Characters – Know a brief description of each character



Name ________________________________The Great Gatsby Characters – Know a brief description of each characterDaisyDan CodyJay GatsbyMeyer WolfsheimGeorge WilsonNick CarrawayHenry GatzTom BuchananEwing KlipspringerMichaelisMyrtle WilsonJordan BakerCharacter Qualities – Decide which characters are described belowThis person is faithful and socially ambitiousThis person is usually boredThis person is cruel and prejudicedThis person is honest and compassionateThis person is sensual Quotes – Figure out which character is being described in the following quotes“It was a cruel body capable of enormous leverage – a cruel body”“There was excitement in her voice.”“…she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can.” “No, he’s a gambler. He’s the man who fixed the World Series in 1919.”“…a solemn old man, very helpless and dismayed, bundled up in a long cheap ulster…”Figure out which character is speaking in the following quotes “…I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.”“Her voice is full of money.”“I didn’t want you to think I was some nobody. You see, I usually find myself among strangers because I drift here and there trying to forget the sad thing that happened to me.”“By God, I may be old-fashioned in my ideas, but women run around too much these days to suit me.”“You always look so cool.”“They’re a rotten crowd. You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.”“Oh, you want too much! I love you now – isn’t that enough?”“He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn’t told him who owned the car.”“Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!”Themes: The American Dream Does Gatsby choose the wrong dream?Daisy as a symbol of the American dreamConflict between Gatsby’s dreams and the material worldDualistic thematic elements (rich vs. poor, dreams vs. material reality, East Egg vs. West Egg)Love – modern love as a matter of violence and egoism vs. pure love (Gatsby’s love for Daisy)The creation of one’s own identityThe responsibility of othersInnocence versus corruptionSymbolismEast Egg vs. West EggDaisy’s VoiceGatsby’s yellow car, gold tie, and silver shirtDaisy and the color whiteThe eyes of Dr. TJ EckleburgNick’s 30th birthdayThe green light (on Daisy’s dock)Essay – do some pre-thinking about the following: Discuss Gatsby’s character as Nick perceives him throughout the novel. What makes Gatsby “great”?What is Nick like as a narrator? Is he a reliable storyteller, or does his version of events seem suspect? How do his qualities as a character affect his narration?What are some of The Great Gatsby’s most important symbols? What does the novel have to say about the role of symbols in life?How does the geography of the novel dictate its themes and characters? What role does setting play in The Great Gatsby?Throughout the story, Fitzgerald distinguishes between the different social status groups in West Egg, East Egg, and the Valley of Ashes. How does he treat and value each group? Important quotations: 1. “I would have accepted without question the information that Gatsby sprang from the swamps of Loisiana or from the lower East Side of New York. That was comprehensible. But young men didn’t – at least in my provincial inexperience I believed they didn’t – drift coolly out of nowhere and buy a palace on Long Island Sound. “2. “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: “I never loved you.” After she had obliterated four years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken. “3. “ Daisy and Jordan lay upon an enormous couch, like silver idols weighting down their own white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans. “4. “And if it runs out I can stop at a drug-store. You can buy anything at a drug-store nowadays.”5. “This is a valley of ashes – a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses ahd chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. “6.“The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other’s names. “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. And I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. 8. “Well, suppose we take a plunge in the swimming pool? I haven’t made use of it all summer.” (hint – what is ironic about this statement?) “… for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone – he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock.” Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms father …. And one find morning – So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. “ (hint – these are the last lines of the book)Setting Map – The Great GatsbySetting/SymbolPage Number or chapterKey Points Description of Setting/SymbolBuchanan’s HouseEast EggGatsby’s HouseHotel in New YorkLong Island SoundNick’s HouseRailroad Tracks and Motor roadT.J. Eckleberg BillboardTom & Myrtle’s apartmentValley of AshesWest EggWilson’s Garage ................
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