Characters

NICK CARRAWAY

  • Nick Caraway is the main character in The Great Gatsby as he is, in fact, the narrator. When we first get to know about Nick he reveals information his father told him that he has so called stuck by throughout his life. “Whenever you feel like criticising anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” Nick Caraway resides in a house located in West Egg, Long Island which he states to be “-the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them.” Near the beginning of the novel, we learn that Nick came from a wealthy family and he attended Yale and then got into Bonding. Throughout the book,  we learn that Nick is relatively quiet and reserved but yet he is very observant of those around him. When Nick first sees Gatsby he is standing out on their dock staring out at a green light that is located on East egg very close to Daisy’s house. Further in the novel, Nick goes on a trip to Manhattan with Tom where he finds himself going to a party in a hotel drinking alcohol with a few of Toms friends. During this experience, he witnesses Tom’s relationship with his mistress Myrtle in which he physically abuses her. In Chapter 3 Nick gets an invitation from Gatsby himself to attend one of the extravagant parties that Jay held at his house every week. At this party, Nick finally gets to meet Gatsby himself where he makes this observation of Gatsby “He smiled understandingly – much more understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.” This tells us that Nick and Gatsby are most likely to have a friendship as Nick is already quite fond of Jay. Nick continue to spend time with both the Buchanan’s and Gatsby as the Daisy and Jays affair become more evident yet he avoids getting into the middle of arguments or conflicts.
  • Nick is one of the characters in the Great Gatsby who lives in reality and not so much in illusion, he does not let money and materialistic items control who he is or how he lives. When he says “They’re a rotten crowd. You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.” showing us that he understands what money can do to people and how it can change the way they present them selfs as a person.

JAY GATSBY

  • In The Great Gatsby, the character that is predominantly focused on is Jay Gatsby. Jay resides in a large mansion located next to Nick Carraway. When Jay was younger he was a part of a poor family in North Dakota but the life Gatz had wasn’t the one he wanted; he wanted to be successful, to be known, so he changed his name and learnt the ways of a rich yacht owner. After this Gats went to war where he met Daisy and he promised when he left that he would wait for her hoping that she wouldn’t forget him. 5 Years later Jay convinces Nick who is Daisy’s, cousin, to organise a time for them to reunite. As soon a Gatsby meets Daisy again his love for her flourishes once again and he becomes more obsessed with her more than before. Gatsby is then faced with the problem that Daisy is married so he starts getting competitive to win Daisy’s, heart. Slowly Gatsby’s life starts falling apart because he changed is life so attract Daisy in the hope to have her back in his life again but now that she’s withdrawing from him what he spent so long perfecting is crumbling to pieces. Most of what we learn about Jay is based around an obsession with Daisy Buchanan and how it flourishes but then dramatically disintegrates. Gatsby changed his lifestyle is personality and everything he owned and did for Daisy because he thought that if he was the perfect gentleman with lots of money and fame Daisy would come running to him wanting him back but that didn’t necessarily happen, although we began to see they’re love for each other Daisy slowly begins realise that she doesn’t know what she wants or if Gatsby is even the man for her. In the novel, Nick Carraway shows us that Jay is realising he’s losing Daisy by saying “He is seeing things through new eyes. He is seeing the world without the filter of Daisy.’ by saying this we can see that Gatsby has always seen the world with Daisy in it and now he’s beginning to see it without Daisy and to him it’s a completely new world. 
  • Jay’s love for Daisy is one of the main examples of illusion in The Great Gatsby. He believed that Daisy would be waiting for him when he got back from the war, when he arrived home he created this extravagant and wealthy life and he then ensures Nick “I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before.” when what he is striving to have and become was in the past and you cannot get the past back so Gatsby is an illusion to himself and by the end of chapter 7 Daisy’s love for Gatsby is no longer then, bringing him to reality to see once again “He is seeing the world without the filter of Daisy”, a filter he had seen through since they first met.

DAISY BUCHANNAN

  • Daisy is the main female character in The Great Gatsby and is Gatsby’s only obsession, Although Daisy is somewhat the centre of the novel we don’t learn very much about her, she seems to have a lot of secret that she is not willing to tell anyone and when she is put in situations between Tom and Jay she doesn’t know what to do or say because she wants to make Gatsby happy but also doesn’t want to ruin her marriage with Tom Buchanan. Though she portrays an image of flawlessness and perfection, in reality, she is far from that, with her selfishness and materialism we slowly become aware of who Daisy really is. Although she did once have strong feelings for Jay her life changed and she fell in love with a wealthy man from Minnesota who studied at Yale and fought in World War 1, those feelings for Gatsby slowly drifted back into her mind as she didn’t expect to come encounter with Gatsby, but in fact she did but she has to decide whether or not those feelings she once had are still there and strong enough to cause her to run back to the past. In Chapter 1 we first meet Daisy when Nick Carraway goes to her has on East Egg and her and Jordan Baker are both on a white sofa surrounded by white while dressed in white themselves. From this scene, we get the sense that Daisy is pure as the flower daisy is in fact white which seems to back up our prediction but as the novel continues Daisy’s true side shows and our opinion of Daisy changes.
  • Daisy displays illusion with her belief that her life is full of happiness, As the reader we are illuded by Daisy perfection at the beginning she seems like an angel, like the perfect most flawless woman that two men love very much but as we learn about her materialism we are shown that in reality Daisy is ugly on the inside, she is selfish and run by money and materialistic things. The more we find out about Daisy the more we realise she isn’t as perfect as a Daisy she is like a rose, pretty at sight when you try to have it, you get hurt because of the thorns, yet you still want it because of the beauty it reflects at first sight.

GATSBY & DAISY

  • When Daisy and Gatsby first meet 5 years previous to the novel they fell in love very quickly but at the time Jay was serving in the war so he had to part with Daisy in the hope that they would one day meet again and have a life together.  Gatsby became obsessed with Daisy and would go out of his way to ensure he had the lifestyle to attract her, He committed illegal crimes to gain money to sustain the extravagant life he had created for himself but most of all Daisy. Unfortunately, at the time, he was apart from Daisy she fell in love with another man whom she married and had a child with. Unknown to Gatsby her feelings for him had faded and remained in the past. But Gatsby could not let go of the past he had to have Daisy so he persisted and went to great lengths in the hope Daisy would change her mind. Daisy didn’t want to let Gatsby down but she also couldn’t leave her husband Tom so Daisy put a mask over her true self and in the scene where Gatsby throws an array of shirts down onto Daisy she says ”They’re such beautiful shirts,” she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such—such beautiful shirts before.” this shows us not only Daisy’s selfish, materialistic side it also shows us that she isn’t willing to tell Gatsby the truth but they continue to spend time with each other. Near the end of the novel Daisy hits Myrtle with Gatsby car while driving, Jay still thought there was a strong chance of them being together to the point where he covered up Daisy’s murder but unfortunately for Gatsby Daisy never fully opened up to anyone and she began to act like Gats didn’t even exist.

NICK AND GATSBY

  • When Nick moves into his house on West Egg next to Gatsby he is oblivious to Gatsby’s plans. later n the novel after Nick hears about Gats from other people he is personally invited to one of Jay’s parties that he holds every week. While there he sees Jordan Baker again whom Gatsby has spoken to and has asked jordan to ask a favor of nick which nick accepts. This favour is for nick to invite Daisy to his house where Gats can meet her again. Basically Gatby uses Nick to finalise his dream of being with Daisy. Nick begins to observe gatsby and starts spending more time with Gatsby to find out he isnt as perfect as everyone thinks yet Nick becomes very fond of him as he can see gatsby likes him very much. Nick observes Gatsby so much that he notices the minor details. when both meet, Nick says that Jay has “one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.” most people would not make observations like this on a first encounter. Nick experiences a few of the dodgy things gatsby does to sustain his lifestyle that he has strung together over many years and can tell that it is crumbling to pieces around him but yet stays reserved and never really questions Jays decisions.

NICK & JORDAN

  • When Nick and Jordan first meet at the Buchannans house Nick is attracted to Jordans beauty, as they become closer Nick can really see Jordan becoming a part of his life. In the novel it isnt vert obvious that they begin dating as they’re relationship isnt as prominant as other in the novel. Theyre reationship was slowly drifting apart and being forgotten about becuase of of these realtionship and as Nick saw what Jordan was like and how her selfishness overtook her became to dislike her more and more. Not hearing too much about jordan and nicks realtionship we are unable to have a full insight on how they felt.

 

 

 

 

 

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