The Great Gatsby Character Analysis

About the Book April 10, 1925 [June 1922] Other Forms of the Story Inspirations Curricula, literary classic Cover Art The Setting The cover of the first printing of The Great Gatsby is among the most celebrated pieces of art in American literature.[39] It depicts disembodied eyes and a mouth over a blue skyline, with images of naked women reflected in the irises. A little-known artist named Francis Cugat was commissioned to illustrate the book while Fitzgerald was in the midst of writing it.[39] The cover was completed before the novel; Fitzgerald was so enamored with it that he told his publisher he had "written it into" the novel.[39] Fitzgerald's remarks about incorporating the painting into the novel led to the interpretation that the eyes are reminiscent of those of fictional optometrist Dr. T. J. Eckleburg[40] (depicted on a faded commercial billboard near George Wilson's auto repair shop) which Fitzgerald described as "blue and gigantic – their retinas[note 2] are one yard high. They look out of no face, but instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose." Although this passage has some resemblance to the painting, a closer explanation can be found in the description of Daisy Buchanan as the "girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs."[39]Ernest Hemingway wrote in A Moveable Feast that when Fitzgerald lent him a copy of The Great Gatsby to read, he immediately disliked the cover, but "Scott told me not to be put off by it, that it had to do with a billboard along a highway in Long Island that was important in the story. He said he had liked the jacket and now he didn't like it."[41] Fitzgerald began planning his third novel in June 1922,[5] but it was interrupted by production of his play,The Vegetable, in the summer and fall.[21] Failed Oheka Castle (blank space)

About the Author Frances Scott Key Fitzgerald Sept. 24, 1896—Dec. 21, 1940 [heart attack] (44 y/o), Saint Paul, Minnesota Zelda Sayre, wealthy “The Jazz Age” Not successful as a student, drunkard, threw parties Joined the army Revival of his books "it was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire“ ww2

Daisy Fay Buchanan “Old money” East Egg

Daisy Partially based on Fitzgerald’s wife Zelda “Southern Belle” and “Golden-white Girl” Voice Name "Her face sad and lovely with bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth...“ (Page 11) Personality Traits Careless and Reckless Selfish and Cynical Whiny

Careless and Reckless The “death car,” as the newspapers called it, didn’t stop; it came out of the gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment, and then disappeared around the next bend. Michaelis wasn’t even sure of its color — he told the first policeman that it was light green. The other car, the one going toward New York, came to rest a hundred yards beyond, and its driver hurried back to where Myrtle Wilson, her life violently extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick dark blood with the dust. (Page 121)

Selfish Nick: ‘“Was Daisy driving?”’ Gatsby: ‘“Yes, but of course I’ll say I was.”’ (Page 137)

Selfish and Cynical "It'll show you how I've gotten to feel about – things. Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling, and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me [Daisy] it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. 'All right,' I said, 'I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool – that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.' “ (Page 17)

Selfish and Cynical "She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded. His mouth opened a little, and he looked at Gatsby, and then back at Daisy as if he had just recognized her as someone he knew from long ago.“ (Fitzgerald, Page 119) ~POV of Nick "Oh, you want too much!" she cried to Gatsby. "I love you now – isn't that enough? I can't help what's past." She began to sob helplessly. "I did love him once – but I loved you too.“ Gatsby's eyes opened and closed. "You loved me TOO?" he repeated. (Page 118) Daisy is selfish because although she once had, and now has, Gatsby; she is still in love with Tom. She can't bring herself to let one or the other go. She wants everything she can get, regardless of who gets hurt.

Cynical Daisy: “Well I've had a pretty bad time, Nick, and I'm pretty cynical about everything.“ (Page 18) "What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon?" cried Daisy, "and the day after that, and the next thirty years?" "Don't be morbid," Jordan said. "Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall." (Page 53) Tom: “Sometimes she gets foolish ideas in her head and doesn’t know what she’s doing.” (Page 102) Daisy is selfish because although she once had, and now has, Gatsby; she is still in love with Tom. She can't bring herself to let one or the other go. She wants everything she can get, regardless of who gets hurt.

Whiny Before I could answer her eyes fastened with an awed expression on her little finger. "Look!" she complained. "I hurt it." We all looked – the knuckle was black and blue. "You did it, Tom," she said accusingly. "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– " "I hate that word hulking," objected Tom crossly, "even in kidding." "Hulking," insisted Daisy. (Page 9)

What Others Say Nick: "High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl." (Page 115) “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into 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…” (Page 145)

Character Comparison Daisy Buchanan Jordan Baker Golden Girls Both Corrupt Jordan: Dishonest Rebellious Has a career More modern

That’s IT Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1925. Print.