Jay Gatsby

Jay Gatsby

He's a man of mystery
1. He isn't introduced in person until until chapter 3. And don't learn his real story till much later, increases intrigue
2. Rumours surround Gatsyby's past and present. First parts o the novel, only info about Gatsby is extreme stories, like, ''German spy'' and ''an oxford man''
3. Gatsby's real back story isn'y mysterious or glamorous, hightens the tragedy of his death
His physical appearance
1. Nick's description of Gatsby's smile as being ''rare'' and ''full of eternal reassurances, sets Gats apart as unique and alluring
2. Gats has tanned skin and short hair, but otherwise most of his characterisation occurs through his dialogue and actions - Nick doesn't linger on his physical appearance like he does with other characters
3. Gatsby's appearance being less described both when he's first introduced, and throughout the book, allows the reader to easily project their own characterisation of Gatsby. Whereas characters like Daisy and Tom are stiffly charcterised in the readers mind.
He's isolated from other people
1. cause Gats so concerned with maintaining persona, he keeps his distance with other characters and rarely lets his guard down. Nick describes him as being in ''complete isolation''
2. At parties, Gatsby stands ''alone on the marble steps'', making him seem Godlike, watching crowds from above, but when Daisy arrives he mingles with the crowds, losing his God-like status. Daisy gives him a human quality?
3. Only tells Nick his real past once he's got nothing left to lose, ''Jay Gatsby had broken up like glass''
He represents the corruption of the American Dream
1. Gatsby achieves the AD by reinventing himself from a poor-working class background to living a lavish life
2. Changes his name to escape his past, Gatz = German name, but Gatsby is more English. Suggests that he doesn't just want to adopt an upper-calss lifestyle, he wants to BELONG to the upperc-classes, and he feels need to conceal his real past in order for this.
  1. Shows the American Dream is corrupted in the sense that in order to achieve it you have to become someone else - meaning it's not within everyone's grasp
Gatsby's past
1. Born ''James Gatz'', son to poor farmers in North Dekota.
2. Determined to be successful, changed his name to Jay Gatsby and learnt the manners of a rich man on the yaght of Dan Cody, a wealthy man who's boat he helped save from a storm and was now employed by.
3. Cody intended riches to go to Jay, but went to his wife, so Gatsby had no money
4. He inlisted in the military during WW1, he met Daisy before he was shipped to Europe and lied to her about being rich, before he left she promised to wait fr him.
5. Fought in war, gained a medal, became an officer, once War was over he breifly went to Oxford, left after 5 months, went back to USA and found out Daisy was married, he became determined to win her back
6. He got into bootlegging through Mayer Wolfsheim, made a large sum of money in 3 years, bought a mansion and tried to grab Daisy's attention through his material gain and extravagent parties.

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	Created by Zoe Robinson about 6 years ago