The Great Gatsby

Nick Carraway

Nick Carraway is the narrator of the entire novel, he is also the protagonist of his own plot. He is a practical and conservative man who turns thirty during the course of the story. Raised in a small town in the Midwest, in New York he is in the bond business. He rents a small bungalow out from the city on a fashionable island known as West Egg. His next door neighbor is Jay Gatsby, and his distant cousin, Daisy Buchanan, lives across the bay with her husband, Tom. Nick plays an important role in the main plot of the novel, for he is responsible for reuniting Gatsby and Daisy.

Jay Gatsby

Jay Gatsby is one of the most interesting and memorable characters in this novel. Born as James Gatz to poor farmers in North Dakota, he decided at an early age that he wanted more out of life than North Dakota could offer. Gatsby comes to the East Coast after the war and makes a fortune in bootlegging and other questionable business activities due to the help of characters such as Meyer Wolfsheim. He buys a mansion on West Egg, in order to be directly across the bay from Daisy Buchanan. He gives his wild, extravagant parties and drives his flashy automobiles in hopes of attracting Daisy's attention. She becomes his reason for being and Gatsby never loses sight of his dream and often reaches out to the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. After Nick arranges for Daisy and Gatsby to meet again, the two become close again. Gatsby believes that she loves him as much as he loves her and that she is going to leave Tom and be with him. Gatsby is murdered by George Wilson, who believes that Gatsby murdered his wife, Myrtle Wilson.

Daisy Fay Buchanan

Daisy is an attractive, wealthy, and shallow lady with luscious voice, which seems to have a sound of wealth. Daisy is wealthy and comes from a prominent family in Louisville. She marries the very wealthy Tom Buchanan. Daisy is a bored and careless woman. She is incapable of entertaining herself and wonders what she will do with her life for the next thirty years. Although she is the mother of a young daughter, she is incapable of any depth of maternal feelings.

Tom Buchanan

Tom is Daisy's wealthy husband. He is a shallow, egotistical, rude man and the living personification of the shallowness and carelessness of the wealthy He plays with cars and race horses, has many affairs, and treats Daisy like a meaningless