The Great Gatsby: Characters & Plot

Characters

• Myrtle Wilson has an affair with Tom Buchanan and is killed in a hit-and-run accident.
• Nick Carraway is the narrator who thinks highly of himself.
• Tom Buchanan is aggressive, restless, condescending, and racist.
• Daisy Buchanan hates conflict and avoids confrontation by not admitting her love for Gatsby or ending her marriage with Tom.
• Jay Gatsby throws extravagant parties hoping to attract his lost love.
• Meyer Wolfsheim uses Gatsby to advance his illegal business practices
• George Wilson is emotionally distraught after discovering his wife's infidelity.

Plot

• Nick pursues a career in the bond business after returning from the Great War.
• Nick's choice of job reflects the high interest of people wanting to take advantage of the lucrative financial service market in the 1920s.
• Gatsby is first mentioned in a conversation between Nick and Jordan, later that night Nick sees him reaching for something in the darkness.
• The narrator describes Gatsby as having an extraordinary gift for hope and a heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.
• Nick first meets Tom's girlfriend in an apartment in New York City.
• George and Myrtle Wilson's relationship could be best described as strained; Myrtle probably loved George in the beginning, but when he couldn't provide her with the superficial lifestyle she wanted, she became unfaithful.
• The line "I told that boy about the ice... These people! You have to keep after them all the time," demonstrates that Myrtle didn't view herself as a member of a lower class even though she was.
• The detailed description of the parties that happen at Gatsby's house best reveals the extravagance, wealth, and excess that the 1920s is famous for.
• Rumors about Gatsby include that he was a murderer, A Montenegro citizen, a German spy, and responsible for fixing the 1919 World Series.
• In Chapter 4, Gatsby says he studied at Oxford, is the son of wealthy, deceased parents, is a bootlegger, and a war hero.
• Jordan tells Nick that Daisy and Gatsby had an earlier romance but her parents wouldn't let her see him off to war, then she married Tom, and soon found out that Tom was unfaithful to her.
• The best word to describe Gatsby's initial emotions on the day he reunites with Daisy for the first time in five years is nervous.
• Nick's insight suggests Gatsby built Daisy up in his mind so much that Daisy herself could not live up to those expectations.
• The significance of Gatsby's name change best shows he wanted to become the person he created in his head.
• Gatsby telling Nick "Can't repeat the past? ...Why of course you can!" demonstrates Gatsby's unfaltering optimism for reaching his vision.
• Daisy is accustomed to the finer things in life, she loves Gatsby but as soon as she discovers his success is tainted by illegal activity, she retreats back to the safety and security Tom can provide.
• In the hotel scene, Daisy can best be described as a woman who is passive and lets others control her.
• On the way home after the hot, tense afternoon in New York City, Daisy is driving Gatsby's car and hits Myrtle Wilson but keeps driving.
• Tom's first instinct is to protect himself after Myrtle's death, later he cries.
• Nick spends a considerable amount of time trying to track down various people to attend Gatsby's funeral.

Symbolism

• The valley of ashes symbolizes the moral decay and industrial waste of society created by the rich but dealt with by the poor.
• The green light on the dock stood for Gatsby's vision of his future with Daisy.

Themes

• "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther . . . And one fine morning So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." and the green light could represent The strive for a better tomorrow, the desire in humans for more, even after an initial goal is achieved, aspirations; the pursuit of a dream.
• The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, a long forgotten billboard advertisement, and Nick Carraway serve as silent eyes of judgement in the story; they see all, know all, but do not utter a word of the truth.
• East Egg and West Egg represent people who inherited their wealth versus people who only recently came into money.
• Gatsby says, “I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before... She'll see" demonstrates obsession can lead to delusion.
• Themes that apply to The Great Gatsby are that people can seem more attractive as illusions than they truly are in reality, the American dream can be tainted by materialism, greed, and corruption, and that material possessions and wealth can give the superficial appearance of happiness.
• The quote “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back to their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made..." best represents the theme that money cannot buy happiness, but it can buy the privilege of not having to face consequences.