The roaring twenties was known for its drastic change in lifestyle, financial excesses, and the pushing of boundaries by all that lived during the era. We see all three of these aspects perfectly portrayed in The Great Gatsby, a novel by Francis Scott Fitzgerald. In this novel, the main character Jay Gatsby is shot by George Wilson. Even though Gatsby was physically killed by Wilson, there are many other characters who contributed to the end of his physical and metaphysical life. .
Daisy Buchannan played a very active role in both killing Gatsby and his dream. Being the careless person that she is, Daisy was not very cautious of Tom, her husband, seeing her affair with Gatsby. Knowing of the affair, Tom was angered that he was losing Daisy to another man. "She realized at last what she was doing- and as though she had never, all along, intended doing anything at all" (Fitzgerald 139). Daisy also lead Gatsby on and made him believe that there was a chance that she would leave Tom. She was allowing Gatsby to believe that his dream and their future life together could become a reality. But, Gatsby's dream was killed when he realized that Daisy was not the same girl he had pictured in his mind when he said "You loved me too?" (Fitzgerald 140). Gatsby never believed that Daisy could love anybody but himself because in his dream she had waited for him to come back to her. This took Gatsby by surprise because now his dream has became something intangible. One of the major ways Daisy ended Gatsby's physical life was when she killed Myrtle in his car. "Anyhow- Daisy stepped on it. I tried to make her stop but she couldn't so I pulled on the emergency brake" (Fitzgerald 151). By Daisy murdering Myrtle, Wilson was driven to revenge his wife's death. Daisy allowed Gatsby to cover for her careless and selfish action too. This set up Gatsby as the target to Wilson's revenge.
