The Great Gatsby had a sad ending to what is considered to be the most up-beat book we will read during this semester. It was all happy and cheery until Myrtle got run over. It was a terrible accident, yet it caused so many deaths to follow it that it was like dominos. After Myrtle was hit Mr. Wilson finds out whose car it was that hit her and he goes over to Gatsby’s house and shoots him and then commits suicide. These two deaths occur because of one very important figure in this book. He is the one who caused all the trouble in the first place by cheating on Daisey. This person is none other than Tom. When Mr. Wilson comes over to Tom’s house because he saw Tom driving Gatsby’s car, Tom notices the pistol in Mr. Wilson’s hand and tells him who actually owns the car. Mr. Wilson marches right up to Gatsby who is in his pool at his house, and he shoots him. After that it seems that Mr. Wilson thought there was nothing left for him in life and so he shot himself. What is interesting is that Tom does not hesitate to point the finger right at Gatsby imidiatly…
“Tom,” I inquired, “What did you say to Wilson that afternoon?” He stared at me without a word, and I knew I had guessed right about those missing hours. I started to turn away, but he took a step after me and grabbed my arm. “I told him the truth,” he said. “He came to the door while we were getting ready to leave, and when I sent down word that we weren’t in he tried to force his way upstairs. He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn’t told him who owned the car, (178).
In a life or death situation, it is human nature to point the finger at the other person. It is no wonder that as soon as the pistol is pointing at Tom, he points right to Gatsby. It is human nature to blaim someone else to save yourself. Gatsby ended up taking the blaim just like he wanted to. But I really feel that Tom should have come up with something to get Mr. Wilson off track, or he could have at least called Gatsby and told him to run for his life. Mr. Wilson was after all on foot. I can understand though why he would not care very much. Gatsby did in fact love his wife, and they were a thing in the past. So I guess Tom was bound to stab Gatsby in the back.
