Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is especially famous for its final line: "And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
The last sentences of the Great Gatsby, it reads: "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgasmic 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 ...
George Wilson pulled the trigger that ended Gatsby's life, but all of the blame should not be placed on George. Gatsby's death resulted from a chain of many events that all contributed to his demise. The death could be traced back to Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, Tom Buchanan, or Gatsby himself.
Jay Gatsby is shot to death in the swimming pool of his mansion by George Wilson, a gas-station owner who believes Gatsby to be the hit-and-run driver who killed his wife, Myrtle.
Believing the caller to be Daisy, Gatsby is shot and killed by a vengeful George, who then commits suicide. Nick, who was the one calling, hears the gunshots and is the only person other than reporters to attend Gatsby's funeral as Daisy, Tom, and their daughter are leaving New York.
"And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." This line works on a few different thematic levels at the end of the novel: It sums up the story of the novel, as Gatsby has been trying to work hard enough to both erase and reclaim his past with Daisy; he is unable to do either.
Daisy does not want to be seen attending Gatsby's funeral since she does care about her image, despite the fact that she has never loved Tom. As a result, she makes the decision to abstain out of concern that she would damage both her connection with Tom and her standing in the eyes of the general public.
This is at the very end of the novel. Of the late Gatsby, Tom says, “That fellow had it coming to him. He threw dust in your eyes just like he did in Daisy's….” And that's why it matters that Nick is gay and in love with Gatsby: because Tom's assessment is spot-on, but Nick will never admit it.
George Wilson kills Gatsby out of revenge for killing his wife. He believes the person responsible for hitting her with the car was her lover and Tom Buchanan informs him that it was Gatsby who was driving the vehicle. George then goes to Gatsby's house and fatally shoots him before turning the gun on himself.
What is ironic about Gatsby's death? Gatsby's death is a moment of irony because he is still waiting for Daisy to call him so they can be together, but he does not realize that Daisy and her husband have already reconciled with one another.
To become worthy of Daisy, Gatsby accumulates his wealth and with the evidence of material success he wanted to rewrite the past and Daisy will be his. Gatsby's downfall is choosing Daisy to represent his great vision. Gatsby dies with faith. His dream falls apart in front of him, yet he still holds his faith in Daisy.
To Gatsby, Daisy represents the paragon of perfection—she has the aura of charm, wealth, sophistication, grace, and aristocracy that he longed for as a child in North Dakota and that first attracted him to her.
Feeling that Gatsby would not want to go through a funeral alone, Nick tries to hold a large funeral for him, but all of Gatsby's former friends and acquaintances either have disappeared—Tom and Daisy, for instance, move away with no forwarding address—or refuse to come, like Meyer Wolfsheim and Klipspringer.
Nick is particularly taken with Gatsby and considers him a great figure. He sees both the extraordinary quality of hope that Gatsby possesses and his idealistic dream of loving Daisy in a perfect world.
Three days after the murder of Gatsby, a telegram from his father, 'signed Henry C. Gatz' arrives and, a few days later, Mr. Gatz arrives at the mansion.
She betrays him by being her cowardly self. She tried once to stand up for her love of him when they first met, but her life is more complicated now with an aggressive, domineering husband and a child. She doesn't have any support -other than Nick, her distant cousin, to help her do the right thing.
Gatsby's funeral is ironic because only three people attend, while enormous crowds attended his parties. Despite being a popular figure in the social scene, once Gatsby passes, neither Daisy, his business partner Henry Wolfsheim, nor any of his partygoers seem to remember him or care.
Gatsby reveals details of his and Daisy's long ago courtship. He was enthralled by her wealth, her big house, and the idea of men loving her. To be with Daisy, he pretended to be of the same social standing as her. One night, they slept together, and he felt like they were married.
“I married [George] because I thought he was a gentleman,” she said finally. “I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn't fit to lick my shoe.” Once Myrtle, Tom, and Nick are away in the city in Chapter 2, Myrtle feels able to speak freely about her disastrous marriage to George Wilson.
Gatsby, in fact, is never capable of loving her at all; he was born with a life and status too drastically different from hers to ever really connect with her in a true, romantic way. Rather, he loved the idea of Daisy and what she stood for.
The implication here is that Daisy was romantically experienced and certainly no virgin, an implication further supported in the fact that there was no mention of loss of virginity when Gatsby "took her."
What does it mean that Daisy's voice is full of money?
Her voice may sound like a stereotypical rich person's voice. Nick also suggests that her voice sounds like coins clinking together, sort of high and musical. Ultimately, though, Daisy and money are inextricably linked in Gatsby's mind. She has always been wealthy and he has always aspired to be wealthy.
