As the train moved further and further West he became more and more comfortable, as if he were returning to a special place just his own. Remembering this memory launches Nick into a discussion of the merits of the Midwest versus the vices of the East. The story is brought to a close when Nick interacts with two people from his past.
First, he speaks with Jordan and, although he still feels fondly toward her, he once again coolly dismisses her. Finally, one autumn day, Nick meets Tom along Fifth Avenue. Tom, seeing Nick, makes the first move to speak. Initially Nick refuses to shake Tom's hand, upset with what Tom has come to represent. In the course of their short discussion, Nick learns Tom had a role in Gatsby's death — George Wilson worked his way to the Buchanan house in East Egg and Tom told him who owned the car that struck Myrtle.
When Nick leaves, he shakes Tom's hand because he "felt suddenly as though [he] were talking to a child. The time comes for Nick to leave West Egg and return West. On the last night, he wanders over to Gatsby's for one last visit.
Strolling down to the water he is called to remember the way Gatsby's house used to be, filled with people and lavish parties. He considers Gatsby's wonder at picking out Daisy's dock in the darkness, how far Gatsby had traveled in his life, and how he always had hope in the future.
In his final thought, Nick links society to the boats eternally moving against the current on the Sound. The last chapter of The Great Gatsby continues a theme begun in the previous chapter, bringing the reader face-to-face with the ugly side of the American dream. Throughout the story, Gatsby has been held up as an example of one who has achieved the American dream — he had money, possessions, independence, and people who wanted to be around him.
Or so the reader thinks. Gatsby's funeral takes center stage in this chapter, and with the exception of Nick, who continues to show his moral fiber, what Fitzgerald reveals about the moral decrepitude of those people still living is even worse than any of Gatsby's secrets. As the chapter opens, Nick tells readers what an impact this course of events makes upon him. They came to investigate, and once again, the carnivalesque atmosphere that so often accompanied Gatsby's parties establishes itself.
This time, however, the situation is decidedly less merry. Nick, showing he has come to respect Gatsby over the course of the summer, worries that, in fact, the circus-like atmosphere will allow the "grotesque, circumstantial, [and] eager" reporters to mythologize his neighbor, filling the pages of their rags with half-truths and full-blown lies.
For Nick, however, even more disturbing than the free-for-all that surrounds the investigation is the fact that he finds himself "on Gatsby's side, and alone. Nick, by default, assumes the responsibility for making Gatsby's final arrangements, "because no one else was interested — interested. First, the Nick who is blooming at the end of Chapter 7 has come into fruition in this chapter. He is a man of principles and integrity which shows more and more as the chapter unfolds.
The second idea introduced here is the utter shallowness of the people who, in better times, take every opportunity to be at Gatsby's house, drinking his liquor, eating his food, and enjoying his hospitality, but abandon him at the end: Daisy and Tom have left without a forwarding address. Meyer Wolfshiem, who is "completely knocked down and out" at Gatsby's death, and who wants to "know about the funeral etc.
Even the partygoers disappear. The party is over, and so they move on to the next event, treating their host with the same respect in death that they gave him in life — none at all. Klipspringer is a shining example of all the partygoers when he phones Gatsby's, speaks to Nick, and sidesteps the issue of Gatsby's funeral, shamelessly admitting, "what I called up about was a pair of shoes I left there.
I'm sort of helpless without them. The callousness of the people who so eagerly took advantage of Gatsby's hospitality is appalling. Certainly the American dream isn't supposed to end like this, gunned down for something you didn't do, utterly forgotten in your death. Fitzgerald does a fine job of displaying the downside to the American dream and how drive and ambition can, in effect, go too far.
I think he means that since everyone is from the West, but moved to the East, they still have their East values, morals, and emotions. They all played out in the situation that has happened. He characterizes them by saying that they are careless people and only ended up retreating back to their money and to the safety of their relationship. Tom is responsible for leading Myrtle down that road and that ended up killing her and is responsible as well for the death of Gatsby and Wilson.
At the end of the book, Nick imagines what the continent must have been like when it was first seen by Dutch sailors. How does this contrast with the environment described in the novel?
It contrasts because when people first see the land, they see it as beautiful, but later in life, they see the land as bleak just like the Valley of Ashes. According to Jordan, Gatsby has kept tabs on Daisy for years and followed her when she and Tom moved from Chicago to the east coast.
Tom finds out about the affair between Gatsby and Daisy in Chapter 7, just before the three of them, along with Nick, take a trip to New York. Although no one explicitly communicates this fact, Tom picks up on suspicious body language. He was astounded.
The mistake occurs because, earlier in the day, Tom suggests that he and Gatsby swap cars for the drive to New York. Myrtle sees Tom from the room where her husband has locked her up. Later that night, Tom and Gatsby drive their own cars back from the city. Although Gatsby himself never explicitly says how he became wealthy, readers could assume his money comes from illegal or nefarious practices, working as either a German spy or a gambler. Before readers are introduced to the more prominent eyes in the novel—those of Doctor T.
Owl Eyes is the only character, perhaps besides Nick, who is curious about Gatsby and wants to see him for who he truly is. Daisy seems unhappy with her marriage to Tom from the outset of the novel. Even the night before their wedding, she got drunk and told Jordan to tell everyone she had changed her mind. Although Daisy may have loved Gatsby once, she does not love him more than the wealth, status, and freedom that she has with Tom.
As the narrator, Nick offers a unique and revealing point of view.
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