Overall, Wilson is a loving husband and he obviously cared a lot about Myrtle, we do not see this in earlier chapters, but when he seeks vengeance for the killer of his wife, the readers automatically realise that he is truly upset that his wife has died and Wilson does something about it. In the end Wilson shoots Gatsby, murdering him, then kills himself. Wilson’s erratic behaviour is corroborated by his actions at the end. He appears to be demented and bewildered; this is suggested by him “acting sort of crazy”.
How does Fitzgerald tell the story in this chapter?
In chapter eight of “The Great Gatsby”, Fitzgerald tells the reader about Gatsby and Daisy’s early days. The chapter itself is very important as it is near to the ending of the novel and is a climax to the story, as Gatsby dies. Chapter eight contains suspension and Fitzgerald uses this chapter to tell the reader about Gatsby’s last hours; hence moving the plot forward. Also, Fitzgerald waits until the eighth chapter to tell the reader about what actually happened in Gatsby’s past.
Firstly, in chapter eight Fitzgerald uses two types of narrative voices. Fitzgerald uses the narrative voice to tell us about Gatsby’s last hours and also tell the readers about Gatsby and Daisy’s past. He does this by manipulating the narrative voice throughout chapter eight. Nick is the first person narrator throughout the whole novel and in this chapter he retold Gatsby’s own story. Nick’s narrative voice is used but Gatsby’s point of view is mainly told. For example, Nick starts to tell Gatsby’s story and starts off by saying, “It was the night that he [Gatsby] told me the strange story of his youth with Dan Cody – told it to me because ‘Jay Gatsby’ had broken up like glass against Tom’s hard malice, and the long secret extravaganza was played out.”
Also, some snippets come directly from Gatsby without the narrator’s intervention when dialogue is used between Gatsby and Nick. Gatsby says “I can describe to you how surprised I was to find out I lover her, old sport. I even hoped for a while that she’d throw me over, but she didn’t, because she was in love with me too.” Fitzgerald uses this style so that the readers can get more than one point of view. Also Gatsby’s point of view is vital as he is retelling the story with his personal feelings and experience, which is needed for the readers to exactly know what had happened. Fitzgerald lets Gatsby tell Nick what had happened between him and Daisy, but we as a reader know that Gatsby is a mistrustful character and he lied about what his youth was really like in the previous chapters, so it the readers’ decision whether or not to believe Gatsby. However, Nick is moved by Gatsby’s story and is sincerely worried about Gatsby – “I didn’t want to go to the city… I didn’t want to leave Gatsby”. This shows the concern that Nick has for Gatsby, and through this, we as a reader share the same concern.
Alternatively, to structure this chapter effectively Fitzgerald uses time frames; this is linked to the narrative voices. Nick starts off by continuing the story and telling the reader about Gatsby’s last hours, this moves the plot forward but it also moves it backwards. This links to what happened at the garage the night before. Nick says, “Now I want to go back a little and tell what happened at the garage after we left there the night before.” Nick goes onto telling the reader about Wilson, and how he is coping with the death of his wife, Myrtle Wilson. Wilson slowly works out what happened and who murdered Myrtle. Fitzgerald tells the story in this way because he is creating suspense for the readers and the plot is thickening as Nick goes further and further into the story. The chapter starts off with Nick telling the readers’ about Gatsby’s last hours but leads up to the death of Gatsby and Wilson.
Additionally, Fitzgerald builds up Nick’s narrative to its climax at the end of the chapter, the death of Gatsby and Wilson. Nick ends the chapter by saying, “the holocaust was complete.” As the chapter progresses, the pace slows down as we get closer to the climax, this is when time references are made. Also, when Nick explains Gatsby’s past, Fitzgerald is effectively delaying the climax. He wants to leave the reader in suspense as they will not know what is going to happen at the end of chapter.
Another technique used by Fitzgerald is that of contrast and juxtaposition. The beginning of this chapter recounts Gatsby’s initial courting of Daisy and provides Nick an opportunity to analyse Gatsby’s love for her. The chapter starts off at Gatsby’s house, which “has never seemed so enormous to me [Nick] as it did that night when we hunted through the great rooms for cigarettes.” This gives the reader a visual image of Gatsby’s house and recalls our minds to a previous chapter where Gatsby’s house was described as a “colossal mansion”. Nick then goes on to tell the reader of the story of Gatsby and Daisy, and begins to describe her house, through Gatsby’s point of view, “…he had never been in such a beautiful house”, and “there was a ripe mystery about it, a hint of bedrooms upstairs more beautiful and cool than other bedrooms…”. This gives a contrast in Gatsby’s house and Daisy’s house, as Gatsby’s house was now filled with “inexplicable amount of dust everywhere, and the rooms were musty, as though they hadn’t been aired for many days”. The language which Fitzgerald uses to describe Daisy’s house is full of the motifs of colour and light. Fitzgerald writes how the house was full “of gay and radiant activities taking place through its corridors, and of romances that were not musty and laid away already in lavender but fresh and breathing…” This use of imagery provokes pictures of youth and romance in the reader’s mind. Indeed, the “air of breathless intensity” reinforces the idea of youth, and what Gatsby felt when he thought of Daisy. In complete contrast to this is the setting in which the reader meets in the second half of the chapter, George Wilson’s garage, where the motif of darkness is used by Fitzgerald. The use of this juxtaposition with the two settings allows the reader to learn about two completely contrasting sides of New York.
Another motif used by Fitzgerald in this chapter is that of Dr. Eckleburg’s eyes the green light and the yellow car, which becomes extremely significant in the novel. The initial description of Gatsby’s “yellow car” in chapter four uses imagery so as to make the reader imagine this car in their mind. Yellow is also a symbol of corruption. Gatsby’s car is the car that killed Myrtle and is described as “a yellow car. A big yellow car” and again further on in the chapter, “It was a yellow car.” Also, Fitzgerald uses the “green light” to associate with Gatsby’s hopes and goals. At the end of the dock in front of Tom and Daisy’s home is a blinking green light. Gatsby spends a significant amount of time focusing on the green light. The light represents Daisy as he remembers, or the Daisy he wants to remember. Even if his memories of Daisy are ones from the past or completely made up, to Gatsby the light is the perfect Daisy. However, in this chapter, Gatsby’s hopes are shattered, he said wanly, “I waited, and about four o’clock she came to the window and stood there for a minute and then turned out the light.
Fitzgerald uses a variety of different language techniques in chapter eight, such as poetic language in Gatsby’s description of his love for Daisy in order to create imagery for the reader. “She was the first “nice” girl he had ever known… He found her excitingly desirable”. Fitzgerald uses effective language to emphasise the love that Gatsby has for Daisy. He also creates a contrast between emotive language used by Wilson and the detached language used by Gatsby (at the beginning) in relation to the accident. Furthermore, at the end of the chapter Fitzgerald uses sparse language when writing about the death of Wilson and Gatsby; this is a huge contrast to the detail Nick gives us when talking about his opulent parties. “…One of Wolfsheim’s protégés – heard the shots” and the “holocaust was complete”, was the only description given about the death of Wilson and Gatsby.
In conclusion, Fitzgerald uses a variety of different and interesting devices in order to tell the exciting and vibrant story in chapter eight.
