The Great Gatsby

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses a multitude of themes throughout his fantastic novel. In the very beginning stages of The Great Gatsby, we are firstly introduced to the narrator and main character that most of the book is centered around known as Nick Carraway. As Fitzgerald began to characterize Nick, he decided to use the first pages of the chapter for Nick’s in-depth backstory “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--so I decided to go East and learn the bond business.” (3). Fitzgerald not only used just a small paragraph of his text to characterize Nick, but an extensive amount. Another way Nick is characterized is through another character’s point of view. When Nick and his old college pal Tom Buchanan meet up again from their old prime days in Chicago “Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water, and the history of the summer really begins on the evening I drove over there to have dinner with the Tom Buchanans’.”(5). The purpose of Fitzgerald characterizing Nick and Tom altogether at the beginning is to get the reader a better understanding of how they know each other so extensively and how their relationship plays a toll in Gatsby’s attempted attainment of the Green Light. Another purposeful meaning of characterizing his characters within his novel is to get an understanding at their attitude towards others and what they feel is right from wrong, what their moral standings are. The next character plays an interesting role, a role quite fulfilling for her role within the novel. Daisy was firstly introduced with t...

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...s yet another way of indirect characterization throughout The Great Gatsby. Finally we move to direct characterization, when character’s actions and thoughts speak out their motivation and thoughts of others verbally and physically. After Gatsby and Daisy conform a sense of loving relationship after their departure and significant separation five years ago, Gatsby finally gains the nerve to tell Daisy what he truly wanted her to do, “‘She never loved you, do you hear?”he cried. “She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!’”(131). Finally after all the pent up angst and waiting Gatsby blurted out what he truly desired Daisy to do, nothing more and nothing less till she did so, then could they move to more “practical” measures.

Works Cited

The Great Gatsby