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The Great Gatsby · 2013 — Chapter 16 of 18 · 4'12" · B1

The Yellow Car After the Crash, Explained: pull yourself together

After a woman is struck and killed, the crowd at the wreck settles on one detail: "It was a yellow car." Wilson, barely holding together, insists he already knows whose it is — and someone names Gatsby. Sympathy turns into a verdict in a single breath: he must have done it, so he'll pay.

What happens

A fatal crash has drawn a crowd. Wilson's wife is dead in the road, and onlookers trade the one detail they agree on: a big yellow car. Wilson keeps saying he knows the make. Then someone supplies a name — Gatsby — and the talk turns from accident to murder, with a promise that he'll pay.

Crime scenesAccusationsThreateningComfortingB1slowamericanClean
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Listen for

pull yourself togetherpeace and quietfooling around withclear out

00:00 / 04:12
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Phrase of the scene

pull yourself together

振作起来；冷静下来

威尔逊得知妻子死讯后彻底失控，旁人冲他喊这句话要他冷静。

Pull yourself together and we'll get through this.

Also in this scene

  • peace and quiet

    清静；安宁

  • fooling around with

    和……鬼混；乱搞

  • clear out

    to empty a place, or to order someone to leave

Everything marked in this scene

32 notes across 65 lines

Phrase · B1up aheadBad trouble up ahead, sir!
Phrase · B2have a little businessGood. Wilson'll have a little business at last.
Phrase · B1take a look at somethingLet's take a look.
Soundtake a look

liaison

Let's take a look.
Phrase · B2must weOh, must we?
Phrase · B1just a lookJust a look.
Phrase · B2have a little respectHave a little respect!
Phrase · B2have a legitimate reasonIf you don't have a legitimate reason to be in the building...
Grammar · B2If you don't have a legitimate reason to be in the building

real conditional

If you don't have a legitimate reason to be in the building...
Phrase · B1talk to someone about somethingIf you saw anything tonight you'd like to talk to me about, well, then you can...
Phrase · B2make roomMake some room, huh? Make some room back there!
Phrase · B2clear out

to empty a place, or to order someone to leave

If you have no business, clear out!
Soundclear out

liaison

If you have no business, clear out!
Phrase · B1run out into somethingShe ran out in the road.
Phrase · B1what kind of somethingI know what kind of car it was.
Phrase · B2pull oneself together- Just pull yourself together! - I know what kind of car it was!
Grammar · B2Just pull yourself together

imperative

- Just pull yourself together! - I know what kind of car it was!
Phrase · B2need peace and quietCan't you see the man needs peace and quiet?
Soundpeace and quiet

elision

Can't you see the man needs peace and quiet?
Phrase · B1just got hereWilson! I just got here from New York.
Phrase · B1get someone a drinkGet him a drink. Get him a drink.
Phrase · B1it wasn't mineThat yellow car wasn't mine!
Grammar · B1That yellow car wasn't mine

past negative

That yellow car wasn't mine!
Phrase · B2leave someone aloneLeave us alone.
Slang · B1fellaA fella named Gatsby.
Phrase · B2a crookHe's a crook, George.
Slang · B2crookHe's a crook, George.
Phrase · B2fool around with someoneMaybe he was the one that was fooling around with Myrtle.
Phrase · B1who knowsGuy like that, who knows?
Phrase · B1didn't have to do somethingHe didn't have to kill her.
Phrase · B2something ought to be done about somethingSomething ought to be done about a fella like that.
Phrase · B1someone will payHe'll pay.

The Yellow Car After the Crash, explained

What's really going on

The scene is a study in how a story becomes a fact. No one saw a driver; the crowd only saw a car, and "I saw it. It was a yellow car" is enough for a town to settle on the owner of that color. Wilson, stunned, repeats that he knows the vehicle, and the bystanders finish the thought for him: if the car is Gatsby's, Gatsby is guilty, and if Gatsby is guilty, Gatsby will pay. Nick's narration lets the leap stand without correcting it, which is exactly the film's point — grief and gossip, not evidence, do the convicting here. Even the sympathetic impulse, "Can't you see the man needs peace and quiet?", is about clearing the room, not about the truth.

Theme

Death & griefWilson is destroyed by his wife's death and can barely speak, while the crowd keeps pushing questions at him.
LiesA car and a rumor become a verdict; nobody checks who was actually driving before naming Gatsby.

What you'll learn

  • Use pull yourself together to calm someone
  • Hear he'll pay as a threat
  • Use fool around with for an affair
  • Catch Tom pinning the yellow car

Listen for

  • take a look — liaison
  • clear out — liaison
  • peace and quiet — elision
I saw it. It was a yellow car.

The one detail everyone agrees on, offered as eyewitness proof — though it identifies the car, not the driver.

I know what kind of car it was.

Wilson's stunned certainty: he doesn't need to be told, because he recognizes the car that killed his wife.

Can't you see the man needs peace and quiet?

A call to clear the room and let Wilson grieve, spoken as a rebuke to the crowd pressing in.

Something ought to be done about a fella like that.

The crowd's verdict hardening into a plan: Gatsby is already guilty and someone should act on it.

Questions about this scene

Who was actually driving the yellow car?

Daisy was driving when the car hit Myrtle; Gatsby takes the blame to protect her. The crowd at the wreck has none of this information, which is why their certainty is so dangerous.

Why does Wilson believe Gatsby killed Myrtle?

He grieves by grasping at the one clue he understands: the yellow car. Once someone tells him the car is Gatsby's, Wilson supplies the motive — that Gatsby was the man fooling around with Myrtle — and the story closes.

Does Tom know the truth about the accident?

Tom is at the scene and hears the crowd name Gatsby. He doesn't correct them. Whether he knows Daisy was driving is left ambiguous, but he does nothing to protect Gatsby.

What does the crowd's behavior say about the film's world?

People reach a judgment in minutes, on almost no evidence, and then act. The party world that looked glamorous earlier now looks like a mob deciding who should pay.

The Great Gatsby · 18 chapters

All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 17keep your voice downGatsby Waits Outside Daisy's House
Chapter 1reserve all judgmentsNick Begins His StoryChapter 2have the decencyNick Dines with the BuchanansChapter 3sit on the sidelineTom's Secret Apartment PartyChapter 4old sportNick Searches for GatsbyChapter 5a pack of liesGatsby Tells Nick His Life StoryChapter 6keeps his mouth shutGatsby's Lunch with a GamblerChapter 7pomp and circumstanceJordan Tells Gatsby's BackstoryChapter 8acting like a little boyGatsby's Awkward Reunion with DaisyChapter 9If it wasn't forGatsby Shows Daisy His MansionChapter 10to your likingTom and Daisy Join Gatsby's PartyChapter 11make a point ofDaisy Wants to Run AwayChapter 12repeat the pastGatsby Refuses to Let the Past GoChapter 13Have it your own wayGatsby Meets Tom at LunchChapter 14Nobody From NowhereTom Calls Gatsby Nobody From NowhereChapter 15in our bloodTom Exposes Gatsby at the HotelWatching · Chapter 16pull yourself togetherThe Yellow Car After the CrashChapter 17keep your voice downGatsby Waits Outside Daisy's HouseChapter 18made something of myselfGatsby Keeps Vigil Until Dawn
Chapter 16 of 18 · about 7 min to go