Miranda: English II, Section F

Blog # 3: The Great Gatsby

First impressions: So far, a fantastic book. The writing is clever and wonderful. The characters are eccentric and interesting, but believable, likeable, and relatable at the same time.

Characters (first impressions):

Gatsby: vanishes, complicated personality, throws big parties but is also slightly insecure at times

Nick (the narrator): nice, clever, educated, determined (teaches himself about bonds), very likeable fellow

Daisy: nice, kind of flirtatious at times, fakes happiness but is very sad inside about her marriage

Tom: manly, strong, abusive, cheater (cheats on his wife), arrogant, athletic, seems to control the people around him (reminds me of Stanley from Streetcar)

Myrtle: don’t know much about her, cheats on her husband with Tom, seems kind of ditsy and child like, seems like Tom takes advantage of her, but I’m not sure

Jordan (Baker): LIAR, famous golf player, “hates careless people”

George Wilson: know very little about him, except that he is oblivious to the fact that his wife Myrtle cheats on him with Tom Buchanan

Gatsby:

Page 48: Gatsby:

“He smiled understandingly –much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of reassurance in it,  that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced—or seemed to face—the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey. Precisely at that point it vanished—and I was looking at an elegant young roughneck, a year or two over thirty, whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd. Some time before he introduced himself I’d got a strong impression that he was picking his words with care.”

This is one of the first descriptions we get of Gatsby.

Says a lot about Gatsby. He is clearly somewhat mysterious, or he just doesn’t want to be known to his guests. He could easily make a big announcement that he is Gatsby and welcome everyone to his party, but he chooses not to. His smile is very interesting and it really affects Nick. It makes him feel like Gatsby understands and believes in him, and, that Gatsby is assuring him that he is the best he could ever want to be. It is kind of complicated, but it is clear that Gatsby seems to be a likeable character, if, the first time the reader is really given any information about him, it is to talk about his understanding smile. Nick also talks about the fact that Gatsby seems to have an eloquent speech pattern, that is slightly absurd, and that his words seem carefully chosen. In a later description of Gatsby, when he is telling Nick about his life, Nick notices that his story seems very rehearsed. Gatsby seems to conflict in so many different ways, he seems spontaneous in the way he constantly vanishes, but his speech patterns seem very rehearsed. Gatsby is proper in his manner, but he in no way conducts himself as the host of the party (except in that he doesn’t drink anything). Gatsby seems to defy stereotypes of rich people during this time period, in the way that Nick’s first impression, before he has even met Gatsby, is very different from what Gatsby is really like. Overall, like I have stated before, Gatsby seems like a very conflicted character, inside and out, and I am very curious to learn more about him as the story progresses.