The Great Gatsby
Prompt #7 · The Great Gatsby
Prompt Type: Scene Analysis
When Myrtle runs into the road and is struck by Gatsby's yellow car driven by Daisy, Fitzgerald creates the novel's tragic turning point. Analyze how Fitzgerald uses this scene to illustrate the destructive consequences of the characters' carelessness. Explain how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Quote 1
“Michaelis and this man reached her first, but when they had torn open her shirtwaist, still damp with perspiration, they saw that her left breast was swinging loose like a flap, and there was no need to listen for the heart beneath. The mouth was wide open and ripped a little at the corners, as though she had choked a little in giving up the tremendous vitality she had stored so long.”
Chapter 7
Argument
This quote's graphic imagery of Myrtle's violent death underscores the irreversible physical destruction caused by Daisy's carelessness, serving as the climactic moment where the characters' moral decay manifests in literal carnage.
Quote 2
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made …”
Chapter 9
Argument
The narrator's direct condemnation of Tom and Daisy's carelessness encapsulates the broader thematic indictment of their privilege, framing the car accident as emblematic of their pattern of destruction and retreat.
Quote 3
Chapter 7
Argument
Gatsby's willingness to take the blame for Daisy exposes the tragic consequences of his devotion, illustrating how the characters' carelessness (Daisy's recklessness and Gatsby's blind loyalty) culminates in irreversible harm.
Quote 4
“I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”
Chapter 1
Argument
Daisy's cynical wish for her daughter to be 'a beautiful little fool' reflects her own cultivated carelessness, foreshadowing how her reckless actions (like the car accident) stem from a deliberate avoidance of responsibility and consequence.
Quote 5
Chapter 7
Argument
Gatsby's observation that Daisy's voice is 'full of money' underscores how her privilege enables her carelessness, linking her destructive actions (like fleeing the accident) to the insularity of wealth that shields her from accountability.