Character Analyses from the Great Gatsby
Character Analyses from the Great Gatsby
Many characters were responsible, in part, for the death of Jay Gatsby, the main character of The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but each to his or her own degree. Tom Buchanan, a wealthy member of a socially solid old family, played a minor and relatively indirect role in the death of Gatsby. Daisy Buchanan, a beautiful socialite married to Tom, very selfishly used Gatsby to better herself at all costs, one of those being Gatsby’s death, but, although she was directly responsible, she was not most responsible for the death of Gatsby. Gatsby himself was most responsible for his own death by blindly doing anything he had to win the love of and protect Daisy.
Tom Buchanan played a relatively minor role in Gatsby’s death. Tom is a man whom Gatsby views as very insignificant, a minor obstacle in his way to Daisy. When Gatsby was off at war, leaving Daisy alone and vulnerable, Tom “…came down with a hundred people, in four private cars,”(82) and he blinded her with money and social status, something that Gatsby didn’t have at the time. Daisy married Tom soon after and they had a child together. Gatsby does not see Tom as a threat because he does not believe that Daisy had ever loved Tom. But Daisy did love Tom, and she continues to love the money and social status that goes with the marriage. Tom and the child are what keeps Daisy from permanently being with Gatsby. If Tom were not around, Gatsby would have Daisy, and there would be no conflict leading to Gatsby’s death. Tom, just by being married to Daisy, plays a role in the death of Gatsby, but that role is minor and indirect.
Daisy plays a more important and direct role in Gatsby’s death than Tom. Daisy is very self-centered and needy. She always wants to feel loved and important, and she will do anything to feel that way, even if it hurts others. Daisy was very much in love with Gatsby prior to his departure for the war, and she continued to love him up to her wedding day, where she was found “…drunk as a monkey…with a letter in the other [hand],”(81). It was a letter from Gatsby. She did...