Contradictory Characters in the River Between and the Great Gatsby
Writers of fiction often create characters who behave in contradictory ways. Discuss how writers present contradictory characters in two or three works you have studied.
A contradictory character is a combination of statements, ideas, thoughts etc. of the particular character that oppose each other. Contradiction in a character arises, mainly, as a result of internal conflict within the character. It could also arise from other influences such as external conflicts or a moment of shock etc. or it could be the nature of the character to be contradictory to his or her actions, thoughts and speech. For the essay question, we will be looking at mainly two books: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and The River Between by Ngūgī wa Thiong’o. In these works, we will be focusing on two characters from each book: Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby and Nyambura and Waiyaki from The River Between. Daisy Buchanan is an example of a character that is very contradictory by nature because she is easily influenced by what other people tell her and the external surroundings. The writer presents her contradictory nature through external conflicts and internal conflicts such as in the episode in chapter seven where Tom Buchanan finds out about Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship. They were past lovers. In this scene, Tom confronts Gatsby about his relationship with his wife, Daisy. When confronted, Gatsby tells him that Daisy had “never loved him” and that she “only married you [Tom] because I [Gatsby] was poor and she was tired of waiting for me [Gatsby].” After which, Daisy forces herself to say that she has never loved her Tom due to the pressure that Gatsby imposes on her and just moments after that, she contradicts herself by saying that she “did love him [Tom] once”. With the presence of both her husband and her long time lover at the scene, I believe that it must have been immensely pressurizing for Daisy and knowing her naïve personality that is easily
A contradictory character is a combination of statements, ideas, thoughts etc. of the particular character that oppose each other. Contradiction in a character arises, mainly, as a result of internal conflict within the character. It could also arise from other influences such as external conflicts or a moment of shock etc. or it could be the nature of the character to be contradictory to his or her actions, thoughts and speech. For the essay question, we will be looking at mainly two books: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and The River Between by Ngūgī wa Thiong’o. In these works, we will be focusing on two characters from each book: Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby and Nyambura and Waiyaki from The River Between. Daisy Buchanan is an example of a character that is very contradictory by nature because she is easily influenced by what other people tell her and the external surroundings. The writer presents her contradictory nature through external conflicts and internal conflicts such as in the episode in chapter seven where Tom Buchanan finds out about Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship. They were past lovers. In this scene, Tom confronts Gatsby about his relationship with his wife, Daisy. When confronted, Gatsby tells him that Daisy had “never loved him” and that she “only married you [Tom] because I [Gatsby] was poor and she was tired of waiting for me [Gatsby].” After which, Daisy forces herself to say that she has never loved her Tom due to the pressure that Gatsby imposes on her and just moments after that, she contradicts herself by saying that she “did love him [Tom] once”. With the presence of both her husband and her long time lover at the scene, I believe that it must have been immensely pressurizing for Daisy and knowing her naïve personality that is easily