Character Analysis: The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Renowned actor Chris Colfer once said, “People are not born heroes or villains; they’re created by the people around them.” By definition, a villain is a character in a book, play, film, etc., that harms other people. In The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald displays Jay Gatsby as an everyman, who strives to obtain his goals. Gatsby’s determination and values are traits that are admired by Nick, the narrator of the book, who consistently “finds [himself] on Gatsby’s side.” However, due to his naivety, Nick fails to recognize Gatsby’s immoral characteristics and obsessive personality. After spending his early years with Daisy, Gatsby loses his identity and only aims to attain her love and attention. He refuses to accept the fact that
An example of a love-sick villain, Gatsby is envious of Tom’s relationship with Daisy. Parallel to the Sheik of Araby, Gatsby’s goal is to steal Daisy from her husband and break up their family. Gatsby goes above and beyond in order to attain this goal by throwing lavish parties for attention, manipulating Nick, one of the few characters who admire him, and even covering Daisy for Myrtle’s death. As Nick narrates, “[Gatsby] couldn’t possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do. He was clutching at some last hope and I couldn’t bear to shake him free.” The audience is exposed to Gatsby’s obvious one-sided love for Daisy: a woman who toys with his heart and deceives him until the end. Though Gatsby’s intentions are not evil, his obsession motivates him into misguided territories and encourages unacceptable behavior. The nostalgia conclusively causes him to forever live in the past.

Once an impoverished boy from North Dakota, Jay Gatsby knows first hand about tough beginnings. On one side, his rags-to-riches story is an inspiring tale about the hard work he put in to attain the American Dream. However, Fitzgerald depicts the rich in the novel by stating that they “smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness". An article called Capitalism and Inequality mentioned