Gatsby Blog 3 (Character Analysis)

 I would kiss Tom, marry Gatsby, and kill Wilson. 

I’ll analyze Tom first. From the first moment he was a macho man. He is said to have a “gruff husky tenor” and with a “touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward people he liked” on page 7. He is also clearly a racist since he thinks that white people are the dominant race. And he uses ‘science’ to back him up. His views are shown on page 13, “‘Well, these books are all scientific,’ insisted Tom…’It’s up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things.’” He also cheats on Daisy with Myrtle and even has the audacity to later go on and manipulate Daisy into loving him as well as Gatsby which shows that Tom is not really trustworthy and manipulative. But anyways, Tom is a racist and a cheater and his manliness is just annoying to me so I would kiss him and then never look his way again. I didn’t kill him because I wanted to reserve the kill for Wilson who is more deserving of it in my opinion. 

Wilson is a good guy, he tries to earn enough money by getting Tom’s car so that he can sell it. In order to get him and Myrtle out of the valley of ashes and into a more beautiful/healthier place. But, I can not overlook one act he has done. Which is why I would kill Wilson because he ends up killing Gatsby near the end of the book. So it would be more fair to kill him since he ended a man’s life himself. So it would be justified under the law of an eye for an eye. Killing people is not morally good whatever the reason but my opinion is that Wilson was only trying to act insane or he was on the brink of insanity because he kept driveling. He would throw around phrases like “Oh, my God”. But if he really were insane then he would not be able to see the wrong in what he did (as in killing the person that is responsible for his wife’s death). Additionally, he would not have had a good motive that would have explained his actions. But he did have a motive, that’s the point. Revenging his wife’s death or even getting back at the killer for cheating on his wife or even a combination of both. This is shown on page 158, “...’But conceivably Wilson had heard some of these same explanations before, from Myrtle, because he began saying ‘Oh, my God!’ again in a whisper---his comforter left several explanations in the air. ‘Then he killed her,’ said Wilson. His mouth dropped open suddenly.” So he clearly was responsible for this action and so he must be held accountable and that’s why I would end his life.

I would marry Gatsby mostly because I just don’t want him to be alone when he dies like he was in the book. With only Nick and his dad and the owl-eyed person and other secondary characters coming to mourn his death at his funeral. Not even the person he loved came to see him (Daisy). But I would also marry him due to the fact that I want to see his smile and all the genuine parts about him. Although, it will take a lot of effort/time to get him to stop showing off so much and wearing the golden hat which is his worst trait. 

I would kiss Myrtle, marry Jordan, and kill Daisy. 

Although Myrtle is very annoying. Since she copies Daisy’s feminine qualities and such and acts superior to others. When looking at things through Myrtle’s perspective (and also thanks to something James said), it is a possibility that Myrtle chose to have an affair with Tom in order to get away from the dump that she has to stay in with Wilson. Literally called the valley of ashes, which does not sound very healthy. If I had to live in a place like that, I would probably want to have an affair too in order to leave and not get some lung disease from all the ash I would be inhaling every single day of my life that I am with Wilson. So I forgive Myrtle since it would be tough living there and kiss her.

The first time we see Jordan, we are able to see how arrogant she is. She gives a very unnoticeable gesture towards Nick (she tips her head up). This is shown on page 9, “...she nodded at me almost imperceptibly, and then quickly tipped her head back again---” and she does this to make it seem like she is not interested in whoever just showed up. Jordan also does not seem to agree with any of Tom’s racist comments either. For example, when Tom is talking about people not respecting family life and institutions as a response to Gatsby trying to get Daisy, he makes a huge leap to the moon that connects it to intermarriage between black and white people. But Jordan responds on page 130 with “‘We’re all white here,’ murmured Jordan.”. There is more evidence of this in the first party of the book, where Tom mentions that the dominant race (white people) needs to watch out or the other races could take control. Then Jordan sends a jab towards Tom by remarking that this has already happened in California. This is shown on page 13, “‘You ought to live in California---’ began Miss Baker,...”. But we end up hearing a different side of her at the end of the book. She shows her vulnerability to Nick, by admitting that she was hurt from Nick leaving her. Which is shown on page 177, “‘Nevertheless you did throw me over,’ said Jordan suddenly. ‘You threw me over on the telephone. I don’t give a damn about you now, but it was a new experience for me, and I felt a little dizzy for a while.’” But she also reveals the bad side to her which is that she wears a mask. But I would marry her because she is not a racist and because she does end up showing she cares about people so her attitude and the way she acts is probably a facade just to get ahead in life. This is why she avoided clever men as it said on page 57, “Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men”. So that she can continue to be “incurably dishonest” as she “wasn’t able to endure being at a disadvantage”. She has to wear a mask and be dishonest in order to be ahead of others and not to get hurt. This is a facade that she made to get her ahead in life by helping her win the golf tournaments. But as I said earlier, she sort of seems like me in the vulnerable part so I would definitely marry her. 

I would kill Daisy. She is shown at the beginning to be a dumb, delicate damsel. She is very feminine and pure. But that is frankly very annoying when girls act really girly. There is nothing wrong with it but I just don’t like it. But she is also a very bad person because she ends up ditching Gatsby and ghosting Nick so that she would not have to go to his funeral which shows how much of a fake friend she is. So obviously, she deserves to die because of that. And also because I would want to kill the other two.