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What are the themes of The Great Gatsby? What are the themes of The Great Gatsby?
The Great Gatsby is about the American dream The Great Gatsby is about the American dream
The Great Gatsby is about wealth The Great Gatsby is about wealth
The Great Gatsby is about love The Great Gatsby is about love
The Great Gatsby is about death The Great Gatsby is about death
The Great Gatsby is about social class The Great Gatsby is about social class
The Great Gatsby is about The Roaring Twenties The Great Gatsby is about The Roaring Twenties
The Great Gatsby is about materialism The Great Gatsby is about materialism
The Great Gatsby is about old money vs. new money The Great Gatsby is about old money vs. new money
The Great Gatsby is about Jay Gatsby's love for Daisy Buchanan The Great Gatsby is about Jay Gatsby's love for Daisy Buchanan
The Great Gatsby is about Nick Carraway exploring his sexuality The Great Gatsby is about Nick Carraway exploring his sexuality
Jay Gatsby’s death is symbolic of the demise of the great American dream. Jay Gatsby’s death is symbolic of the demise of the great American dream.
Myrtle Wilson's death is one of the main themes of the Great Gatsby Myrtle Wilson's death is one of the main themes of the Great Gatsby
Jay Gatsby's rise to wealth and popularity shows that social class is the theme of the Great Gatsby Jay Gatsby's rise to wealth and popularity shows that social class is the theme of the Great Gatsby
Jay Gatsby's parties symbolize the shallowness of the upper class in The Great Gatsby Jay Gatsby's parties symbolize the shallowness of the upper class in The Great Gatsby
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What are the themes of The Great Gatsby?
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The Great Gatsby is about death

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Myrtle Wilson's death is one of the main themes of the Great Gatsby

The death of Myrtle Wilson triggered other tragic events.
The Great Gatsby book education literature reading
F. Scott Fitzgerald
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The Argument

Myrtle Wilson's death acts as a trigger, changing the direction of the novel. The hit and run creates tension and blame between characters.[1] Daisy was the person who hit Myrtle, but she was driving Gatsby's car. He took responsibility and claimed to be driving the car in order to protect her. Tom, despite knowing the truth, leads Myrtle's angry husband, George, straight to Gatsby to carry out revenge. Because Myrtle died, Gatsby died too.

Counter arguments

Even if Myrtle Wilson didn't die, another tragic event would have happened in its place. There was already tension between the characters, starting in New York City when Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby fight over who Daisy loves more. The characters were already having issues between them and would have most likely split up regardless.

Proponents

Premises

[P1] Myrtle Wilson's death triggers other events in the novel. [P2] Gatsby took the blame for killing Myrtle Wilson. [P3] Gatsby died because Myrtle Wilson died. [P4] Therefore, the theme of The Great Gatsby is death.

Rejecting the premises

References

  1. https://www.vqronline.org/essay/individual-responsibility-great-gatsby
This page was last edited on Thursday, 10 Sep 2020 at 11:07 UTC

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