The Great Gatsby. Write about the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 8

It seems the hope of the dream vanishes, Fitzgerald uses dialogue to show this when Gatsby says Daisy ‘turned out the light’ which could be a symbol of hope for the dream being over. As Daisy has been Gatsby’s main motivation for the past five years, Fitzgerald could be forewarning the reader that without his sole goal he has no purpose – meaning his death is inevitable.

Gatsby still ‘clutches’ the ‘hope’ of the dream, showing his nobility and determination, which makes it all the more tragic when his character is murdered by the ‘fantastic figure’ of Owen Wilson who is motivated by revenge and grief, suggesting he has no conscience, like a savage. Adding to Gatsby’s ill-fated end is that Fitzgerald has shown how genuine and noble his character is to sacrifice himself for Daisy, yet he receives no recognition from her.

Fitzgerald needs to use a biased narrator to show that Gatsby is a dramatic foil that contrasts with East Egg; ‘they’re a rotten crowd’ and ‘you’re worth the whole damn bunch’ shows how the ‘penniless young man without a past’ is more admirable than the people of East Egg. This is likely to anger the reader and this is the reaction Fitzgerald wants as he is showing the attitudes of 1920’s America and the haughty Upper East Side.

This chapter shows the tragedy and failure of Gatsby’s dream; he dies trying which almost makes him seem like a noble martyr. Fitzgerald uses his judgmental narrator, Nick Carraway to provoke pity for the character of Gatsby by showing the corruption and manipulative nature of East Egg, increasing the reader’s dislike of old money.