Chapter 8

Chapter 8
Pgs. 147-162

Summary
-Nick goes to Gatsby’s house the next morning to check on him and Gatsby says that he stayed outside Daisy’s house until four in the morning and nothing happened. He seems very depressed and begins to tell Nick about the time that he spent with Daisy before the war. He had nothing to go on when he was seeing Daisy, no family, not a lot of money, but she only saw Jay Gatsby. He then says that he jumped quickly through the ranks in the military during the war earning the trip to attend Oxford in Europe, which meant that he could not return to Daisy. When he came back she was already married to Tom and he couldn’t have her anymore; Nick leaves later on and has an awkward talk with Jordan on the phone that ends badly. It cuts to Michaelis, George’s neighbor, trying to consul him for a while before having to go back to his diner to attend to the customers. Wilson wants revenge, so he takes a gun and finds his way to Gatsby’s house where he shoots him while he is using his pool and then commits suicide. The servants and Nick hear the gunshots and run over finding Gatsby dead in the pool and Wilson dead in the bushes nearby.

Character Qualities
Michaelis: “You’re morbid George, this has been a strain to you and you don’t know what you’re saying. You’d better try and sit quiet till morning (Fitzgerald 158).” Michaelis is a caring and concerned man. He wants to comfort Wilson by letting him get out all his emotions and figure out what’s going on. He doesn’t seem to let religion become involved in discussions as he constantly tells Wilson to stop mentioning God when he is recalling his last talk to Myrtle. He could seem pushy because he wants to find out what happened between his two neighbors the night that Myrtle was murdered.
-Michaelis only appears in about three pages of the novel, but his role was established. He is the friend of the Wilson’s and neighbor as he owns the diner next door. He is somewhat of an interrogator because of his hard questioning of Wilson after the accident but his motives are good. He wants to comfort Wilson and relieve him of the shock, but it fails as it proves to motivate Wilson to go and find Gatsby so he could exact justice for the murder of Myrtle even though Michaelis tries to assure that it wasn’t. So his role could sort-of be a catalyst that brought about the end of the character due to his efforts to find out as much as he could.

Most Important Quote
- “The touch of a cluster of leaves revolved it slowly, tracing, like the leg of transit, a thin red circle in the water (Fitzgerald 162).” I found this quote important because it seems to represent tranquility after the accident. I found it interesting the way he contrasts the violent shooting with a description of almost calmness and serenity. The scene holds great significance in setting the tone of the last chapter and tries to instill a sense of immense sorrow for the loss of Gatsby. Like a friend and trusted person, even though we know that his personality, his name, and his motives are all an illusion. It seems to represent the ending of the illusion of Gatsby, to be seen by no one anymore, but to leave the illusion in their heads to always think of him that way and not see the person that he truly was.

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