Gatsby the Great Gatsby: Exploration

¶ … Gatsby

The Great Gatsby: Exploration of Character

Scott Fitzgerald's the Great Gatsby is a novel based on a society divided and defined by money. Much of the theme of the story remains true to the American ideal of the quest for the American Dream. The story takes place during a time of extreme polar opposites when it came to society and its classes. On one side of the spectrum, there was the poor and the other side the incredibly wealthy. The characters of the Tom and Daisy Buchanan fall into the incredibly wealthy category. At this time, the middle class had yet to emerge as a defining force within American society. Much of how F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about this trend and chose to represent it as a theme in the novel is by starkly contrasting and juxtaposing the lifestyles side by side. He makes the world of the Buchanans seem unattainable yet completely desirable in their affluence. Fitzgerald created characters whose descriptions served to establish this thematic function and carry the story. Much criticism exists when it comes to how well the characters of Daisy and Tom are described. Many editors of literature agree that Fitzgerald purposefully described these characters in a shallow manner or as ethereally as possible to allow them to take on another worldly quality emphasizes the distance between the rich and the poor in American society. Many believe in order for the class division as a theme to carry through, the characters of Daisy and Tom must remain more like sketches than fully fleshed people. This reinforces the stereotype that all rich people are shallow and their personalities are only skin deep. What Fitzgerald attempts to accomplish with the Great Gatsby is to convey through the descriptions of Daisy and Tom that they are people with problems just like you or I. Fitzgerald fails to bring true life to their bodies as the characters reflect a minimum of depth even though he draws sensual attention to body parts like eyes, mouth, throat and shoulders. Sometimes he does not even describe the body but the voice or movement of the character to create this world. As a result, these characters are never truly comfortable in their own skin but are more caught up in the surface melodrama of the story.

Daisy

For the character of Daisy, Fitzgerald establishes her beauty on a pedestal or that of the symbol of the attainable, perfect woman. Everything about her body exudes grace and fine breeding. Even though much attention is paid to her body as symbolizing wealth and affluence, it is her voice that the author focuses on as a way of establishing her as a sensual woman or woman every man wants by their side. Her voice represents the divide between the classes as its richness and tone captivates the narrator. It remains rich and sensual. Gatsby says, "her voice is full of money" (Fitzgerald 120). Her voice reflects the modulation of good-breeding, confidence, schooling, the assurance of being loved always and provided for, free to enjoy what life offers. This voice puts her on a pedestal within her social status and as Scott Donaldson writes, "also intertwined with the lines of whiteness and enchantment is a line about money" (46) as everything about Daisy is about money. "Her white dresses, her white roadster and white palace suggest opulence. White is not a practical enough color for the workaday world" (Donaldson 46). This makes Daisy's body a vessel of purity and beauty that only wealth can achieve. Fitzgerald focuses much like a scriptwriter on her body parts to set the sensual stage. Her throat is "full if aching, grieving beauty told only of her unexpected joy" (Fitzgerald 90). There is such passion evoked through these words that it is difficult not feel ecstasy and agony at the same time and understand Gatsby obsession with her. To emphasize her superior nature, her face is described as bored and haughty. She identifies with other woman of her class such as the actress they meet who is also put on a pedestal of being "a gorgeous, scarcely human orchid of a woman" (Fitzgerald 106). The interesting function of Daisy's character is to fuel the fire of Gatsby's obsession but to also complete his journey of attaining the American Dream found within attaining social status. He creates her as he is focused on their mutual past and winning her attention so much so that she "transfigures into a creature of his imagination" (Donaldson 253). The flower imagery of her transforming by his touch only emphasizes the melodrama to come.

Tom