Character Analysis: The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Do you start acting differently when you are around certain people? This is based upon how much love you have for them. If you do not really like them, you would not necessarily tell them personal things, or even be nice to them. If you love them, you would get into deep conversations and talk about important things. F. Scott Fitzgerald shows this through Jay Gatsby, an important character in The Great Gatsby. Through his use of symbolism, dialogue, and diction, Fitzgerald evokes the idea that when you are getting closer to someone in which you love, your behavior starts to alter. To begin, Fitzgerald’s use of symbolizing the rain in this passage and other parts of the text instigates a change in the behavior of Gatsby when Daisy, the one

Fitzgerald says, “An hour later the front door opened nervously and Gatsby in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold colored tie hurried in” (Fitzgerald 89). The word “nervously” implies Gatsby was nervous when opening the door. Also, it says he hurried in, meaning he is worried about something. Another example is, “Gatsby looked with vacant eyes through a copy of Clay’s ‘Economics,’ starting at the Finnish tread that shook the kitchen floor and peering toward the bleared windows from time to time as if a series of invisible but alarming happenings were taking place outside. Finally he got up and informed me in an uncertain voice that he was going home” (Fitzgerald 89-90). The use of “vacant” suggests that Gatsby is empty at that current moment, not really sure of his surroundings. The “invisible but alarming happenings” means that he is distracted and is not paying attention to the current situation. Finally, Gatsby says in an “uncertain voice that he was going home” which means he is not quite set on what he should do. These words show that Gatsby is not really aware of the full situation and becomes distracted easily because he is