Character+List

===Nick Carraway: Nick is the narrator of the story. A cousin of Daisy Buchanan and next-door-neighbor to Jay Gatsby, Nick is very involved with the plot and helps to reunite the two. Nick is a Yale man, slightly less wealthy than most of the characters and somewhat mystified and at times disgusted with the activities of the rich. Though his opinions of certain characters do change over the course of the story, for the most part Nick stays the same. His function in this book is mostly as an eyepiece for the audience; his opinions of the main characters reflect and influence the audience's point of view. ===

===Jay Gatsby: Born James Gatz, this man was once a poor boy from North Dakota. All his life, Jay wanted badly to be rich and famous, and he found early on that he had the intelligence and charm to do so. While in Louisville in training to be an officer, Jay met a beautiful, rich young woman named Daisy and fell deeply in love with her. Once he left for the war, however, Daisy forgot about him and married another man. Heartbroken and determined to win her back, Jay built up an enormous fortune through crime and shady dealings and moved just across the bay from Daisy's summer home. There, he threw enormous parties in the hopes that Daisy would be attracted to his wealth and splendor, but he eventually had to go to extra lengths to reach her. Jay is the ultimate gentleman: charming, sensitive, clever and poised. However, he is too good for this world and his devotion to Daisy will not always serve him well. ===

===Daisy Buchanan: A hopelessly spoiled, oversensitive and stunningly beautiful woman from Louisville, Daisy was always a heartbreaker. She was known to entertain half a dozen different men every day in her youth, and she never quite grew out of her flirtatious ways. Daisy in incredibly self-centered, and though she does seem to truly love both Gatsby and her husband her attitude towards loved ones is very much "out of sight, out of mind." Unfortunately for everyone around her, Daisy's attention span is not nearly as impressive as her bank account. ===

===Tom Buchanan: This absurdly wealthy polo player has a bit of a temper. He is known to beat his mistress badly enough to break her nose and make her bleed all over the place, and though he has no problem cheating on his wife with several different women, he takes extreme offense at finding out that she is cheating on him. Tom is even more racist than most people in this time period, and he proves himself to be, in his own way, just as self-centered as Daisy by the end of the book. ===

===Jordan Baker: This young friend of the Buchanan's has proven herself to be rather untrustworthy in the past. She was in hot water months before the novel begins for allegedly cheating at golf and during the events of the book she lies about being the cause of severe damage to a friend's car. Jordan seems to take some kind of pleasure at watching the Buchanans' marriage fall apart, and her recklessness in life out shadows her recklessness in driving. This woman is probably not the best choice of girlfriend for Nick. ===

===Myrtle Wilson: A woman of low social class and ill repute, Myrtle is nevertheless one of the rather likeable characters in the story. She is described as sexy and charming, curvy in a pleasant way, and a good deal more fun than her lover's wife, Daisy. It's easy to see why Tom chose this poor married woman to be his mistress, and it is easy to see why he was so heartbroken at her death. Myrtle is the epitome of a social climber, and this need to associate with the rich ultimately leads to her gruesome demise. ===

===George Wilson: Wilson's Garage stands in the ashen, barren strip of "poor land" between the summer homes of the rich and the splendor of New York City. Pitiable George Wilson seems to be aware that his wife is having an affair behind his back, and he would have to be blind not to know how unsatisfied she is with her life as a garage man's wife. After the accident, George is driven by grief and sorrow to avenge his wife, and the taking of his own life shows just how tragic a character he is. ===

===The characters in "The Great Gatsby" are all static. There is no real character development over the course of the story because the story is not, ultimately, about character growth. This novel was written for the purpose of creating a window into the world of the upper class. This culture of extreme wealth and grandiose parties is completely different from that of the middle class--and the people of the middle class are nearly always the ones reading Fitzgerald's book. These characters are stereotypes: The violent athlete, the spoiled southern belle, the self-sacrificing husband, the social climber, the utterly selfless gentleman. Through these stereotypes, Fitzgerald creates a portrait of the rich as a self-centered and ultimately tragic society. ===