Within The Great Gatsby does Fitzgerald create any "likeable" characters?
I feel like this could be a technique used to show the corruption within American society pre-crash, but I'd love to hear some ideas?
Within The Great Gatsby does Fitzgerald create any "likeable" characters?
I feel like this could be a technique used to show the corruption within American society pre-crash, but I'd love to hear some ideas?
I think Owl Eyes is a very likable character.
On a more serious note:
The Great Gatsby is very consciously framed through Nick's perspective; Nick has a way of finding the worst in everyone - except Gatsby. "Gatsby turned out all right in the end." Through Nick's eyes, we are meant to like Gatsby and hate everything that preyed upon him. Stepping back, we can start to evaluate objectively whether Gatsby is really all right. I don't think he a perfect human being, but I do think he is likable.
I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...
Seven super simple steps to create a better thread:
1) Read the Great Gatsby
2) As yourself if you found any of the characters to be likable.
3) Ask yourself why you found certain characters to be likable or unlikable
4) Post your musings
5) Others reply in agreement or disagreement
6) Conversation and debate naturally occur
7) Profit!?!?
I feel that as a reader, you receive a blurred perspective through Nick's narration, which is kind of a double edged sword as you are left to create your own opinions but also you never seem to get an unobstructed image of the true characters.
Also, I think Nick's final acceptance of Gatsby's character is possibly due to a warped sense of paternal adoration he feels toward him, Gatsby seems to be a steady magnetic force for Nick throughout the novel.
Quite possibly. When Nick becomes the middle man between Jay and Daisy there is certainly a shift in his perception. And I agree that there is a problem in separating Jay Gatsby from the Great Gatsby, this is the point of the novel. But looking solely at Gatsby's actions; what is it that makes you hesitant to like him?Originally Posted by emilyallenson
I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...
You literally just repeated verbatim what Charles said...
Gatsby is likeable because ....
all his shirts were custom made in London.
Going off the common thread that the novel is filtered through Nick's perspective and thus tainted to some extent...I think that once you remove Nick's old-fashioned patriarchal ideas about how women are supposed to behave, Jordan Baker becomes very likable.
The only character that I really found outright unlikable was Tom...Everyone else was at least a somewhat sympathetic character. Even Daisy, and Nick.
It's a matter of opinion which characters, if any, are likable but I don't imagine that likability was uppermost in Fitzgerald's mind when writing the book. For my part, I like Gatsby because of his belief in his dream. As a realist, I ought to find him faintly ridiculous but, as some members of this forum have probably gathered, realists are not the most likable people.
Even the most pragmatic among us may have a romantic streak and Gatsby epitomises the longing for something greater than himself which is what makes him such an iconic figure in literature.
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
Ah my favorite book and all the replies are good! The trick of the novel is that we feel we are supposed to find something great about Gatsby, but as a reader I was conflicted- I wanted to see him as a great guy, but he wasn't at all. Nick realized this too but his view was clouded by admiration, sympathy, and like you say, maybe paternal thoughts. I also had the sense that Nick did not want to be a part of the Tom, Daisy and Gatsby trio but he was so intrigued. At the end, I felt sorry for Gatsby, a tragic figure who could not move on. The ending got to me, I found it incredibly sad and Nick was so distraught at the realization that hardly anyone cared. Gatsbys father was also tragic.
Last edited by KCurtis; 09-12-2012 at 06:56 PM. Reason: Add on
I guess Wilson is the closest thing to a likeable character but only in the sense that we feel pity for him. Out of the mains, Jordan is likeable at least in her honesty.
There's something that bothers me about Jordan - maybe it's her coldness. Getting away from Nick's chauvinism for a second - I think Jordan is the type of person I would not want to associate with. But within the context of the book, she has a very interesting place.
I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...
I always liked Gatsby and I don't undstand why nobody else does.
Sure, he earns his money illegally and he deals with shady people, but he did it all for love (or his fantasy of love).
josh.
I think it's because he believed in a love that he had to earn with money.
“the sense of being which in calm hours arises, we know not how, in the soul, is not diverse from things, from space, from light, from time, from man, but one with them and proceeds obviously from the same source.... Here is the fountain of action and of thought....
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