Gatsby+Characters

1. Nick Carraway - he wants to be informed about the important aspects of his life. - he is quite curious about money and wealth. - he reads these books so that when he moves to the West, he can be successful and rich. - wealth impresses him - we can see this in the way he admires Gatsby's lifestyle -strives to be the typical, cliched, well-rounded 'american' man.
 * a. What does Nick’s choice of reading material on page 4 suggest about him?**

The reading material- - Yale News- sophisticated... - really loves books and values them: -->he compares them to the gold for Midas knowledge of Morgan and the secrets of Maecenus. - Really persistent- even though he came from the middle class he still strives to be wealthy, to move up in his class - He is an intellectual being - we can see this in the way he deliberately crafts the narrative of the story

- Upper middle class - can trace ancestry back to Europe (Scotland) and family own their own business (hardware, not very glamorous) - family rich enough but not rich like Tom and Daisy. - grandfather sends substitute to war, whereas Nick fought in WWI - "...a little later I participated in that delayed Teutonic migration known as the Great War. I enjoyed the counter-raid so thoroughly that I came back restless. Instead of being the warm center of the world, the middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe..." -Pg 3 - many of the readers can relate to this because it shows that Nick is not just stuck in one place and he's seen more of the world. Like expat kids, his home town seems small to him after going away from it. The war opened him up to other, different perspectives.
 * b. What is Nick’s family background? To which social class does he belong?**

Family background- - He looks like his great uncle - His father graduated from New Haven in 1895 - He is funded by his father to live on the East coast as a bond man for a year (1922 spring) - Respects his father--> Quotes him on the first page; shows good family values - His father owns a hardware store--> shows they are middle class as they have a job, they need to work for money whereas the upper class never needed a job to make money and sustain a satisfactory lifestyle

- he wanted to readjust to life in the middle West and only realized later on that he wanted more out of life. - he was intrigued by the opportunities found in New York. He felt more like that was were he belonged, and he could be more successful over there.
 * c. World War One ended in 1918 but Nick didn’t move East until 1922 – why do you think this might be?**

Why not move to the east earlier? Brenda, Joel, Julien - He had a woman or girlfriend at home - He liked the midwest home living - Stayed to help his family run the hardware store - He didn't have enough money, he originally went to the east with the intent to share a house with someone who ended up going to Washington, D.C. (p. 3)

- Nick's narration draws us into the story because he talks to us with a biased point of view (we puzzle over his attitude to Gatsby) but it's very personal, or at least self-critical - He is reflecting on the past-it's informing us about what happened (Like Huck Finn, reflecting on his past) - He goes very deeply into his personal views in certain situations - We have a strong identification with the narrator's voice - He reveals a lot about himself in Chapter One- very open and shares lots of personal information - Captivating and Interesting - You have to either agree or disagree with Nick- it's always only his point of view in the way the story is told
 * d. How does Nick’s narration draw us into the story? (Brenda, Joel, Julien)**


 * e. What do we need to analyze when considering Nick’s narrative?**

- the fact that it might not always be reliable - he has a slightly naive view of life. - he says he is not judgemental yet his diction proves otherwise.

Analyze when considering Nick's narrative- - Its always just Nick's view of things, he cannot get into other people's minds to tell how they felt about situations  

2.  Tom & Daisy a.  Tom What do we learn about Tom’s physical appearance and character in chapter one? //Physically strong: used to be football idol back in New Haven (page 6), very wealthy (enough money to buy a string of polo ponies and play polo) But now he is a "sturdy straw-haired man, 30 years old, but still though.// Tom is described as a middle aged man from a wealthy aristocratic family and resides in East Egg, a place where alluring appearances serve to cover unattractive realities. We can also infer that Tom has a n air of arrogance, as his desire to have a social class explains why he believes he is superior to others. He is also not an exemplary husband, as he has public affairs despite being married to his wife, Daisy. “Tom’s got some woman in New York.” (pg 15) – we know about Tom’s public affair. “Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be – will be utterly submerged. It’s all scientific stuff; its been proved.” (pg 13) – we can tell from this quote that Tom is racist, or a white supremacist. “Then there was a boomk as Tom Buchanun shut the read windows and the caught wind died out about the room, and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor.” – describes his tendency towards violence, strength.   <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;">​ <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;"> <span style="color: green; font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;">​ To what extent is our perception of Tom influenced by Nick’s description of him? //Narrator's description of Tom is biased, he does judge him. He repeatedly mentions Tom's wealth and strengths. He expresses his opinions of Tom: "arrogance in his eyes" "aggressive" Includes connotations of fear. Nick describes Tom in an animalistic or primitive manner.//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> Nick describes Tom as animalistic, it foreshadows Tom’s later tendencies to be violent. From Nick’s description, we can tell that Nick thinks although Tom is very wealthy, Tom does not have the knowledge of a man of upper class. “Who with? I told him. Never heard of them.” – shows how Tom does not know much about the bonds business. “As for Tom, the fact that he “had some woman in New York” was really less surprising than that he had been depressed by a book. Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory heart”. (pg 20) describes despite Tom’s wealth, Nick does not admire his actions and almost despises him.

What descriptive ‘tags’ repeatedly characterize Tom in the book? //-Strongly built "It was a body capable of enormous leverage- a cruel body"// “I know you didn’t’ mean to, but you did do it. That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen of a” – Daisy (page 12) Sophisticated; arrogant <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> Would you agree that Tom is characterized as a ‘restless drifter’? Give reasons. //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Yes: <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> -Tom traveled to France for an entire year, but without any reason. "They had spent a year in France for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together." (pg 6) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> - Nick beleives that Tom misses the action and intensity of a football game.//

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">**b.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> Daisy What colors are associated with Daisy?** //On page 13, Fitzgerald describes Daisy in the following passage: "Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth..." This shows that she is associated with bright colors, depicting her bright personality.// //Daisy's "low, thrilling voice" is her tag that makes her memorable. On page 9, it describes her voice as "the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down..."// //It is begun in chapter one by the narrator's description of it.// //Her voice is her most important quality because it's a voice which, "men// //who had cared for her found difficult to forget..." (this quote is on page 9).// //In chapter one, we learn that Daisy is a happy and exciting person, from the quote "...a promise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour." She is also very charming and alluring, having a quality about her that invites people in, due to her beauty and voice.// //The following quotes clearly portray her charm: "The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise... she laughed, an absurd, charming little laugh..."// //and allure//: "//...[Daisy} looked up into my face, promising that there was no on e in the world she so much wanted to see. That was a way she had." Both quotes can be found pages 9-10. Evidence suggests she's also a very bad mother. On page 117, when Daisy's child said she was dressed before luncheon, Daisy said she "wanted to show [her daughter] off." She also believes that "the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool" (Fitzgerald 17). The girl that she is referring to is her own little girl. She is saying this because she doesn't want her own daughter to experience the pain that she currently experiences.//
 * What descriptive ‘tag’ makes Daisy memorable, and how is it begun in chapter one?**
 * What do we learn about Daisy’s personality in chapter one?**

c. For both characters, describe how Fitzgerald develops them //Ms K - both characters are described with incredible economy of language. They come to life in a short space of time, and seem well developed and realistic. As with other characters in the book, Fitzgerald uses 'tags' (recurring distinguishing features) to make them memorable. This is one of the many deliberate patterns in the book. He also builds characters indirectly by sharing their reading material. There is a masterful combination of direct and indirect characterization which is very effective.

As the description goes on, Daisy is portrayed as ditzy and snobby. She is also very self-absorbed, making a huge deal out of a bruise on her finger. "Look!" she complained, "I hurt it." (page 12)//