby’s death, that person is Tom Buchanan.

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  7. Despite everything posted here, I disagree with Tania, Ana, Eduardo, Xara and Xavier. A person’s actions are what lead to their fate. Therefore when we think about the events prior to Gatsby’s death it is clear that only one person is truly to blame for Gatsby’s death, Gatsby himself. In the begging of the book leading to his death, Gatsby felt it necessary to show off his wealth by throwing extravagant parties; parties which draw attention to him, both positively and negatively. He spent his money recklessly as most wealthy people often do. After every party no less he let people wander aimlessly within his compound. Drunks and possibly dangerous people were free to roam. Gatsby also engaged in activities that could lead to his death eventually. Last but certainly not least, Gatsby felt it better to agree than to disagree and cause disputes. (Except when defending Daisy). Gatsby said it was okay for Tom to use his car, he accepted Daisy’s persistence to drive and he accepted to die for Daisy’s alleged murder. Considering all of the events and actions undertaking by Jay Gatz, I find no sympathy and no regret for blaming himself for his death.

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  8. I agree with Michael that Gatsby did also led his own death by agreeing to cover Daisy if she gets accused for running over Myrtle (Fitzgerald 151). However, Gatsby was not the only person who caused his own death. Tom and Daisy were also part of it. Who was the one who fingered at Gatsby that it was him who killed Myrtle? It was Tom himself. “He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn’t told him who owned the car” (187) said Tom. However, Tom never knew that the person who was driving the car was actually Daisy. She never told Tom that it was her fault, and let Gatsby take the blame. Nevertheless I agree with Ana that it was Wilson who is the true murderer, who had the gun in his hand and pulled the trigger. If it was not for the carelessness for the mess that Tom, Daisy and Gatsby have made and their love for money, both Gatsby and Myrtle would not have been killed.

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  9. Gatsby himself was the cause of his own death. It was all because he could not let go of Daisy and move on with his life. He was stuck in his life, trying to get the woman of his life. If he would have moved on, he would have maybe found another woman. He could have done something that matters in his life, instead of wasting his time trying to reach his goal. He was so dedicated in reaching his goal that when Daisy kills Myrtle, Gatsby takes the blame. Because he took the blame, George Wilson, Myrtle's husband, tracks the killer to Gatsby. If he had simply let go of her, he wouldn't have taken the blame. He would not have died; but his obsession with Daisy killed him.

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  10. I see that most people were involved in the killing of Gatsby, especially Gatsby himself. Gatsby was attempting to get his AMerican Dream, Daisy. It was his fault for trying to cover up Daisy when she had killed Myrtle, George Wilson's wife. Also, like Ana said, Daisy is the real culprit behind the death of Gatsby. She had killed Myrtle, but refused to tell the truth, leading to the death of Gatsby by the angered Wilson. But also, Tom had the blame for telling Wilson that the car was Gatsby's. Even though all of these people took some part of the killing of Gatsby, like Tom had said, he really did have it coming. He should have been aware of the consequences that would come if he would cover for Daisy, who was having an affair with Tom. It was his own fault that he did not want to live without Daisy, who finished the last puzzle of his American Dream.

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  11. I respectfully disagree with those who think Wilson shot Jay Gatsby. Please check out the following site... gatsbys-killer@blogspot.com or go to Robert Alton Hall's facebook page and check out what he has to say about this unbelievably intriguing novel. I think you'll find it well worth your while.

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  12. i agree that many people are responsible about gatsby's death.both tom and dazy were responsible with their carelesness,tom knew that daizy is yhe one who was guilty but he didn't accept to say the truth and daizy accepted to believe that she wasn't really the doer.since gatsby loved her so so much.she profited from that love and denied every thing;and what i wanna say is that gatsby himself was responsible for his death because of his dreams and the unworthiness of his object which was always the corrupted daizy.

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  13. i want to ask you if you see that myrtle is responsible for gatsby's death or not.

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  14. i see that myrtle is not responsible because she didn't know that Gatsby was with daisy she thought that he was tom.all what she wanted is something better from tom we can't put the blame on her

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