In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, characters have very distinct identities that develop throughout the book and many inferences are needed to understand the characters. One example of this is Daisy Buchanan. Daisy Buchanan cares greatly about wealth and is a very careless person. Throughout the novel, many of her decisions are due to her greed and carelessness, even though those decisions may not be the best decisions for her.
F. Scott Fitzgerald has a way of applying indirect characterization into his novels in order to enhance how he would like a character to be interpreted, especially in his 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. Take for example, two major characters in the story, Nick Carraway of Minnesota who moved to New York in order to get into the bond business and Tom Buchanan a wealthy man living in East Egg with his wife Daisy. It is evident that Fitzgerald would want readers to look at Nick as an honest man and a bystander or observer of the world going on around him. On the other hand, Fitzgerald wants readers to see Tom as an arrogant, hypocritical brute with no morals whatsoever. Through dialogue and the actions of characters these traits of Nick Carraway
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the novel, “The Great Gatsby”, with the concept of “The American Dream”. For most Americans, “The American Dream”, is the idea of freedom, wealth, equality and opportunity. But F. Scott Fitzgerald manages to define all of the characters in his novel through the use of literary devices and symbols. Also, Fitzgerald explains how each character, even with their wealth; never seem to have their “America Dream”.
Character development is literary device used in every piece of writing. It can be large or small. The characters change in one way or another. Character development can be clearly stated or hinted by the author. Authors explain character developments via dialogue, actions, conflicts, and many other things. Being aware of character development in a text can assist one in analyzing that text. It helps the reader to know more about why some events take place in books. Character development drives the plot because if the characters don’t move the story doesn’t move. The character has to develop in order for the novel to progress. One example of a piece of literature with a very distinct character development is classic novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Character development in The Great Gatsby is essential to even understand the plot as well as driving the plot. Character development is most distinctively shown by Jay Gatsby in his mysteriousness,
In Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, there are two characters by the names of Tom Buchanan and George Wilson. Throughout the book, these two particular characters seem to be very different from each other in nearly every way. However, it becomes clear as the story continues that they share some ideas and attitudes in common. Specifically, Tom and George were noteworthy in the way they felt about women, the methods by which they conveyed violence, and how they responded to their wives cheating on them.
Several people may assume that selfishness is both unhealthy and wrong. A selfish person usually puts his own needs before the needs of other people. Selfish people need to be able to draw the line between when they need to worry about themselves, or when they should be concerned about other people. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, in the view of Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, it is evident that the nature of man is showing selfishness through cruelty, greed, and manipulation.
The theme of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald is that the upper class tend to participate in actions that are commonly seen as dishonest, unfaithful, or sketchy. Characters like Nick, Gatsby, Tom and George have twisted views on their own reality due to unfaithfulness and dishonesty. Nick was constantly lied to in the story, for example, Gatsby lied to him about where he got his money. Lies, similar to the one above, gave Nick some twisted views on the reality of his friendship. Gatsby had a twisted view on love due to Daisy marrying Tom right after he left for the war, rather than waiting for him. Tom cared more about his affair with Myrtle than his own wife. Neither Tom nor Daisy truly wanted to be in the relationship. George had his life all mixed up not knowing that Myrtle is being unfaithful to him. These instances of dishonesty from all of these characters against each other result in their own twisted realities due to unfaithfulness and dishonesty.
In my opinion, Tom is most responsible for Gatsby’s death. I believe that Tom is most responsible because Tom forgot to tell George that Daisy was the driver of Gatsby’s car the night Myrtle was hit by it. Tom forgot to tell George that because him and Daisy were plotting this out. I could tell something was up when Nick refers that “Tom and Daisy talking in the house(146). I also think that Daisy is a little bit responsible because she took on some bad morals when she hit Myrtle because she could have stopped the car after she hit Myrtle. She also did not take the blame for it but instead left the town with Tom.
“Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing, in impassioned voices, whether Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy’s name. “Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!” shouted Mrs. Wilson. “I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai—” Making a short deft movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand. Then there were bloody towels upon the bathroom floor, and women’s voices scolding, and high over the confusion a long broken wail of pain.” (Fitzgerald 41).
In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Jay Gatsby was murdered by George Wilson Husband of Myrtle. In the court of law there’s only one person who was responsible and guilty for the murder of Jay Gatsby. Although in the eyes of god there was more than one person responsible for the murder or had the ability to stop the outcome of the murder. Weather it was Tom being honest about his affair, Daisy doing the right thing and stopping during the accident or Jay Gatsby himself by taking control of the situation and doing what was good for both Daisy and himself instead of just what 's best for Daisy. Tom, Myrtle, Daisy, and Gatsby were selfish and self centered leading them to become Morally responsible for the death of Jay Gatsby.
Literary deaths always have a meaning, and the abrupt demise of various characters in The Great Gatsby is no exception. As tensions build and secret loves are proclaimed, characters begin to meet untimely deaths. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Gatsby and Wilson's deaths, along with Gatsby's funeral, to symbolize the death of the American dream. Both men simply want to be successful and happy, and neither of them achieve their ultimate dreams.
Carelessness: Failure to give sufficient attention to avoiding harm or errors; negligence. Being careless is a poor quality that, unfortunately, many people possess. Obviously, every single person has committed an act of carelessness. It is natural for a human to do so. Seldom does carelessness result in a good outcome. When the act seems to be a recurring event, that is when severe action needs to take place.
Poor judgement is the stem of many issues, especially in the context of social situations. The blurred lines between right and wrong lead to poor choices and major complications, sometimes going as far as death. F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby emphasises the idea that poor choices can lead to disastrous events. Nick Carraway is a close acquaintance of Jay Gatsby, who ends up interfering in Gatsby 's fate and fates of others. Ironically he does so by doing nothing. Nick Carraway’s passive nature leads to the many mishaps in the novel, which stresses the idea that not being evil does not necessarily make someone a good person.
As defined by Aristotle, “a tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction” (“Tragic Hero” 1). In The Great Gatsby, Great historical writers like Sophocles and the aforementioned Aristotle used this character archetype while manifesting their works to create characters that were both larger than life, but also were human. Like these dateless litterateurs, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses this timeless archetype to create the titular character Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald likens Gatsby to fellow tragic heros like Antigone, Oedipus Rex, and Odysseus by describing him to be both a common man and larger than life. Furthermore, similar to other tragic heroes, Gatsby has a tremendous fall from grace. F. Scott Fitzgerald threads numerous tragic hero archetypal characteristics throughout The Great Gatsby to mold Jay Gatsby into a modern tragic hero.
Every story has a character that stands out. Tom Buchanan is an example of a character stands out for the wrong reason. Nick Carraway describes him saying, “Two shining, arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body—he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage—a cruel body”(Fitzgerald,7). In “The Great Gatsby” by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Buchanan represents a man who is unfaithful, selfish, and arrogant. Throughout this essay, the character Tom Buchanan will be analyzed and will explain his purpose in this story as well as the many flaws he possesses which make him an unlikable person.