Sunday, May 17, 2009

27. Gatsby's Death

Why did Fitzgerald "kill off" Gatsby? What did this plot choice add to the story?
Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. UnknownAugust 2, 2009 at 6:33 PM

    I think Fitzgerald killed Gatsby because if one noticed throughout the whole book, there was only thing he wanted to do, be with Daisy. Fitzgerald really emphasized how passionate Jay Gastby was about this wish of his. For one he threw such big parties so often, he believed that one day Daisy would stumble in and they would meet again.
    So when Gatsby was murdered, it signified that he was happy with what he had lived and done, that he was satisfied at last for have had Daisy for the last time.
    The last thing Gatsby did when he was alive was to go to his pool, lie in his floatable mattress staring at the sky seeing everything as if he had done what he wanted, and was ready to leave (Fitzgerald 161).

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownAugust 5, 2009 at 8:44 PM

    I disagree with Xara. Fitzgerald killed off Gatsby because it would signify the death of the tragic hero. I agree with Xara in that Gatsby’s sole focus was Daisy but in the end, he was not happy or satisfied in the end. He had the idea of the Daisy that was perfect. The real Daisy five years later was not the same.
    Gatsby realized that the Daisy he had met was gone forever. “He stretched out his hand desperately as if to snatch only a wisp of air, to save a fragment of the spot that she had made lovely for him. But it was all going by too fast now for his blurred eyes and he knew that he had lost that part of it, the freshest and the best, forest.” (Fitzgerald 160-1) He had gone through a lot of trouble to get to Daisy, the house and the parties, and in the end, it didn’t end like he had ever expected. His obsession had ended and soon, so also his life. Gatsby gave up.
    This tragic end for Gatsby added provided closure for the novel because Gatsby would have never been the same person if he did live. Gatsby died spiritually with the loss of Daisy and it is poetic that his body died soon after.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Michael W. WomackAugust 7, 2009 at 10:39 AM

    I greatly agree with Xavier considering it is evident in life that those who loose their spirit loose their body as well. After all there has always been cases of loved ones who have spent their lives together will die shortly after their partner does. What I mean by this is that Daisy was already dead. To Gatsby Daisy was someone who he could never have. Therefore his opinion of Daisy never changed, he kept her the same while she kept advancing. Daisy was dead to Gatsby whether he knew it or not. Gatsby himself was also dead. His train of thought never differed and so nothing new was able to occur. Gatsby was killed off by Fitzgerald in order to prove that those who do not progress both physically and mentally eventually die.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)