Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The computer generated image of a bullet being fired from the barrel of a gun is relevant to the eighth chapter of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, because it is in this chapter that our novel's titular character, Jay Gatsby, is shot to death by Wilson. After the hit and run death of his wife, Myrtle, Wilson is lead to believe that Gatsby had killed her and that Gatsby was having an affair with Myrtle. Wilson believes this because it was a yellow car that took Myrtle's life and he had just seen Gatsby at his garage filling his yellow car with gas. However, it was not Gatsby that killed her but Daisy. Wilson is so upset after shooting Gatsby, that he takes his life too right after.

Quotes

"However glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby, he was at present a penniless young man without a past, and at any moment the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip away from his shoulder" (156). - Nick on the depressed Gatsby

"Your worth the whole damn bunch put together"(162). - Nick to Gatsby on the Buchanans

"God sees everything" (167). - Wilson on the T.J. Eckleburg billboard

"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" (170). - Nick on Wilson's murder/ suicide

Analysis

In the eighth chapter of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the theme of death. At the end of the previous chapter, Daisy and Jay Gatsby strike Wilson’s wife, Myrtle with a speeding car and leave her for dead. After this, Wilson goes mad trying to figure out who is responsible for the death of his wife. He assumes that whoever it is is also the person that he suspects is having an affair with his wife. Wilson tells his friend, Michaelis, that God sees everything. He is actually talking about the billboard of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg in the valley of ashes. The billboard is of a giant face without a nose. He is referring to the eyes of the billboard as the eyes of God. He finds out somehow that it was a yellow car that killed his wife. He remembers Gatsby driving yellow car earlier and he also remembers his wife running outside as the car sped off. Wilson goes to Gatsby’s house and Gatsby was relaxing after taking a swim in his pool. Wilson shoots Gatsby and kills him and then kills himself.