Summary
Nick confronts Gatsby about the fact that he and Daisy just drove off after killing Myrtle, and Gatsby replies, "All I can see is Daisy," and it becomes clear that Daisy was definitely driving when Myrtle was killed. "She thought it would help steady her to drive," Gatsby says, telling the story of what happened.
We see the green light outside the Buchanan residence. Inside, Tom and Daisy hold hands at the table. At Gatsby's, Gatsby tells Nick that Daisy never loved Tom, and that Daisy's home in Louisville was the most beautiful house he'd ever seen. Nick advises Gatsby to go away somewhere, like Montreal, until the scandal has blown over, but Gatsby is sure that Daisy will leave Tom soon and come to him.
Wilson goes to the Buchanan estate looking for the yellow car that killed Myrtle. Daisy and Tom sit eating breakfast, when suddenly Daisy is startled to see Wilson staring at them through the window. Tom goes out to talk to Wilson, and Daisy asks a servant girl to identify Wilson. "That's Mr. Wilson, from the garage out by the big sign," the servant says. As Wilson and Tom argue, Daisy gasps in fear and runs from the room sobbing. Her daughter runs into the room crying about not liking her dress.
Gatsby comments on the fact that the summer is almost over, before saying, "Makes you want to...reach out and hold it back." Nick responds, "There'll be other summers." When Gatsby wants to go for a swim, Nick declines and goes home. Before he gets over to his house, Gatsby thanks him. "They're a rotten crowd, you're worth the whole damn bunch put together," Nick calls back to Gatsby.
Gatsby puts a record on and goes for a swim in his pool. All of a sudden, he thinks he hears Daisy saying she loves him, and turns around on the raft he is floating on.
We see Wilson enter Gatsby's house and look at the record playing, before pulling a gun out of a paper bag. He shoots Gatsby in the back several times and Gatsby falls into the water, dead. Wilson then shoots and kills himself.
Nick narrates that policemen and reporters took over Gatsby's house that day. Nick tries to call Daisy, but a servant informs him that Daisy and Tom have left town. Nick watches Gatsby's body get carried out of his home as we hear him narrate in voiceover, "All I could think of was his extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person, and which it is not likely I shall ever find again."
Nick calls Wolfsheim the next day to invite him to the funeral, but he declines. Standing in Gatsby's house in mourning clothes, Nick shoos some young boys away after they write "Shit" on a bench in Gatsby's yard. A car pulls up in front of the mansion, and an old man comes in saying that he is Gatsby's father. Gatsby's father comes in and tells Nick that Gatsby ran away from home when he was young, but that he was very generous after finding success. "If he lived, he'd have helped build up the country," Gatsby's father says mournfully. Suddenly, Mr. Gatsby notices a photograph of Daisy and asks who she is.
Nick drives Gatsby's father through the valley of ashes, and the father tells him that his real name is "Gatz." Gatz tells Nick that Gatsby would want to be buried in the East, and Nick tells him that they were close friends. As they drive by Wilson's garage, Nick notices a woman coming out, but doesn't recognize her. Gatz shows Nick a book about upward mobility that Gatsby had loved. We see Gatz crying at his son's grave.
Nick gets lunch with Jordan, and tells her about the fact that Daisy did not respond to Gatsby's death. "They're careless people, Tom and Daisy," he says, "They smash things up and then they retreat back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it is that keeps them together, leaving other people to clean up the mess." Jordan tells him they're going away, and he informs her that he's moving back West, saying, "I'm too squeamish and provincial for the East." Tom enters the lobby and comes over to greet Nick and Jordan. When he goes to shake Nick's hand, Nick declines and asks Tom what he told Wilson. "I told him the truth. If I hadn't told him who owned the car, he would've killed me," Tom replies, still under the impression that Gatsby killed Myrtle.
As Nick is about to tell Tom that Daisy killed Myrtle, Daisy rushes over and greets him, apologizing for not getting in touch sooner and inviting him to their new house. Daisy goes off with Tom and her family.
That night, Nick goes and look at the green light on Daisy's dock from Gatsby's house. "His dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it," he narrates, "He did not know that it was already behind him."
Analysis
In this section, suspense builds around the question of whether Daisy will have to face the consequences of having killed Myrtle. The viewer sees the issue from all perspectives: we see Wilson plotting his revenge, then we see Gatsby and Nick talking about what happened, then Daisy and Tom reconciling and sitting down to breakfast. Because of the convoluted nature of the event, and the fact that the characters all have competing interests, it becomes unclear how events will shake out. The viewer wonders who will face the consequences for the murder: Gatsby? Tom? Daisy? As we see each group of characters in their respective homes dealing with the aftershock of Myrtle's death, a tone of unease and discomfort begins to take over.
From his rather neutral position within the coterie, Nick is better able to see the unfairness of the situation and sympathizes with the earnest-hearted Gatsby. While the two men do not know one another particularly well, there is a loyalty that each of them feels and a sympathy with one another's plight. As Nick leaves Gatsby's mansion on the day of Gatsby's death, Gatsby thanks him, and Nick assures him that he's worth more than any of the Buchanans. In insisting to the self-made poseur Gatsby that the crowd to which he aspires is "rotten," Nick lets his new acquaintance know that he is being treated unfairly, that his good intentions deserve a better reception than his ill treatment would suggest. While he has remained a neutral middle man for much of the film, here Nick shows his cards in telling Gatsby what he really thinks.
In a heartbreaking moment of dramatic irony, Wilson kills Gatsby as revenge for the death of his wife, Myrtle, after Tom leads him to believe that Gatsby did it. While the viewer knows that Gatsby was not driving at the time of Myrtle's death—that it was actually Daisy's fault—both Tom and Wilson believe that Gatsby is the heartless killer. Wilson goes to Gatsby's mansion and shoots him while he is in the pool, before Gatsby has even gotten a chance to defend himself. The viewer knows that Gatsby is not to blame for the accident, and that the chaos that has occurred is all the fault of Daisy and Tom's actions, but Gatsby suffers the consequences nonetheless.
After Gatsby's death, Nick outlines the eccentric striver's particular virtues in his narration about Gatsby, citing his "gift for hope" and his "romantic readiness" as the qualities that so set Gatsby apart in life. Gatsby has seemed rather unknowable throughout the film, like a single-minded phantom with his heart set on Daisy, but Nick assures the viewer that his identity goes deeper than it seems, and that Gatsby is distinguished by his special knack for positive thinking and hope. In his admiring description we can see Nick's respect for Gatsby. It also broadcasts the fact that these virtues, tragically, led to Gatsby's downfall. Gatsby's trust in the world was too great, and he did not live quite strategically enough to survive the difficulties that life presented.
In stark contrast to Gatsby's rose-colored glasses, his resilient and unflappable hope, is the cynicism and carelessness of the old money set, the Buchanans. While Gatsby allows his passion for Daisy to motivate and determine his life, Daisy and Tom live their lives in compliance with a more complicated and nefarious code, influenced by their wealth. Gatsby cannot think of living without Daisy, and creates an entire life and identity in pursuit of her. Daisy, on the other hand, moves on from the affair almost instantly, putting it in the past and fleeing off to her next home and engagement. Nick respects Gatsby precisely because he has both passion and a care for others, unlike Tom and Daisy, who do not confront or live with the consequences of their misdeeds.
