More Death

The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
chap VIII

A few pages of the start of chapter eight are a flashback of of Daisy and Gatsby's past.  Its the typical poor boy/ rich girl scenario, but then the boy goes of to the army.  As much as they love each other, Daisy can't wait forever for Gatsby to come back, so she marries a man who can take care of her.  Daisy sends Gatsby a goodbye letter in the army, which is known as a "Dear John letter."  The flashback reminded me of the movie, Dear John, where Savannah couldn't wait for her boyfriend John to come back from the army any longer, so she marries an old family friend, even though she loves John more.  She sent John a letter to break up with
him in the army, and he was devastated, just like Gatsby.


When I got to the last paragraphs of the chapter, I read them faster and faster, hoping to get to the end to really figure out what had happened.  When the narrator said there where shots, I didn't know what to think. I thought at first that maybe Gatsby had killed himself.  But then Wilson was mentioned- "It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson's body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete" (Fitzgerald, 162).  I honestly re-read that sentence multiple times because I just could not believe that was the way Gatsby's story was ended.  He was a rich man with massive parties and lived a life so full of energy.  The situation seemed like a murder/suicide to me.  Wilson obviously was completely off his rocker, and assumed that Gatsby had killed and possibly slept with his wife just because the yellow car was his.  Oh the unfortunate effects of misunderstandings... This is turning out to be a depressing resolution.  Moreover, I don't believe Nick and Jordan will end up together, for whatever terrible reason.