Analysis of The Great Gatsby
The United States is a country based on the ideas of liberty and equality, as
well as the American Dream.
We take pleasure in our lack of aristocracy and equal chance for all. The
Great Gatsby is a novel about our de facto aristocracy and the bounds of the
American Dream
A novel's quality should not be determined by the likeability of its protagonist;
Daisy Buchanan does not have to be liked in order to be fascinating.
Furthermore, most of the characteristics that make her dislikeable—her sense
of entitlement, her lack of empathy, her unwillingness to make difficult
decisions—are also characteristics that make you dislikeable
Reading excellent novels allows you to view yourself as others see you and
others as they see themselves, which is both a pleasure and a challenge.
Characters
Nick Carraway
From the first chapter we know three things about our narrator, Nick
Carraway-
o Nick grew up in the Midwest before moving to New York's West Egg,
where he remained until something happened to force him to return to
the Midwest.
o He is prone to the use of highfalutin language as when he introduces
Jay Gatsby by saying “Gatsby turned out alright In the end; it was what
preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that
temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-
winded elations of men” That dream, by the way, with all of it's foul
dust, is the American Dream.
o Nick is rich, and he got rich not by working. He had an ancestor who
was wealthy enough to pay someone off to serve in the Civil War on its
behalf, allowing Nick's ancestor to spend the Civil War making money.
, Jay Gatsby
There is Gatsby, about whom we learn absolutely nothing in Chapter 1,
except for the aforementioned foul dust floating in the wake of his dreams and
that he had an “extraordinary gift for hope”.
Gatsby, like many romantic leads from Romeo to Henry VII, has an incredible
gift for hope. Henry VII, he may have given up on multiple marriages, but he
never gave up on the notion of love.
All of these people have the sick assumption that if they only acquire what
they want, which is a female human being, they would finally be happy.
We have a word for this: it's called objectification.
Daisy Buchanan
Daisy Buchanan is aggressively vapid. Daisy Buchanan is Nick's distant
cousin who lives in the far more fashionable East Egg across the harbor from
Gatsby and Nick.
Daisy Buchanan is insanely wealthy thanks to her marriage to Tom
Buchanan.
Tom Buchanan
Tom is a former football player and a lifelong asshat who Nick describes as
“öne of those men who achieves such an acute, limited excellence at twenty-
one that everything afterwards savors of anti-climax”.
Novel and Philosophy
Daisy and Tom invite Nick over for dinner shortly after the narrative begins,
where golfer Jordan Baker also joins them, and they throw a terrible party.
And there is a great moment when Tom goes on a racist rant and says, “we
Nordics and we’ve produced all the things that make a civilization”. Which is
hilarious because none of those people has actually produced anything.
They didn't make the expensive furniture they're sitting on, didn't grow or cook
the food they're eating, and didn't even light their own candles.
We also find that Tom has a mistress, and Daisy may not be as stupid as she
appears, for she famously says of her small daughter, "I hope she’ll be a fool,
that’s the best thing a girl can in this world, a beautiful little fool”
The United States is a country based on the ideas of liberty and equality, as
well as the American Dream.
We take pleasure in our lack of aristocracy and equal chance for all. The
Great Gatsby is a novel about our de facto aristocracy and the bounds of the
American Dream
A novel's quality should not be determined by the likeability of its protagonist;
Daisy Buchanan does not have to be liked in order to be fascinating.
Furthermore, most of the characteristics that make her dislikeable—her sense
of entitlement, her lack of empathy, her unwillingness to make difficult
decisions—are also characteristics that make you dislikeable
Reading excellent novels allows you to view yourself as others see you and
others as they see themselves, which is both a pleasure and a challenge.
Characters
Nick Carraway
From the first chapter we know three things about our narrator, Nick
Carraway-
o Nick grew up in the Midwest before moving to New York's West Egg,
where he remained until something happened to force him to return to
the Midwest.
o He is prone to the use of highfalutin language as when he introduces
Jay Gatsby by saying “Gatsby turned out alright In the end; it was what
preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that
temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-
winded elations of men” That dream, by the way, with all of it's foul
dust, is the American Dream.
o Nick is rich, and he got rich not by working. He had an ancestor who
was wealthy enough to pay someone off to serve in the Civil War on its
behalf, allowing Nick's ancestor to spend the Civil War making money.
, Jay Gatsby
There is Gatsby, about whom we learn absolutely nothing in Chapter 1,
except for the aforementioned foul dust floating in the wake of his dreams and
that he had an “extraordinary gift for hope”.
Gatsby, like many romantic leads from Romeo to Henry VII, has an incredible
gift for hope. Henry VII, he may have given up on multiple marriages, but he
never gave up on the notion of love.
All of these people have the sick assumption that if they only acquire what
they want, which is a female human being, they would finally be happy.
We have a word for this: it's called objectification.
Daisy Buchanan
Daisy Buchanan is aggressively vapid. Daisy Buchanan is Nick's distant
cousin who lives in the far more fashionable East Egg across the harbor from
Gatsby and Nick.
Daisy Buchanan is insanely wealthy thanks to her marriage to Tom
Buchanan.
Tom Buchanan
Tom is a former football player and a lifelong asshat who Nick describes as
“öne of those men who achieves such an acute, limited excellence at twenty-
one that everything afterwards savors of anti-climax”.
Novel and Philosophy
Daisy and Tom invite Nick over for dinner shortly after the narrative begins,
where golfer Jordan Baker also joins them, and they throw a terrible party.
And there is a great moment when Tom goes on a racist rant and says, “we
Nordics and we’ve produced all the things that make a civilization”. Which is
hilarious because none of those people has actually produced anything.
They didn't make the expensive furniture they're sitting on, didn't grow or cook
the food they're eating, and didn't even light their own candles.
We also find that Tom has a mistress, and Daisy may not be as stupid as she
appears, for she famously says of her small daughter, "I hope she’ll be a fool,
that’s the best thing a girl can in this world, a beautiful little fool”
