"After Gatsby's death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes' power of correction. So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home." - Nick Carraway, page 176.
As sad as it may be, Jay Gatsby's death can be considered the resolution of the story. Every little conflict that was happening suddenly seemed to come to an end. For example, the conflict between Tom and Daisy Buchanon's marriage seemed to end. Gatsby's death came in the wake of Myrtle's death. Both of these people are what caused Tom and Daisy to be unfaithful. With these two people dead, the couple is free to be faithful and loving to each other once again. Another conflict that wasn't as obvious was that Nick Carraway never seemed too happy to be living in New York City. Gatsby's death was like the final straw and is what pushed him to finally leave. Although Gatsby's death seems to be the resolution to the story, I am not particularly happy with how it ended. It was just so unhappy and I was left feeling like the story never came to a very good ending. Tom got to keep the girl he wanted, Gatsby lost the girl he loved and ended up dying, and Nick was left with no friends once again. The whole thing was just really sad.
" With these two people dead, the couple is free to be faithful and loving to each other once again. "
ReplyDeleteDear Mr. Prentice,
If that is what you think you don't understand the book at all. Tom was never "loving or faithful". He is an ignorant brute and Daisy was weak and shallow. Gatsby didn't "make" her unfaithful and more than Myrtle "made" Tom unfaithful. They were both probably incapable of mature love. Their future, their "careless" future together would probably be an endless repetition of mindless cruelty and inconsequential drifting.
Fag
Delete