Relationships and love in The Great Gatsby flow throughout this great American novel. This book centers on the American Dream during the 1920s. Its main characters, like Gatsby and Daisy, exemplify love in a romantic relationship. The novel has three primary romantic lines. First, it is a love affair between Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan are also in a romantic affair. Lastly, the marriage of Tom Buchanan and Daisy Buchanan also depicts this theme in The Great Gatsby.
However, the love affairs in the novel aren’t beds of roses. The roles of women like Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby placed them in unhealthy erotic relationships with men like Tom Buchanan, who thought for them. Also, Fitzgerald explored the way men of his times abused and controlled their women in various ways. The author of The Great Gatsby portrays the power of imbalanced relationships between men and women as something pleasant. Critics point out that he openly shows women such as Myrtle Wilson and Daisy Buchanan as inferior to male actors like Tom Buchanan or George Wilson.
While the author introduces Tom Buchanan and Daisy Buchanan as a happily married upper-class couple, the duo faces hidden challenges. The illusions people appreciate in their marriage end there, in the court of public opinion and perception. That’s why we see Tom Buchanan keeping a mistress he frequently visits for his selfish leisure and pleasure.
Tom Buchanan embodies the abuses women in The Great Gatsby suffer in relationships with men. For instance, he abandons his wife, Daisy Buchanan, when she needs him the most during their firstborn daughter’s birth. Tom Buchanan leaves his wife in sadness. He callously says that he turned away his head and wept when Daisy Buchanan told him she had delivered a baby girl. He confesses that he said it was “alright” and he was “glad” the baby would become a “little beautiful fool” because being a fool is all a woman can be in this world.
This abusive and callous attitude demonstrated by Tom Buchanan underpins why women in The Great Gatsby were dissatisfied. Even Tom’s wife got fed up with his adulterous and selfish habits. Daisy Buchanan hoped that her rejected daughter should grow to realize her true worth and not suffer the same things she suffered. This way, the marriage between Tom and Daisy summed up this theme in its various dimensions: the good, bad, and the ugly.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, relationships are woven intricately into the fabric of the narrative. With the assistance of an essay writing service https://royalwriter.co.uk/, we can delve into the complexities of these relationships. The novel explores themes of love, desire, and disillusionment through the interactions between characters like Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, and Tom Buchanan. The essay service can provide expert analysis of the characters’ motivations, their tangled emotions, and the impact of societal expectations on their relationships. With their assistance, you can craft an insightful essay that delves deep into the nuanced dynamics of relationships in The Great Gatsby.
Key Actors in Great Gatsby
In The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald uses different actors to pass his message. This section examines the main characters readers will come across when reading the novel.
Jay Gatsby
Scott Fitzgerald portrays Jay Gatsby as a protagonist in his novel. Most of the plot’s core points focus on Jay Gatsby and his desire to “win.” His original name is James Gatz, who came from North Dakota. Jay Gatsby originated from a humble background and got his wealth through bootlegging. Gatsby and Daisy were past lovers, but Daisy abandoned him because of the absence of status fit. So, this character labored extensively to build a luxurious empire, as Gatsby’s love for Daisy told him that she would abandon Tom Buchanan one day and return to him. That’s why Scott Fitzgerald used Gatsby’s love for Daisy as fuel for his novel’s primary plot.
Moreover, Scott Fitzgerald depicts the young Jay Gatsby as a dreamer whose love for Daisy doesn’t die. Scott Fitzgerald paints Jay Gatsby as a resolute go-getter who can do anything he wants to get it by hook and crook. He’s an enigma who decides to remain dumb on his past and business empire despite being an eloquent speaker that steals people’s attention.
Nick Carraway
Nick is another crucial character in The Great Gatsby. The narrator rents a little house near Jay Gatsby’s mansion. As time passes, Jay Gatsby reunites with Daisy Buchanan, Nick’s cousin. Nick doesn’t fear sharing his experiences with different characters like Tom and Daisy. During his interaction, actors like Jay Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson, and a couple like Tom and Daisy reveal their true selves to him. Their openness to the narrator makes him realize their shallowness, insecurity, and opportunistic nature. This way, Nick remains a loosely involved third party in the dramatic events unfolding in the novel.
Daisy Buchanan
Scott Fitzgerald portrays this lady in The Great Gatsby as a flapper because of her immense beauty and social standing. She’s a beautiful woman with shiny eyes and pale skin. She had a romantic affair with Jay Gatsby in her youth but married Tom Buchanan for “financial security.” Tom and Daisy had a rocky marriage; however, the fickle woman claims to love these two men for various reasons.
Her cynical and opportunistic nature makes her take advantage of people around her to gratify herself. No wonder her materialistic nature led her into a troubled marriage because she values material things more than everything. She decides to stick to her marriage to Tom Buchanan even when she knows he’s cheating on her with Myrtle Wilson.
Daisy can also be callous. This nature is evident when she accidentally runs over Myrtle Wilson using Gatsby’s car. She refuses to take responsibility for it, showing how little she cares about others.
Tom Buchanan
Tom Buchanan is Daisy’s adulterous husband with a wealthy background in Chicago. He has a boisterous and outspoken nature that demands attention from others. Tom lives a luxurious life in East Egg; he loves to play polo, ride horses, and drive fast cars.
Additionally, Scott Fitzgerald portrays Tom Buchanan as a callous man who doesn’t regret his lustful ways. He has had many affairs with different women, and Myrtle Wilson is his latest catch. Tom Buchanan is Nick’s old classmate from their school days at Yale University who likes bullying those around him. He’s Gatsby’s rival and patronizes George Wilson’s garage. In The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald presents Tom and Daisy as people who can mess up anything and retreat into their money for “safety.”
Jordan Baker
Jordan Baker is a professional golfer, whom the author portrays as a dishonest woman. Just like her childhood friend Daisy, Baker loves money, and she’s attractive. Jordan came to know and befriend Tom Buchanan through Daisy. However, she has a shallow approach to life.
Baker dates Nick in The Great Gatsby. She has a cynical but calm nature. Baker is also selfish, a character that makes Nick fall out with her after realizing her self-centeredness. In The Great Gatsby, Baker meets Gatsby during one of his parties. She organizes to meet Nick; hence, she reunites Gatsby and Daisy.
Myrtle Wilson
Myrtle Wilson has an affair with Tom Buchanan. Scott Fitzgerald uses her to represent the lower class in his novel. Her adulterous affair with Tom ushers her into the elite class and changes her personality. She’s greedy and dissatisfied with her marriage to George Wilson, a mechanic. Thus, she secretly dates Tom Buchanan to enjoy “freedom” and the materialistic things Tom gives her.
Unfortunately, she ends tragically when Daisy overruns her using Gatsby’s car. Scott Fitzgerald uses Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby to show how lust can overtake and destroy people as they seek to fulfill their American Dream. Myrtle Wilson and her tragic end show that men and women are equally materialistic, selfish, and greedy.
George Wilson
George Wilson is a mechanic in The Great Gatsby. He’s married to Myrtle Wilson, who has a secret adulterous affair with Tom Buchanan. George owns a garage and a gas station. He discovers that Myrtle Wilson is cheating on him, and his response to the affair accelerates her death. Wilson gets distraught at what happens to his wife. This way, Scott Fitzgerald uses Myrtle Wilson and her marriage to George to show the prevailing despair among lower-class and middle-class characters in The Great Gatsby.
Unlike Gatsby’s love for Daisy and Daisy’s marriage to Tom Buchanan, Wilson genuinely loves Myrtle Wilson. His love for his wife makes him kill Gatsby in revenge for her death and then kill himself. Scott Fitzgerald uses Wilson’s decision to kill and die for Myrtle Wilson to show the pain of betrayal in a one-sided marriage relationship. Myrtle Wilson also shows that genuinely committed men in The Great Gatsby also suffer at the hands of ungrateful women.
Minor Characters in Great Gatsby
Aside from the main characters like Tom Buchanan, The Great Gatsby includes many secondary characters. Here are the minor players in this novel.
Dan Cody
Dan Cody is one of the minor characters The Great Gatsby readers don’t encounter often. Cody helped the humble James Gatz to rise from obscurity and become the starring legend. He met Gatsby on Lake Superior and started traveling the world together for the next five years.
Cody trained Gatsby to become a gentleman. However, his personal life wasn’t any better since he was a womanizer who loved the booze. All these character flaws caused his downfall. On the contrary, Gatsby doesn’t drink and only loves one woman, Daisy. Moreover, Gatsby’s love for Daisy is real, and that’s why Gatsby and Daisy have a happy time together. Gatsby’s love for Daisy helps erase her rough times with Tom.
Pammy Buchanan
Pammy is the toddler daughter of Tom and Daisy. The baby has limited contact with her parents. Not much is told about her except that Scott Fitzgerald uses her to represent the Jazz Era children in The Great Gatsby.
Meyer Wolfsheim
Meyer is another minor actor in The Great Gatsby. Externally, he looks repellent and makes Nick, the narrator, uneasy. The professional gambler wears cufflinks made of human molars. This character represents everything Gatsby stands for. He’s connected to organized crime and linked to fixing the 1919 World Series. The gambler helped build Gatsby’s wealth through dubious deals.
Owl Eyes
Owl Eyes is also an interesting secondary character in The Great Gatsby. This actor loves partying and visiting Gatsby’s home on weekends. Nick met this character in Gatsby’s library. He’s a middle-aged man with big owl-eyed specs. Unlike other revelers and visitors to Gatsby’s premises, Owl questions everything he sees. He doesn’t drink Gatsby’s champagne and dance to his music blindly. Also, he is among the few people who attended Gatsby’s funeral.
Klipspringer
Ewing Klipspringer’s name appears just a few times in The Great Gatsby. This character doesn’t have much to share with readers. However, he matters in The Great Gatsby because Nick, the narrator, says he was there so often and for so long that he became a boarder.
Scott Fitzgerald uses this character to represent people who used Gatsby for his cash and lavish parties. Towards the novel’s end, he’s requested to play the piano for Gatsby, Nick, and Daisy. The request upsets him because he doesn’t expect someone to ask him to do anything at the parties.
True to his motive, he completely disconnects from Gatsby after his death. He even puts up many excuses to miss the fallen millionaire’s funeral. Again, we see Scott Fitzgerald using him to show the selfishness in the hearts of some of The Great Gatsby’s actors.
Catherine
Catherine is a friend and sister to Myrtle Wilson and her husband, George. She knows her sister’s secret adulterous life and hides it because she wants to benefit from it. Catherine does everything to have Daisy divorce Tom so that he and her sister Myrtle can be together for life. But after Daisy runs over and kills her sister, she testifies that her sister had no adulterous affair to allow the police to report the accident and save the Buchanans.
Michaelis
This Great Gatsby character is George Wilson’s neighbor who owns a coffee shop. Michaelis comforts Wilson following his wife’s tragic death. He stands among the few Great Gatsby characters with noble and charitable hearts.
Henry C. Gatz
This minor Great Gatsby is Jay Gatsby’s father. He appears in The Great Gatsby from the Midwest to bury his son. The author uses him to show The Great Gatsby readers Gatsby’s humble beginning and heritage.
Sloane and His Female Friend
These two secondary Great Gatsby are Tom’s wealthy friends. They stop by Gatsby’s house, enjoy his hospitality, and repay him with rudeness. Scott Fitzgerald uses them to show the ungrateful human nature in his novel.
The Connections Between Characters in Great Gatsby
The actors in Great Gatsby relate in many exciting ways that impact each other throughout the book. Nick, the narrator, knew Tom while studying at Yale. Later, Tome married Daisy, Nick’s cousin. Before that, Gatsby and Daisy met and fell in love while Gatsby was still in the army.
In The Great Gatsby, Nick is the only character who cares about others. That is why the events in the book’s end devastate him. For instance, he gets saddened when Gatsby dies prematurely and becomes “poor.” He also witnesses his closest friend’s murder, with nobody seeming to care, while the responsible party walks away scot-free.
Some Great Gatsby actors don’t have tight relational bonds. Many of them are attached for selfish reasons. The book’s starring actor embodies this reality. He had many “friends” when he was alive. But after his untimely death, even some people who frequented his parties refused to attend his funeral.
Everyone in The Great Gatsby seems to use others to their advantage. Those who aren’t using each other are being used. The few people who have developed genuine relationships with each other get betrayed. Wilson is one of such sad examples in the book, as he genuinely loved Myrtle, but little did he know she was cheating on him.
Nick, a genuine actor here, is used by Tom and Daisy. When he enters Tom’s mansion, Tom uses him to assert his manhood and authority by disdaining Nick’s career and friends. Daisy uses Nick to pamper her ego by forcing him to tell her how everyone misses her in Chicago. So, the author uses these and many other episodes in the book to throw a veil off the American Dream of richness and well-being, which appears empty and selfish in reality.
Boosting Student Comprehension of The Great Gatsby’s Characters
How can you increase your understanding of The Great Gatsby? Students have different activities they can engage in to understand the novel’s characters better. We advise learners to boost their comprehension by reading and completing analysis of all the primary characters in The Great Gatsby.
This path allows students to get evidence to support these characters’ motives and fears. In-depth analysis also helps you track how they respond to different events and other characters by citing evidence of findings.
You may also sharpen your understanding of The Great Gatsby by stepping into an actor’s shoes. You can do this by documenting a diary from a character’s viewpoint. These activities encourage learners to imagine what goes on in the actor’s mind.
Regarding assessments, we recommend holding meaningful conversations about various characters with your peers or professor. This way, students are better positioned to use the evidence they gather about characters’ relationships and motivations. Lastly, you can sharpen your understanding by pulling in reputable resources to draft literacy analysis papers. These are proven ways to understand how the theme of love in The Great Gatsby flows.