The Great Gatsby

           Hello everyone, this blog is response to Dilip Barad Sir's thinking activity.In this blog i will discuss about the character study of Jay Gatsby.

About Novel

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.

Question:- Character study of Jay Gatsby 

         "The man, the myth, the legend,

         Jay Gatsby is the titular hero

               of   The Great Gatsby."

           Nick first comes to know him as an incredibly wealthy, mysterious man who throws lavish parties, but we eventually learn his background: a boy from humble origins who is desperate to win back the love of a rich woman, Daisy, and loses everything in his last attempt to win her over life

Physical Description

 

          Gatsby's very first appearance is a bit surprising and anti-climatic—he is presented as just another party-goer of Nick's age before it's revealed that he's actually the famous Gatsby. That said, Nick's description of Gatsby's smile—"rare" and "full of eternal reassurances" that "understood you the way you wanted to be understood"—sets Gatsby apart as someone special and alluring.

          Gatsby has tan skin and short hair, but otherwise most of Gatsby's characterization comes through his dialogue and actions—Nick doesn't linger on his physical appearance the way he does with other characters (especially Tom and Myrtle).

            Perhaps Gatsby having more of a "blank slate" appearance allows the reader to more easily project his shifting characterization onto him (from mysterious party host to the military man madly in love with Daisy to the ambitious farmboy James Gatz), whereas characters like Tom Buchanan and Myrtle are more stiffly characterised.

Background

         Gatsby was born "James Gatz," the son of poor farmers, in North Dakota. However, he was deeply ambitious and determined to be successful. He changed his name to "Jay Gatsby" and learned the manners of the rich on the yacht of Dan Cody, a wealthy man who he saved from a destructive storm and ended up being employed by. However, although Cody intended to leave his fortune to Gatsby, it ended up being taken by Cody's ex-wife Ella Kaye, leaving Jay with the knowledge and manners of the upper class, but no money to back them up.

           Gatsby ended up enlisting in the military during World War I. He met Daisy in Louisville before he was shipped out to Europe. In his uniform, there was no way for anyone to know he wasn't wealthy, and Daisy assumed he was due to his manners. He kept up this lie to keep up their romance, and when he left she promised to wait for him.

         Gatsby fought in the War, gained a medal from Montenegro for valor, and was made an officer. After the war ended, he briefly attended Oxford University through a program for officers, but left after five months. By the time Gatsby returned to America, he learned that Daisy had married and became determined to win her back.

            Through Meyer Wolfsheim, Gatsby got into shady business (read: bootlegging, gambling) to get rich. It worked, and Gatsby accrued a huge sum of money in just 3 years. He moved to West Egg, bought an extravagant mansion and a Rolls Royce, and started throwing lavish parties and building up a reputation, all in the hopes of meeting Daisy again.

            Luckily an aspiring bond salesman named Nick Carraway moves in next door just as the novel begins. Nick is Daisy's second cousin, and through that connection he is able to reunite with Daisy during the novel.

Jay's character in this novel

           Although Nick briefly glimpses Gatsby reaching out to Daisy's green light at the end of Chapter 1, we don't properly meet Gatsby until Chapter 3. Gatsby has been throwing lavish parties, and he invites Nick Carraway to one. They meet, and Gatsby takes a liking to Nick, inviting him out on his hydroplane the next day. He also speaks to Jordan Baker in private, and reveals his past history with Daisy Buchanan.

             In Chapter 4, he spends more time with Nick, telling him about his service in WWI as well as a made-up story about his past as the only surviving member of a wealthy family. Later, he has Jordan explain Gatsby and Daisy's background in a bid to get Nick to help the pair reunite.

          Through Jordan and Nick, Gatsby is thus able to meet with Daisy again and begins an affair with her in Chapter 5

         Throughout all of this Gatsby continues to do business with Meyer Wolfsheim and run his own bootlegging "business," mainly based on the mysterious phone calls he's always taking. Rumors begin to swirl about where he got his money. Tom Buchanan, in particular, is instantly suspicious of Gatsby when they meet in Chapter 6 and even more so after he and Daisy attend one of Gatsby's parties. Daisy seems particularly unhappy and Gatsby frets.

            At the beginning of Chapter 7, he stops throwing the parties, fires his current staff, and hires Wolfshiem's people instead, telling Nick he needs discreet people—this makes the affair easier, but also hints at Gatsby's criminal doings. In the climactic Manhattan confrontation with Tom and Daisy later in Chapter 7, Gatsby tries to get Daisy to admit she never loved Tom, and to leave him, but she doesn't. Later in the same chapter, he and Daisy leave together to drive back to West Egg in Gatsby's distinctive yellow car. However, Daisy is driving and hits and kills Myrtle Wilson, who ran out into the road since she thought the car was Tom's. Gatsby resolves to take the blame for the incident and still believes that Daisy will leave Tom for him

           During Chapter 8, Gatsby confides in Nick about his past, the true story this time. At the end of Chapter 8, Gatsby is shot and killed by George Wilson, who believes Gatsby killed Myrtle and was the one sleeping with her. Meanwhile, Daisy and Tom have left town to avoid the repercussions of Myrtle's death.

In Chapter 9, Gatsby's funeral is sparsely attended, despite Nick's efforts to invite people. Gatsby's father does make an appearance, sharing some details about young Jay's early ambition and focus. Nick leaves New York shortly after, disenchanted with life on the east coast. Thus Gatsby's actual death has caused Nick's metaphorical death of leaving New York forever