AP English notes on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. These notes contain brief character outlines and notes on the theme of Freedom and Responsibility including quotes.
- Quiet, reflective Midwesterner
- Moved from Minnesota to New York in to learn the bond business
- Daisy’s cousin
- Tolerant, open-minded, good listener
- Gatsby treats him as a confidant
- Inner conflict – he likes New York but knows it is damaging
o This is symbolised by the affair with Jordan Baker
- He realises the life of revelry is a cover for moral emptiness
Jay Gatsby
- About 30 years old from Minnesota
- He went from being a poor child to a rich adult (involved in organised crime)
- Longed for wealth and sophistication – he saw it in Daisy and fell in love
- Soldier in World War 1 and studied at Oxford
- Wants to win Daisy back from Tom and uses parties to do this
- He has celebrity status but is revealed as a lovesick naïve man
- He is theatrical – he has a talent for self invention which makes him “great”
Daisy Buchanan
- Beautiful, young woman from Louisville, Kentucky
- Nick’s cousin and Gatsby’s love
- Promised to wait for Gatsby but left him for Tom in 1919
- Represents perfection to Gatsby
- Beautiful and charming, but fickle, shallow, bored and sardonic
- Nick views her as careless, messing up and hiding behind her wealth
o Proves this by choosing Tom and then letting Gatsby be blamed for Myrtles death
- In love with ease, money and materialism
- Capable fo affection but not love or loyalty
o She is indifferent to her daughter
Tom Buchanan
- Characterised by mental and physical hardness
o Large, muscle-bound and imposing with and air of anger and aggression
- Mentally inflexible and single-minded
o Repeats racist statements and still believes he and Daisy are in love (despite his
cheating on her)
- Uses threats and violence to maintain control
- He has a victim complex
o He has no reason to feel threatened by people of colour but is still racist
o He is jealous of Gatsby despite his own history of cheating
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