Character Analysis in The Great Gatsby

Character Analysis in The Great Gatsby

Nick Carraway is one of the most significant characters in The Great Gatsby. He is placed both as a participant and a narrator. Nick is a dynamic character throughout the text. The author places him at a focal point of the action, while at the same time making him have a significant impact on the background. Gatsby is another significant character in the novel. He comes from North Dakota also in the Midwest. His father comes from Minnesota. Daisy Buchanan is a significant character in the novel as well. She may be described as a disappointing character to The Great Gatsby. Even though the author tries to make her the most attractive character to Gatsby, she is not the kind of person readers would expect to cause the significantly high emotional attraction Gatsby develops for her. Readers can learn about Daisy in the end when she reveals what she is. This essay describes some of the significant traits of the three characters.

Nick Carraway

At the initial parts of the text, Nick appears to be outside the action but during the final stages, he is made a significant driver of main themes. Nick is portrayed as a person from a background that seems to be relatively nondescript. He comes from Wisconsin or Minnesota and seems to have been raised on values that control a significant percentage of his life (Scott 3). He has stereotypical values of justice, hard work, and perseverance, attributes that appear to have originated from his childhood. Various factors may have led to his behaviours. The reasons appear to be relatively complex because they were caused by people who came much earlier than Nick in life. His character is significantly affected by the environment he grew up. His family first arrived in the U.S. in 1851 starting with a brother to his grandfather (Scott 4). The story takes place about 70 years after Carraways arrive in the country. Nick believes that most of his characters have been influenced by the current environment. That argument is based on the fact that most of Nick’s family members do not have similar attributes. During the Civil war, Nick was spared the responsibility to participate in the skirmishes (Scott 5). His family sent a “substitute” for that purpose. He was left home to start and run a family business.

The events happening in Nick’s life tell readers something about the Carraways. It shows that the community belonged to a particular social class. They were relatively wealthy because most of the people who sent substitutes were wealthy (Meehan 75). The reason for his “substitution” also shows that the community valued trade more than activities related to justice. They ignore the fact that the person sent to fight in place of Nick also has the right to life. They send the poor man to die in place of their own. This part is of significant importance to Nick’s characterization in the later parts of the novel where he is portrayed as a caring person (Meehan 75). He is portrayed as being calm and sensible enough to set goals and being practical enough to know when to quit.

Nick can be described as an ordinary or typical human. His goals in life tell readers something about his social status. He plans about things that are common to ordinary humans. After the First World War, he heads East in a bid to escape the monotony in the Midwest (Scott 7). He also believes that as a result, he may get better economic opportunities in the new world. He perceives the Midwest as being too quiet to give the kind of economic opportunities appropriate to his level of education. He is so learned and things that he should get significant benefits from life for that reason. He later shows another significant characteristic of an ordinary human by retreating to the west after staying in the city for a significantly short time.

Nick can be described as being principled. One of the significant factors that make him a remarkable person is the way he aspires for things he feels would make him happy without losing his original culture (Keshmiri 1295). For example, he moves with the socialites without letting himself to be blinded by their lifestyles. He was unwilling to completely associate with the socialites because he perceived them as being self-serving, uncaring, hollow, and shallow. He feels disgusted and decides to stop catering to them. He distances himself as well (Keshmiri 1298). His conscience guides most of his decisions related to interactions with other people. He ends up committing social suicide but distancing himself from people such as Jordan Baker and Buchanans.

Nick’s sense of morality is significantly different from those of other significant characters such as Jordan, Tom and Daisy. When he first meets with the stated characters in the first chapter, he seems to be significantly different from them. He appears to be more down to earth and practical in many ways (Keshmiri 1298). In chapter two he finds it difficult to respond to being introduced to Myrtle and Tom’s secret world. He also does not see the need to tell people about his past experiences with life. Some significant attributes are evident in chapter three as well. Nick appears to be less mercenary when he waits for an invitation to attend a party held by Gatsby (Aldifianto 12).  He gets invited and after attending, he appears to be struggling to identify his host. All the identified characteristics make nick, in one way or another, appear like an outsider in his environment.

Nick appears to have or lack many things that other characters have or lack, respectively. He has a significant sense of right and wrong, a factor that makes him stand out among other people (Salmose 67). He is the only character who sees the nature of many socialites as being unrealistic. He is also the only person who gets affected by the death of Gatsby. Almost all characters scatter to the wind when Gatsby dies (Meehan 89). Nick cannot believe that other characters were not affected by the event. He does not understand why even the deceased’s former friends could leave him alone in that manner. Nick tries to play the role of ensuring Gatsby is not left alone in his death (Meehan 90). He pays him last respects. Nick appears to take every significant event in his life as a lesson. He develops a different perception of fortune-seeking. It is not only a source of happiness but misery as well.

Gatsby

The early parts of the novel portray Gatsby as being gracious, charming. He is however associated with many miseries. Many factors contribute to the miseries, as evident in the later parts of the novel. Readers see that one of the most significant factors that precipitate the miseries is his persistent dream to achieve relatively unrealistic dreams (Michaela 17). He is ever trying to recapture the past. He is perceived as being great, but not all the things he stands for are admirable. Some lower reader’s perception of the character. Gatsby rises from what people may refer to as “grass to grace.” He started life as a relatively poor person. He was born of unsuccessful farmers but rose to achieve significant success. Gatsby voluntarily decided to detach himself from his family and childhood friend in a bid to establish a new version of self (Michaela 21). Being alone impacted significantly to his life and the way he perceived things. He, however, did not live the kind of life he always admired. Based on the fact that he was born of poor parents, he perceived money as a significant creator of happiness. His life became better in his lonely life but he missed one essential factor: money (Lučić 67). He started losing ties with the past and started focusing more on the future. He then fell in love, a factor that significantly affected the course of his life. He felt attracted to Daisy. He tried to do anything possible to see them together. He realized that money was one of the most essential factors for romantic relationships. It was one of the major factors that would make Daisy fall in love too (Scott 33). Gatsby decided to do anything possible to ensure he had money all the time for him to always have Daisy. Most readers would be impressed by the way Gatsby works hard to achieve his goal. The hard work and perseverance make him a self-made man, something that is admirable to almost all readers.

Despite the many positive attributes of Gatsby, several factors make him a less admirable person in society. He had unexplainable sources of money. He got wealthy by conducting organized crime (Meehan 76). However, he tried hard to convince people that he got it through inheritance. The story is set when liquor was illegal. Gatsby has established a successful liquor business from which he has made significant profits. He organizes parties and invites significantly large numbers of people whom he knows very little about (Meehan 78). He is also not concerned about knowing them. However, he got more attracted to people who knew Daisy at least to some extent. He develops a positive relationship with Nick based on the fact that the latter was a cousin to Daisy.

Gatsby appears childish in some way. He pursues Daisy in relatively immature ways. His pursuit of Daisy may be described as being blind for several reasons. All his parties and purchases are all directed to bringing Daisy back to his life (Meehan 79). It may appear to be romantic to some people but it creates a childish illusion as well. He spends significant amounts of time and resources to the extent that he almost loses the practical meaning of life. He gets further and further into the fantasy world (Meehan 79). The loss of reality sets Gatsby outside the norm, a factor that finally leads to his death.

In chapter seven, the reader can see that Gatsby’s dream to get Daisy back to his life is unrealistic. Another problem is that Gatsby does not see that his pursuit for the lady is unrealistic (Meehan 85). He perceives his actions as being purposeful, honourable, and noble but in a real sense, everything he does seems to be futile. He finally becomes an imitation of his earlier self by trying to recapture the past. He tried to overcome that behaviour by cutting his connection with family but finds himself fighting a similar problem by trying to reconnect with Daisy. He becomes fatally idealistic (Meehan 86). He pursues a kind of perfection whose chances of achieving are significantly minimal. The fact that he does not have sufficient information about Daisy shows that he is only in love with the idea of Daisy and not the lady as she is.

Daisy Buchanan

Daisy is beautiful but has some negative attributes as well. She seems to be shallow and selfish. Her unwillingness to understand Gatsby’s feelings for her makes her a hurtful character. Even though Gatsby appears to love only the idea of Daisy, he pursues the lady with significant determination and vitality. Almost every reader would like at least to see the two together (Zhang 38). Gatsby’s perception of Daisy would make almost every reader to see Daisy as being worthy of Gatsby’s devotion. Even though the author tries to make Daisy a character associated with positive attributes of innocence, purity and light, readers finally learn that her real self is directly opposite to the stated attributes.

Several instances associate Daisy with otherworldliness. Nick visits her and finds her dressed in some uncommon manner. He finds her and Jordan Baker dressed in white. They were seated on and “enormous couch . . . buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon . . . [her dress] rippling and fluttering as if [she] had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house” (Scott 24). After that Daisy starts behaving in ways that would make people perceive her as an “angel on earth.” She likes the colour white as evidenced by the things she appears to like in life, such as a white car, white flowers, and white dresses. Her love for fashion increases significantly. Many people would see her as the most pure person in a world filled by impurities of liaison and cheats. Gatsby’s determination and sacrifices to have her in his life is a significant factor which shows readers that she had a positive reputation in her society.

Conclusion

The above is a brief description of Gatsby, Nick and Daisy as the main characters in the Great Daisy. The paper also connects the traits with several themes as well. Nick is a dynamic character who learns from his life experiences and makes appropriate adjustments. At first, he sought fortunes as the only way to achieve happiness. In the later stages, he realizes that seeking fortunes can also cause miseries. Gatsby remains relatively constant in his perception of life. He struggles to recapture the past in most of his life activities. In the initial stages, he tries to reconnect with his family but later overcomes the challenge. He tries to live a life that does not include so much of his past. Despite the fact, he still ends up struggling to restore a past relationship with Daisy, a problem that leads to his death. Daisy is also a constant character in some way. She maintains an unrealistic picture to the public who perceive her as a very attractive person. In conclusion, all the characters have had some mental problems at least once in their lives. They work hard to achieve happiness in the best way possible.