Tuesday, October 25, 2011

How does the first part of chapter 9 in The Great Gatsby attempt to sort out the results of Gatsby's death?

Hmm...the wording of this question is a bit difficult to decipher, namely the part that asks the answerer to "...sort out the results of Gatsby's death?"  Personally, I don't think that Gatsby's death has much of result that needs to be sorted out.  That is what is so tragic about it.


Think about it: who really cared that "the great" Gatsby was dead? Daisy sorted out her own situation by essentially running away with Tom.  Gatsby's business affairs were never legitimate, so there are no problems with that (though, I suppose, someone will eventually have to sort out his various dealings.)  He had no wife or kids, so there was no problem of who to give his things to (his dad was the only real relative he had who was alive.)  His old friends and business associates abandon him and wouldn't even attend his funeral.  Only Nick stayed interested in the "legacy" of Gatsby.


So you can see why the question of "sorting out" the results of Gatsby's death is a difficult one to answer.  Very simplistically, the beginning of the chapter was written by Nick several years later with an eye toward answering a few questions about what Gatsby was like a kid (when the dad reveals his son's childhood journal) and how his friends reacted to his death (indifferently).


It is the "falling action" part of the story and tries to tie up a few loose ends.

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