Examples Of Antonym In The Great Gatsby

The Antonym of Admirable

Admirable, worthy of admiration, inspiring approval, reverence, or affection. Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby represents the antonym of this definition. His manipulative, deceptive personality allows him to charm his way around the narrator, Nick Carraway. “He threw dust into your eyes just like he did in Daisy’s, but he was a tough one” (240). Nick lives with his own version of the story, while outside characters try desperately to reveal his true character. Jay Gatsby is all an illusion, ambiguous, and misleading. Tom Buchanan immediately recognizes Gatsby's questionable persona by saying “Who is this Gatsby anyhow?” demanded Tom suddenly. “Some big bootlegger?”(164). Nick disregards Toms statement and continues on, because he is already enchanted by the illusion that is Gatsby. Gatsby is a poser. For example, he has an entire library full of books, of which he’s never read. “What realism! Knew when to stop, too—didn’t cut the pages” (72). This represents his deceptiveness, and how precise his

By partaking in criminal activities he justifies being a non-admirable person. His wealth comes from the drug business arrangement with Meyer Wolfsheim. “He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts” (203). Shortly after, we learn Gatsby left Walter Chase to rot in jail for a month and Gatsby doesn’t even begin to help. “And you left him in the lurch, didn’t you? You let him go to jail for a month over in New Jersey. God! You ought to hear Walter on the subject of you” (203). After all of this happened, Gatsby continues his law breaking activities and Tom continues to say “but you’ve got something on now that Walter’s afraid to tell me about” (204). These quotes show how Gatsby treats people he can’t benefit from. He relies on the specific opinions he formulates to climb the social