Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Grew Up... in the country. His parents were unsuccessful farmers, but he never really accepted them as his family. Jay always saw himself as someone exceptional, and he set out to make that true.
Living... in his mansion in West Egg, Long Island. Although it is in the less fashionable of the two Eggs, it is impressive nevertheless. His place an imitation of Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side under a thin beard of raw ivy, a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden.
Profession... socialite. He throws large parties, but he never goes to them. He just waits for Daisy to show up.
Interests... diving from the tower of his raft, cruising in his motor boats, and taking his friends for rides into the city with his Rolls Royce.
Relationship Status... completely in love with Daisy. As he says, "My heart beats faster and faster as Daisy's white face comes up to my own. I knew that when I kissed this girl, and forever wed my unutterable visions to her perishable breath, my mind would never romp again like the mind of God." It’s too bad she's married to Tom.
Challenge... keeping his secret. No one knows how he made all his money. And he'll never tell. The only thing he really cares about is being with Daisy. He’s gotten all this money and thrown all these parties and he’s done it all for her. But will she ever return his affections?
Personality... hard to pin down. His business ventures suggest someone cunning, manipulative, and acquisitive. But there’s a completely different person inside – a hopeless romantic and an eternal optimist. His friend Nick says his smile is of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it that you may come across four or five times in life.
Get to Know him in...
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An adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Long Island-set novel, where Midwesterner Nick Carraway is lured into the lavish world of his neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Soon enough, however, Carraway will see through the cracks of Gatsby's nouveau riche existence, where obsession, madness, and tragedy await.
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Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.
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The Great Gatsby is the story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted "gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession," it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.
