After returning home from the city, Gatsby eventually goes to bed after watching over Daisy until four in the morning to make sure that Tom would not harm her in any way. Nick is awoken by “savage, frightening dreams” and accompanies Jay who is upset about the previous night, to which he suggests that Jay leave town for a bit so as to escape from the trouble he has gotten into before the trouble comes looking for him. Jay rejects as “he couldn’t possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do” (p.148). Jay cannot leave town because he has worked so hard to make his house perfect so that when Daisy finally arrived she would feel right at home, and now that they have reconnected he must wait and always be there for her because in his eyes, she will have a revelation one day that Jay was always the man for her and that she was just fooling around and playing games with Tom. He then goes on to tell of his young love affair with Daisy, for “‘Jay Gatsby’ had broken up like glass against Tom’s hard malice, and the long secret extravaganza was played out” (p.148). Though he did meet Daisy first and stole her heart before Tom, Gatsby is not the controlling man that Tom is and will not force her into making the decisions that Tom prompts her to. Jay has been so used to her falling all over him and being head over heels for him that when Tom brings up the fact that she is in love with the both of them, Jay does not know what to think for that was never a thought that occurred to him. Gatsby met her when he was in a completely different social ranking than her, and though their love was more genuine, Tom prevailed in the race to the alter with Daisy as he was more relatable to her due to his social standing, and because of such was accepted by her parents, whereas Jay was not and because of so became a hurdle in their relationship. Daisy’s name is symbolic of her relationship with Jay as it is a flower which blooms with the seasons but eventually withers away: the youthful love affair between Daisy and Gatsby was so beautiful and full of excitement and romance, but eventually died out because someone else had the chance to pick her from the garden before he did, and ultimately lost the love of his life.
The storyline then shifts to the night of the murder and explains that Mr. Wilson knew that Myrtle was not being faithful to him, he just did not know to whom she was devoting her time: “‘I told her she might fool me but she couldn’t fool God. I took her to the window and I said ‘God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing. You may fool me, but you can’t fool God!’’” (p.159). It is ironic that Wilson would suggest that God sees everything, because if he did believe that he would also believe that God rights people’s wrongs and deals everyone the justice they deserve. However, he takes matters into his own hands and searches for the man who killed his wife instead of allowing God to justly punish the murderer. Mr. Wilson discovers that Gatsby is the owner of the yellow car that killed his wife that night, finds his mansion, and shoots him in his own swimming pool, to which he immediately kills himself afterwards. Wilson knew all along that his wife had been having extramarital affairs but could not confront her with such allegations, as she would presumptuously deny them, and just as he was about to move away so that the two could be devoted solely to each other and revitalize their marriage, she had been killed. Instead of leaving the matters to God to deal with, Wilson took matters into his own hands as it was the only way he would be able to have control over something that was happening in his life, especially regarding his marriage, and the act of killing Gatsby them himself serves to represent that he would no longer allow people to take advantage of himself and to be walked over, for in doing such an act, Wilson asserted the fact that he is capable of defending himself and in a way protecting what he loves, for he was unable to protect his marriage from adultery and his wife from being killed.
The storyline then shifts to the night of the murder and explains that Mr. Wilson knew that Myrtle was not being faithful to him, he just did not know to whom she was devoting her time: “‘I told her she might fool me but she couldn’t fool God. I took her to the window and I said ‘God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing. You may fool me, but you can’t fool God!’’” (p.159). It is ironic that Wilson would suggest that God sees everything, because if he did believe that he would also believe that God rights people’s wrongs and deals everyone the justice they deserve. However, he takes matters into his own hands and searches for the man who killed his wife instead of allowing God to justly punish the murderer. Mr. Wilson discovers that Gatsby is the owner of the yellow car that killed his wife that night, finds his mansion, and shoots him in his own swimming pool, to which he immediately kills himself afterwards. Wilson knew all along that his wife had been having extramarital affairs but could not confront her with such allegations, as she would presumptuously deny them, and just as he was about to move away so that the two could be devoted solely to each other and revitalize their marriage, she had been killed. Instead of leaving the matters to God to deal with, Wilson took matters into his own hands as it was the only way he would be able to have control over something that was happening in his life, especially regarding his marriage, and the act of killing Gatsby them himself serves to represent that he would no longer allow people to take advantage of himself and to be walked over, for in doing such an act, Wilson asserted the fact that he is capable of defending himself and in a way protecting what he loves, for he was unable to protect his marriage from adultery and his wife from being killed.