Watched Gangs of New York for the 3rd time today. I didn’t understand the ending the first time I watched it but I do now. Here is my interpretation: Bill the Butcher planned his death and went out the way he wanted to. He tells the politician that he will “go down fighting” instead of ruining his father’s legacy. Bill the Butcher really loved Vallon (DiCaprio) because he was worthy of continuing Bill’s legacy of keeping 5 points in his native vision. You can see how much he loved Vallon when he opens up his most painful experience of looking away from Vallon’s father when he was about to be killed. He wanted to teach Vallon to be a man and not cowardly. Bill was heartbroken when he discovers that Vallon wants to kill him like a coward and also because Vallon won’t continue Bill’s legacy. You can see the heart break when he throws the knife at Vallon and flames are burning before Bill. Bill knew that the Irish would take over but didn’t want to live to be old and see his forefather’s legacy be defiled by the Irish culture. Bill doesn’t kill Vallon in hopes that Bill will be killed by an honorable man like when Bill killed Vallon’s father. Bill killed the Irish elected Sheriff but knew he couldn’t continue his rule because he will be outvoted . He just wanted to die an honorable death. There was a scene when Vallon could’ve killed Bill because he outnumbered him with his Irish gang but Vallon stops this and instead challenges him the same way Bill challenged Vallon’s father. This made Bill happy because he made a man out of Vallon and will get to die an honorable death. You can see that Bill dies willingly at the end. He dies by saying “Thank god. I died a true American”.
Submitted July 21, 2018 at 10:50AM by TheCourageousPilli https://ift.tt/2uDHa8b