Chapter 8 Page 147-162

Chapter 8 Page 147-162


Nick goes to Gatsby's house when Gatsby returns from Tom and Daisy's in the middle of the night. Nothing happened at the Buchanan's, and Gatsby goes on to tell Nick about his past. After talking all night, Nick must leave, but first tells Gatsby that he is worth more than the whole crowd they hand around with. At work, Daisy calls, and they have an awkward conversation that later results in their breaking up. WIlson, who had gone missing from the garage, acquired information about Gatsby and his car while he was out. When Tom returns to Gatsby's house, he and the house servants find Gatsby dead in the pool and Wilson dead in the grass.


Michaelis


`Still later Michaelis had to ask the last stranger to wait there fifteen minutes longer, while he went back to his own place and made up a cup of coffee. After that, he stayed there alone with Wilson until dawn" (Fitzgerald 156).


Michaelis is a very caring man. After the accident, he has given up his own time to help out with the investigation and look after George. Michaelis appears to be a honest, hard-working man, who puts others before him.


Michaelis is one of the only characters, other than Nick, who Gatsby shows as honest. He provides an account of the accident first hand and gives us access to what is going on in George's head after it. Michaelis tries to get George to talk after the accident, and through his questions, we learn that George doesn't believe there is a God and about their marriage. We learn that George knew that Myrtle was cheating on him and that he had been destroyed internally.


"He had intended, probably, to take what he could and go--but now he found that he had commiteed himself to the following of a grail. He knew that Daisy was extraordinary, but he didn't realize just how extraordinary a "nice" girl could be" (Fitzgerald 149). Gatsby says this when he tells Nick about his entire past. It shows that he never thought he would fall for Daisy at first. Gatsby fell in love with her, and after he left her, he built her up so much that she could not fill his dream of her. She became a 'grail' which is something so perfect it is nearly impossible to get. He thought of her as just a nice girl at first, but then realized that she was different. She was extraordinary, and that changed the course of his life.