The Men of Gatsby

Nick Carraway grew up in a respectable Chicago family and went to Yale, he likes literature and considers himself one of those "limited" specialists known as a "well-rounded man," and he works in the bond business. He’s connected to wealthy and important people, like his cousin Daisy and Tom, but he is by no means one of them. While Nick is fundamentally a pretty honest guy when first we meet him, it doesn’t mean that he’s always a very nice one. He’s skilled in the art of getting along with everyone in public and rather sassily analyzing them in private. Nick may be polite and easy to get along with on the outside, but he’s not afraid to tell it like it is. Nick still seems to see himself as a good Midwestern boy with high standards for everyone he meets, including himself, and prides himself on maintaining his standards, even in the corrupt, fast-moving world.

Gatsby is a guy whose sickening wealth, sketchy business dealings, and questionable background make him both fascinating and repulsive the people at his parties are glad to partake of his riches, but they’re all sure that there’s something not quite right about him. This sense of mystery is a large part of the public display of the Great Gatsby, people are intrigued by him, but very few actually find out what’s at the core of this enigma.Nick is one of these few – perhaps the only person who really comes to understand Gatsby in the end. What makes Gatsby “great” to Nick is not just the extravagance of his lifestyle and the fascinating enigma of his wealth, but his true personality; Nick slowly realizes that Gatsby, in his heart of hearts, doesn’t care about wealth, or social status, or any of the other petty things that plague everyone else in his shallow world. Instead, Gatsby is motivated by the finest and most foolish of emotions – love.From this point of view, Gatsby's love for Daisy is what drives him to reinvent himself, rather than greed or true ambition, and at the end of the day, this unsullied, heartfelt goal puts Gatsby ahead of the rest of the madding crowd. Despite the fact that he attempted to fulfill his “incorruptible dream” through distasteful, sometimes dishonest means, we still emerge from this story profoundly sympathetic to him; he may have been a fool at times, but he’s a fool for love. Even though he’s a self-created image built out of nothing, Gatsby’s emotional honesty, eternal optimism, and simplicity of heart ironically single him out as the only real person in a crowd of fakes as Nick says, Gatsby is “better than the whole damn bunch put together.”

Tom Buchanan is Daisy’s husband, an extremely wealthy man, a brute, and an athlete. He’s selfish and does what he needs to get what he wants. Most of all, he seeks control of his life and control of others. When Tom figures out that Daisy loves Gatsby, he forces a confrontation. He is then able to use Daisy’s momentary hesitation to regain control of his wife. The quality of Tom that’s most likely to stick with you is the fact that he’s abusive. While we never see him get violent with his wife, there are hints of his unbridled physicality when Daisy reveals a bruise on her finger that, although accidental, was caused by Tom. Although he might not be physically abusive to his wife, Tom certainly causes her some emotional damage. There is, of course, his series of affairs, but he hurts Daisy in other ways, too. When Daisy tells us about her daughter being born. Tom’s violent streak really comes across when we see him break Myrtle’s nose with the short, deft movement of his open hand. This makes it clear that such violence means little to Tom.

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