Thursday, August 9, 2012

Hard Times [The Great Gatsby: Pgs 145-156]

The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Now that Myrtle is dead and witnesses are aware what the car looked like, Nick suggests the Gatsby leave town. However, he cannot leave the women he still loves at a time like this. He is still desiring his lost love, and Nick feels sorry for him. He tells the story of when they loved each other, but Daisy "wanted her life shaped" (Fitzgerald, 151) before Gatsby returned from Oxford. Gatsby symbolizes those who live in the past. He can no longer function without longing for that time he had years ago with Daisy.

We see Jordan and Nick bickering over what had happened the other night. Even the people one considers one of their better friends can be gone in an instant over something unimportant. Nick is breaking a main connection to the situation between Tom and Daisy, which may lead him to stay out of it.

The search for Catherine, Myrtle's sister, at the end of the section, helps to show some of the pain caused by death. The confusion, the grief, the questioning, all which were caused by an accident. Even accidents can have painful consequences, though the cause (Daisy) seems to not be affected.

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