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Gatsby

Terms in this set (54)

Jay Gatsby
The title character and protagonist of the novel, Gatsby is a fabulously wealthy young man living in a Gothic mansion in West Egg. He is famous for the lavish parties he throws every Saturday night, but no one knows where he comes from, what he does, or how he made his fortune.
Jordan Baker
Daisy's friend, a woman with whom Nick becomes romantically involved during the course of the novel. A competitive golfer, Jordan represents one of the "new women" of the 1920s—cynical, boyish, and self-centered. Jordan is beautiful, but also dishonest: she cheated in order to win her first golf tournament and continually bends the truth.
Henry Gatz
Gatsby's Father. Comes from Minnesota for his son's funeral.
Catherine
Sister of Myrtle Wilson who is aware of her sister's secret life and willing to partake of its benefits.
Nick Carraway
The novel's narrator, he is a young man from Minnesota who, after being educated at Yale and fighting in World War I, goes to New York City to learn the bond business. Honest, tolerant, and inclined to reserve judgment, he often serves as a confidant for those with troubling secrets. After moving to West Egg, a fictional area of Long Island that is home to the newly rich, he quickly befriends his next-door neighbor, the mysterious Jay Gatsby. As Daisy Buchanan's cousin, he facilitates the rekindling of the romance between her and Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is told entirely through his eyes; his thoughts and perceptions shape and color the story.
Myrtle Wilson
Married to George Wilson. She is lower class and lives in the Valley of Ashes. She is having an affair with Tom.
Meyer Wolfsheim
Gatsby's friend, a prominent figure in organized crime. Before the events of the novel take place, Wolfsheim helped Gatsby to make his fortune bootlegging illegal liquor. His continued acquaintance with Gatsby suggests that Gatsby is still involved in illegal business.
Michaelis
George Wilson's neighbor who comforts Wilson after Myrtle is killed. One of the few charitable people to be found in the novel.
Daisy Buchanan
Nick's cousin, and the woman Gatsby loves. As a young woman in Louisville before the war, Daisy was courted by a number of officers, including Gatsby. She fell in love with Gatsby and promised to wait for him. However, Daisy harbors a deep need to be loved, and when a wealthy, powerful young man named Tom Buchanan asked her to marry him, Daisy decided not to wait for Gatsby after all. Now a beautiful socialite, Daisy lives with Tom across from Gatsby in the fashionable East Egg district of Long Island. She is sardonic and somewhat cynical, and behaves superficially to mask her pain at her husband's constant infidelity.
George Wilson
Myrtle's husband, the lifeless, exhausted owner of a run-down auto shop at the edge of the valley of ashes. George loves and idealizes Myrtle, and is devastated by her affair with Tom. George is consumed with grief when Myrtle is killed. George is comparable to Gatsby in that both are dreamers and both are ruined by their unrequited love for women who love Tom.
Owl Eyes
The eccentric, bespectacled drunk whom Nick meets at the first party he attends at Gatsby's mansion. Nick finds Owl Eyes looking through Gatsby's library, astonished that the books are real.
Tom Buchanan
Daisy's immensely wealthy husband, once a member of Nick's social club at Yale. Powerfully built and hailing from a socially solid old family, Tom is an arrogant, hypocritical bully. His social attitudes are laced with racism and sexism, and he never even considers trying to live up to the moral standard he demands from those around him. He has no moral qualms about his own extramarital affair with Myrtle, but when he begins to suspect Daisy and Gatsby of having an affair, he becomes outraged and forces a confrontation.
Dan Cody
Worldly mentor of Jay Gatsby. He took Gatsby under his wing when Gatsby was a young man and taught him much about living adventurously and pursuing dreams.
Ewing Klipspringer
Convivially known as Gatsby's "boarder." Klipspringer is a quintessential leech, a representative of the people who frequented Gatsby's partys.
Protagonist
Main character in a story
Antagonist
A character or force in conflict with the main character
Foil
A character who acts as a contrast to another character
Irony (situational, verbal, dramatic)
the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
Theme
the subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person's thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic.
Conflict (internal/external)
A struggle between opposing forces
Symbol
A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract.
Metaphor
A comparison without using like or as
Simile
A comparison using "like" or "as"
Plot (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution)
the sequence of events in which each event results from a previous one and causes the next
East Egg and West Egg
The two areas in which the characters live are
Vulnerable
Open to criticism or attack
feigned
pretended or simulated
fractiousness
Condition of being hard to manage, rebellious
complacency
quiet satisfaction; contentment
Interposed
To place between; cause to intervene
apathetically
not interested or concerned
ambiguously
Open to or having several possible meanings or interpretations
vehemently
zealous; ardent; impassioned
credulity
willingness to believe too readily
jovial
endowed with or characterized by a hearty, joyous humor or a spirit of good-fellowship
poignant
sharply painful to the feelings
punctilious
Very careful about every detail of behavior
gilt
Overlaid with gold or something glittery to hide
An unpleasant reality
Juxtaposition
side by side comparison
Defunct
no longer existing or functioning
vestige
a trace, mark, or visible sign left by something vanished or lost
laudable
deserving praise
ingratiate
To bring into favor or good graces of another
tumultuous
raising a great clatter and commotion; disorderly or noisy
magnanimous
generous in forgiving an insult or injury
truculent
fierce and cruel
redolent
having a pleasant odor; fragrant
fortuitously
happening or produced by chance; accidental; lucky
adventitious
associated with something by chance rather than as an integral par
provincial
Narrow, limited, unsophisticated
The billboard
Someone is always watching
The green light
Gatsby's hopes and dreams (Daisy)
Money significance
For the characters who don't have money, particularly Gatsby, money represents security. A large part of his attraction to Daisy is her affluence: all her life, from childhood on, she has lived in a household with enough money and has never known want.
The American Dream significance
It is unattainable, always striving for something we don't have
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