gatmoral Moral Responsibility in The Great Gatsby :: Great Gatsby Essays

Moral Responsibility in The Great Gatsby Bang! Gatsby's dead! George Wilson shot Gatsby! However, who is morally responsible for killing Gatsby? The obvious answer would be George since he pulled the trigger. However, it is clear, if for no other reason than for the unimportance of George in the book, that others were also partly responsible. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom, Daisy, and George are morally responsible for the death of Gatsby. Tom, because of his tattling on Gatsby, can be morally blamed for the murder of Gatsby. When George talked to him, Tom told George it was Gatsby's car that hit Myrtle, but he failed to mention that it was Daisy driving. Even though it was never directly mentioned, it is shown that Tom knew Daisy was the one who killed Myrtle when Nick said, "...and anybody would have said that they were conspiring together," (p.146) when referring to Tom and Daisy talking in their house. This "conspiring" was probably a plan to get Daisy away from the whole incident. Furthermore, Tom and Daisy leave town the next day, proving Tom's knowledge of Daisy's guilt by just trying to escape with her. Even knowing this, Tom still had the indecency to tell George it was Gatsby's car. Tom can also be morally blamed for the killing of Gatsby because of his affair with Myrtle. George killed Gatsby not only because he thought he killed Myrtle, but also because he was under the impression that Gatsby was the one having the affair with his wife. Tom knew George was thinking this and when George talked to him, Tom seized his opportunity to get off the hook for his sin and directed it to Gatsby, making himself even more morally incorrect for doing it. It is clearly justifiable to blame Tom for Gatsby's death. Daisy can also be put morally responsible for Gatsby's death. Her bad morals relating to Gatsby's death are displayed when Gatsby said, "Anyhow - Daisy stepped on it. I tried to make her stop, but she couldn't..." (p.145) Daisy was not morally responsible enough to stop the car after she hit Myrtle. She would also not take the rap for driving the car later, but instead, left town.