Who's To Blame For This Moral Lapse In The Great Gatsby

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The Great Gatsby Essay First published in 1925, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald received mixed reviews and sold quite poorly. Within the first year his novel had only sold 20,000 copies. Fitzgerald died believing himself to be a failure and his work to be forgotten. However, the novel experienced a revival and became a part of American high school curriculum. Today, The Great Gatsby is “probably safe now to say a classic of twentieth-century American fiction.” according to the New York Times. In this novel the character George Wilson shoots and kills the protagonist Jay Gatsby. The question we face is, who is to blame for this moral lapse in judgment? Obviously the person who pulled the trigger, right? Possibly shady characters such as Tom and Daisy Buchanan would lead some to believe otherwise. Daisy and Tom are morally responsible for the death of Gatsby and furthermore George Wilson.…show more content…
Such as, who is truly responsible for Gatsby’s and Wilson’s death? Daisy is a huge reason for these murders to take place. Daisy takes advantage of Gatsby's love for her and hits myrtle with his car. She knew that Gatsby would cover for her not only because of the love he has for her but because it was his car she was driving. Gatsby tells Nick, "Daisy stepped on it. I tried to make her stop, but she couldn't" (p. 144). Daisy does not have enough conscience to stop the car even though Gatsby is telling her to pull over. Daisy's immorality in the period after she hit Myrtle also leads to Gatsby's death. Instead of taking blame for driving the car she ran away from the situation and fled town as quickly as possible with Tom. This left Gatsby in trouble because George thought Gatsby was driving the car, which provoked the murder. Even if George didn't kill Gatsby, Daisy's behavior still would have left Gatsby in trouble with the

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