The climax of a story is when the conflict is brought to a head, and the solution to the conflict is revealed. Using this definition, the climax of The Great Gatsby would be when Gatsby is shot by Wilson. Although some would argue that the accident involving Myrtle would be the climax, I would have to disagree. There is still a major conflict left after Myrtle dies. Yes, Tom no longer has his mistress to cheat on Daisy with, but Daisy still has to make her choice to go with Gatsby, or to stay with Tom. The novel suggests multiple times that Daisy did not truly love Tom, but she stayed with him still. It would have been a terribly hard decision for Daisy to make, between the two men, but she did not have to. The blaring conflict of mistrust in the couple is brought to a head when Gatsby dies. This is how Daisy makes her decision. It is forced upon her. Since she was staying to the corrupt side that is Tom, she was punished, by not being able to walk the other path. However, one could speculate that the other path would never have been available, if Tom had still sent Wilson to murder Gatsby. Either way, Daisy's choice would be made. This shows the conflict, in its truest and ugliest form, and it also points toward the direction in which the resolution will take the reader. That is why one should consider Gatsby's death to be the climax of this story.