The Great Gatsby question

I think that the pool symbolizes the rebirth of Gatsby's ability to dream, an ability that has inexplicably left him early in life after he attached all his dreams to Daisy. Therefore he can never acquire this ability again and because of that reason, and that reason alone, he dies.

I think he had already died inside even before the shooting at the pool... And he died alone, showing that no one really cared about Gatsby despite his big, lavish parties and popular name. Except maybe for Nick. He was really the only one true friend Gatsby ever had..... The funeral scene was sad. Nobody else showed up. How cruel. :S And Daisy..... UGH how could she treat him with such indifference after everything?

Gatsby death is different from Myrtle's death, which only occurred a few chapter's before. It is crucial to take in account that throughout the whole novel all of Gatsby's actions have been portrayed through Nick's elaborate language and so has his death. His death is romanticised as well as being sanitised. Death is not exactly referred, as this allows for a very tranquil scene to be depicted. Water has a very serene and peaceful connotations, so making his life end in water gives this tranquil element that his life lacked. Moreover, a pool is an artificial representation of a sea-- so in a sense it acts a parallel to Gatsby's phoney life.

Odd comment above: "he wanted what he couldn't have even though he supposedly had everything it just wasn't all. Thus he was dead". How does that make one 'dead'? Geez. You can be hungry for something 'unattainable' still without being 'dead'. The metaphor with Pluto/Plutocrat/underworld/wealth is nice, but not exact. Gatsby is still human and still yearning (reaffirmed by the musings at the end of the book).

Most every other speculation in this thread is worth raising and even worth supporting--they nearly all sound fair to me--but what I remember about that phase of the novel is that Daisy had just given him a stunning, stinging abnegation of his plans for them; she had rejected his dreams.

What is his state of mind as he goes to the pool that day? Isolated and alone; yes. Chagrined; rueing the setback he had just received.

But I recall him (shortly before the swim) still being insistent--when discussing the matter with Nick--that Daisy would come around; that her statement about Tom would eventually be overturned; that he would convince her somehow. He hadn't given up; he wasn't beaten.

So the tiny and diminutive body of water he consoles himself with--yes, its a forlorn gesture--but indicates to me that he is still clinging to his dreams and his overall goal of re-birth; re-gaining; re-acquiring his lost past.

Good discussion. Phooey on the ludicrous poster who claims the novel is deeply flawed, my god the sheer arrogance. Lame.

When I first read that part, my first reaction was that it must be a mistake and that Gatsby would turn up alive somehow. When he didn't, I was kind of surprised. In a way I think Willson did him a favor by ending his sad life of having everything except for the one thing he really wanted.

Really didn't like this book.
Gatsby is just dumb (he should have moved on...)
And the girl is not worth longing for.

can we use a bit of brains when posting? a thread titled Gatsby's Death pretty much gives away that Gatsby dies. not everyone has read it, lets use a bit of consideration when posting please?

The Great Gatsby is full of symbolism--colors, cars, music, water--so yes, the pool is significant. As mentioned, Gatsby hails from the shores of Lake Superior, lives on Long Island Sound, and dies in a pool: an artificial body of water that is part of the fantasy world he made real. It's also wildly ironic that the murderer is the only character who seems to care about conventional morality.

Water has been a transformative medium throughout Gatz/by's life. Young James seized control of his destiny by purposefully diving in and boarding Dan Cody's yacht. But the vast watery expanse of his youth has symbolically shrunk into a recreational contrivance, a swimming pool. Defeated, he swims backward in time and development, regressively enclosed by an amniotic sac. I also think that final tableau is mock-classical. In ancient times, a fallen hero's remains might be sent off to sea on a funereal barge with great decorum. Our hero dies athwart a gaudy pool prop.

So who cares what eons of human experience have to say about material pride and class struggle, when the lust of aspiration compels even the best of us to struggle against the tide?

I'm with Geoffrey on book specifics. Since Gatsby mentions that he hadn't been in the pool all summer, and it's his first swim - I think it symbolizes a fresh start, perhaps doing something for himself and stripping off the "clothing" of this image he had created for himself in order to win Daisy. Trying to wash the death and deceit off of him.

The pool is a sign of his rococo indulgence. Whether it's a wardrobe full of colorful dress shirts or a blender that juices fruit with the touch of a butler's finger, he has to have everything. At the end, of course, he has nothing. The green light is the symbol of optimism, not the pool. The pool is just a more photogenic valley of ashes.

I think Geoffrey is on to something. No need to dig for such deep symbolism. The book puts forth a rather dreary, materialistic view of life (very popular in the early twentieth century) and Gatsby's dead body in the pool has finally given the pool a use for that summer. Sad, trifling and meaningless, consistent with the theme of the book.

I've read it twice and never picked up on that. Nice one, Geoffrey!

I hated it! It was so sad, he was all alone and no one was really there who knew him or would stand for him or miss him.

A pool represents the upper middle class so I thought it was sad to see that Gatsby dies in the state that he always wanted to be in rather than what he thought would make him happy.

I`ve read the book once again only a few days ago, prompted mostly by this particular message thread. I still don`t particularly like the book, but truthfully my repugnance is somewhat lessened.
There are numerous mistakes, mischaracterizations, and fallacies in the book which made it problematic for me. I am not sure if the mistakes were Fitzgeralds or those of the characters. To give the man partial credit, I will dub the mistakes belonging to the characters themselves.
Take for instance Gatsby`s initial revelations to his persona to Nick. He says he is from the midwest, but yet when pressed, says yes, he is from San Francisco. The implication is clear. Nick does not know that San Francisco is not the Mid-West. Yet at the end, the Mr. Gatz speaks of his son`s childhood ambitions and early program of self-improvement, we can hardly credit the adult Gatsby as being the same as his youthful counterpart. A self-made man does not neglect his geographical knowledge, especially one as worldly as Gatsby.
This is one of many mistakes that Fitzgerald makes in construing his characters. The book is deeply flawed from beginning to end.

Gatsby was always dead because he lived far too large. He was an idealist he wanted what he couldn't have even though he supposedly had everything it just wasn't all. Thus he was dead. He couldn't be sustained. The pool is about rebirth and renewal and cleansing- all that icky blood and sentiment is being washed away. More important to the story is the use of the green light- that is what is interesting and alive.

I felt that he was alone. Aside from his friend he was almost always alone. Alone in person, and in his dreams.

I thought it reflected his utter isolation from regular life. He floated in that pool, away from everyone, an artificial little spot -- just like his phony life.

I agree with Robin, that I can't see any baptismal elements, since he dies there. Nothing is born, just the end of a stillborn fantasy that went nowhere other than turning a few lives upside-down.

The pool to me represented his wealth, and opulence, and tragically that is where he got shot by Wilson. Just my take on the question. I didn't see any symbolism of renewal of life, etc. To me it spoke of the quote you are born alone, and you die alone.

Bit of an irony here. Gatsby repeatedly says to Nick that the pool has had no use that summer.

Well, Gatsby was always quite optimistic, even until the end. He always had this vision of Daisy even though it never came to be, and Nick respected Gatsby's sense of hope. So, when Wilson kills Gatsby, it almost gives Gatsby more of a large than life persona because unlike many of the phonies in the novel (Daisy, Tom, Jordan), Gatsby fights for his vision until the end. It's an interesting perspective you bring up though; oddly, I sense that Nick has a baptism of sorts, because he firmly can believe that Gatsby stood for something and, meanwhile, get on with his life after this tragic occurrence.