The Great Gatsby: Chapter VIII / pages 147-162

Summary:

               Nick cannot sleep because he feels like he needs to warn Gatsby of something, and so when he hears a taxi arrive at Gatsby’s drive he gets up and walks to Gatsby’s house. Gatsby tells him that he had waited for Daisy, but nothing happened; she stood at her window for a moment and then turned out the light. Nick advises Gatsby to flee because the police could probably trace his car, but Gatsby refuses; he cannot leave Daisy without knowing what her decision is. Gatsby then shares with Nick his past with Dan Cody and Daisy. He goes on about how Daisy was the first “nice” girl he had ever known and that he himself was surprised when he found out that he loved her. He also talks about his army days and how he had exchanged letters with Daisy for a while, but how her letters started to emit a nervous despairing feeling. Daisy was impatient and indecisive, she couldn’t wait for Gatsby and so when she met Tom she felt both a certain struggle and a certain relief. Nick and Gatsby finished their breakfast by 9 o’clock and Nick had to go to the city, but didn’t want to leave Gatsby. He leaves Gatsby with a compliment saying, “They’re a rotten crowd, you’re worth the whole damn bunch put together” (154). While in the city, Jordan calls up Nick and they have a tense, awkward conversation that ends abruptly. While on the train, Nick avoids looking at the valley of ashes and the scene turns to Wilson’s garage. Wilson was determined to find out who killed Myrtle and his friend Michaelis had been with him, taking care of him. Wilson tells Michaelis about he told Myrtle that she couldn’t fool God and points to the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. When Michaelis goes home and comes back, Wilson is missing. It turns out that he had found out Gatsby’s name and was on his way to his house. At two o’clock, Gatsby was in his pool. Nick drove from the station directly to Gatsby’s house and along with the chauffeur, butler, and gardener hurried down to the pool. Gatsby was found dead in the pool and Wilson dead in the grass.

George Wilson:

• “I’m one of these trusting fellas and I don’t think any harm to nobody, but when I get to know a thing I know it” (159).

• “He was his wife’s man and not his own” (136).

• George Wilson is a quiet, faithful man who changes after he finds out that his wife is cheating on him. In the beginning of the novel, George does whatever his wife, Myrtle, tells him to do without objecting. He basically lets her treat him like dirt, but I believe he truly loves Myrtle. He did everything for her, and did his best to support them. However, when he finds out that she’s been cheating on him, he completely changes. He locks her up in their room and won’t let her out until he makes enough money to go West. When Myrtle dies, George becomes silent and lifeless; it’s apparent that he’s shaken by her death. He also seeks revenge on the person who killed her, the person driving the yellow car. This in turn leads him to killing Gatsby and then himself.

• George Wilson introduces the symbolism of God through the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. He tells Myrtle that God sees everything, referring to the eyes of the Doctor. In a sense, the eyes are the reason why George wanted revenge for his wife’s death. After staring at them, he disappears and kills Gatsby, who he believes killed Myrtle.

Quote:

“I have an idea that Gatsby himself didn’t believe it would come, and perhaps he no longer cared. If that were true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass” (161).

               Gatsby finally snaps out of the illusion he’s been living in, and faces reality. Nick said in the beginning of the novel that Gatsby turned out all right in the end, and it’s true, he did. He died living in reality and accepting it as it was. He no longer cared that Daisy didn’t choose him, which I believe is a huge turning point for Gatsby. In addition, I think he realized that he had made a mistake by focusing on only one single dream. I mean, it’s great to have a dream, but when that dream overtakes your life and makes you ignore everything else it becomes unhealthy. It’s too bad he had to die right after he finally changed though ): The part about the rose also stuck out to me; roses are grotesque, meaning they are unnatural. I believe that Daisy is very similar to a rose. She had a fake image she showed to others and also Gatsby didn’t see her as she really was since he was stuck in his illusion of her.