Chapter 9

Summary

  • two years after Gatsby has been killed, Nick gives a description of Gatsby‘s funeral
  • after the murder, Gatsby‘s mansion is a magnet to reporters, journalists and gossipmongers
  • wild speculations involving even Myrtle and George surround him - even more elaborate and extravagant than during the time he threw his parties
  • because Nick thinks that Gatsby would not want to be alone during his funeral, Nick reaches out to several friends and acquaintances but hardly anyone shows up - they are either gone like the Buchanans who moved away without anyone knowing where they moved to or they refuse to come such as Meyer Wolfsheim
  • only Nick, Owl Eyes, some servants and Gatsby‘s father Henry C. Gatz attend Gatsby‘s funeral
  • Gatsby‘s father claims that he is very proud of him and saves a picture of Gatsby‘s house
  • also, he tells Nick a few stories about Gatsby‘s life back home and he shows Nick a book that contains Gatsby‘s schedule for self-improvement
  • Nick is ultimately repelled by the East and its empty values and moves back to the Midwest
  • he also stops seeing Jordan who claims that she is engaged anyways
  • when Nick meets Tom in the city, he initially refuses to shake his hand but does so after a bit
  • Tom tells Nick that it was him who told George Wilson that Gatsby owned the car which was responsible for killing Myrtle
  • in addition, Tom twists the narrative around and claims that he suffered greatly when he had to give up his lover‘s apartment in the city and that Gatsby deserved to die
  • Nick concludes that the Buchanans are careless and void and thus willingly destroy others because they know that their money will protect them from any consequences
  • actually, Nick considers the story as a story of the West since it deals with the effect that the East has on people coming from the West and since the fast-paced lifestyle shapes a person‘s behavior
  • in Nick‘s opinion, the West is much more traditional (snowy days, trains and Christmas wreaths come up in his mind) in comparison to the corrupted and distorted East
  • on his last night, Nick visits Gatsby‘s mansion and lays down on the beach, looking up at the stars
  • he imagines how the country must have looked like when the first settlers came there and thinks about the fact that America used to be a goal for all those dreamers and adventurers and compares it to Daisy who used to be a goal for Gatsby
  • Nick compares the green land of America to Daisy‘s green light at the dock and muses that Gatsby failed to acknowledge that his dream had died and that it was, in fact, hollow and empty
  • when Nick pictures all the people who attempt to achieve their dream in the future, he imagines their struggle to establish such a future as boats who ceaselessly move against the water which inevitably carries them back into their pasts

Function

  • America as a geographical entity
    • the different regions symbolize different values
    • the Midwest is traditional and dull
    • the East consists of a glittering surface but lacks a profound, moral core
  • Nick as a man of integrity and principles
    • although Nick tends to sway from being moral and honest, his values are so deeply rooted in the past that he is able to comprehend close to everything that happens in the novel
    • in the end, he understands that Tom and the people and class he represents are just children which is why he shakes his hand
  • displayal of the downside to the American dream and how drive and ambition can go too far
    • people have exploited Gatsby by coming to his parties, drinking his liquor and in general took advantage of him
    • while they showed no respect during the parties (no one even knew Gatsby), they also treat him with disrespect after he died (no one shows up at his party, someone writes an obscene word on a stone plate of his mansion)
Aus: F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby, Wordsworth Classics, 1993, London