Unfortunately, The Great Gatsby will not have a happy, feel-good ending due in large part to Fitzgerald's BOMBARDMENT of negative plot twists! Daisy's love confuses her, Tom reveals Gatsby's criminal background, and Daisy becomes an accidental murderer, at Myrtle Wilson's expense no less?!?! Why must these novels end in chaos?!?! I will never know, but I digress. I would like to focus solely on Myrtle Wilson's death. Fitzgerald REALLY put some effort into making this twist interesting. First, Tom's stop at the Wilson gas station earlier in the chapter familiarized George Wilson with Jay Gatsby's yellow car, the car that would eventually obliterate his wife. Therefore, when George heard a description of the automobile liable for his wife's death, he immediately assumed Tom had committed the murder. Further, Fitzgerald positions Myrtle's death chronologically in the novel right after Tom's fallout with Daisy to not only juxtapose the two monumental losses Tom has incurred, but also to add emphasis to the dramatic irony of Tom's statement when he exclaims, upon approaching the death scene, "'Wreck! That's good. Wilson'll have a little business at last'" (Fitzgerald 137). Tom has no clue that he has just lost his mistress in addition to his relationship with Daisy. As if all of those details weren't enough to make Myrtle's passing significant, Fitzgerald chose to do us one better. Daisy, driving Gatsby's yellow car, disposes of her husband's mistress, accidentally of course. With so many twists, I am absolutely certain that chapter seven marks the climax, as well as a huge monkey wrench, in The Great Gatsby. Bring on the resolution, Fitzgerald. I can't wait to see what could possibly be in store next.
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| Rest in pieces Myrtle Wilson. :'( |
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