Literary Topic

The Great Gatsby


Chapter 9


pp 171-189

Summary

     Following Gatsby's murder, there is an endless stream of police, photographers, and reporters comes into Gatsby's house. Leaving no phone number or place where they could be reached, Daisy and Tom Buchanan flee town immediately after the murder of Myrtle Wilson. Gatsby's father, Henry Gatz, comes to West Egg after he learns of his son's death. While he is looking through some of his son's possessions, Gatz's pride in his son keeps increasing. Gatz believes his son could have "helped build up the country" (176). Nick asks many of Gatsby's acquaintances to his funeral, but everybody, including Wolfshiem and Klipspringer, declines. Only Nick, Gatz, Owl Eyes, and some of the servants attend the funeral.
     One afternoon Nick is in New York and spots Tom Buchanan on Fifth Avenue. The two chat, and Tom admits that he told Wilson that Gatsby was the owner of the yellow car that killed Myrtle. Tom expresses that Gatsby "had it coming to him" (187).
     The book concludes with Nick taking one last look at Gatsby's mansion. Nick realizes that "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before [them]. It eluded [them] then, but that's no matter--tomorrow [they] will run faster" (189).

Characters


Nick Carraway
Nick, the narrator, is Gatsby's only true friend. After Gatsby's acquaintances decline attending the funeral, Nick witnesses the betrayal of Gatsby's so-called friends. Nick feels a certain shame for Gatsby when one man says that Gatsby got what he deserved.

Henry Gatz
Henry lives in Minnesota where his son bought him a house. After hearing about the death of his son, Gatsby, Henry arrives in East Egg "a solemn old man very helpless and dismayed" and "on the point of collapse." As Henry is sifting through Gatsby's belongings, he becomes more and more proud of his son. Henry believed that his son could "have helped build up the country."

Tom Buchanan
Tom and his wife, Daisy, leave East Egg after Myrtle's murder. Tom admits that he told Wilson that the yellow car belonged to Gatsby. He believes that Gatsby "had it coming to him." According to Nick, Tom and his wife are careless people--"they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money...and let other people clean up the mess they had made" (188).

Owl Eyes
Owl Eyes is one of the few who attend Gatsby's funeral. When leaving the funeral, he remarks that Gatsby was a "poor son-of-a-bitch."


Setting

     This chapter occurs right after Gatsby's death. Most of the events occur in Gatsby's house on West Egg. Other places include Nick's trip to New York City and the cemetery. The environment in this chapter is typically rainy, dank and dark. When Nick leaves Wolfshiem's office, "the sky had turned dark" (180) and it began to drizzle. Gatsby's funeral is especially chilling and dark with the thick drizzle and soggy ground.


Symbols

Minnesota - Gatsby's father, Henry Gatz, comes from Minnesota. The Midwest serves as a symbol of purity and goodness and greatly contrasts to the corruption of the East.

1919 World Series - The baseball game represents the corrupt nature of business practices. Even the great American game of baseball could not avoid corrupt business practices.

Fifth Avenue - This street of New York represents the materialism of the rich. Nick encounters Tom Buchanan on Fifth Avenue, a common place for the wealthy to be found.

Schedule - Gatsby's schedule is representative of the American tradition.



Motifs

    Fitzgerald uses water in various forms. Water appears in the drizzle after Nick is leaving Wolfshiem's office, the rain during Gatsby's funeral, and the puddles through which the cars of the funeral procession splash.



Thematic Elements

     The main theme of this novel is the "identity with this country." Gatsby's corruption is similar to the historical corruption of the American spirit.

     Another theme includes youth. Nick recalls his days at prep school and the promise of his youth.


Quotations

"About five o'clock our procession of three cars reached the cemetery and stopped in a thick drizzle beside the gate--first a motor hearse, horribly black and wet, then Mr. Gatz and the minister and I in the limousine, and, a little later, four or five servants and the postman from West Egg in Gatsby's station wagon, all wet to the skin. As we started through the gate into the cemetery I heard a car stop and then the sound of someone splashing after us over the soggy ground. I looked around. It was the man with the owl-eyed glasses whom I had found marveling over Gatsby's books in the library one night three months before" (183).

"After Gatsby's death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes' power of correction. So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home" (185).

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther... And one fine morning--" (189).





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Page last updated on May 11, 1999.
Curator: Kathryn Smolen