Character Analysis - Textual Evidence - Period 1 by Tracey Barksdale

Indecisive

2025-10-21 15:37:41 UTC

"I did love him once, but I love you too"(Fitzgerald 132). This shows that Daisy tried to please both Gatsby and Tom.

Arrogant

645813_1 — 2025-10-21 15:37:45 UTC

"It's up to us, who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things" (Fitzgerald13)

This is a form of arrogance to think that your race is superior than others and to believe that they shouldn't have control.

Arrogant

2025-10-21 15:38:00 UTC

"Just because I'm stronger and more of a man than you are." (7) This is Tom talking to Nick at the beginning of the book and is a very arrogant and rather rude thing to say to someone, especially properly meeting them for the first time.

Romanticism and Idealism

2025-10-21 15:38:00 UTC

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" This quote implies that humans are constantly striving to move forward, to achieve our goals and dreams, but we're often pulled back by the forces of our past. this can include past experiences, memories, regrets, or unresolved issues

racist

2025-10-21 15:38:30 UTC

"the idea is if we don't look out the white race will be utterly submerged (13).

wealthy

2025-10-21 15:38:51 UTC

"Gatsby's party was one of the most extravagant events anyone had ever attended" (41). This shows Gatsby had money to host all of these parties that everyone cared to go to.

Ambitious

2025-10-21 15:39:32 UTC

"The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself" (105). This shows Gatsby's relentless drive to transcend the limits of his origin and to become a better man that he beleived he can be.

Arrogant

2025-10-21 15:40:27 UTC

"Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward." (Fitzgerald 7). This shows that even before we learn what his personality is really like, his appearance seems arrogant.

Crafty

2025-10-21 15:41:55 UTC

"He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career - when he saw Dan Cody's yacht drop anchor over the most insidious flat on Lake Superior." (Fitzgerald, 98) This shows that Gatsby was very crafty and had changed his name at the drop of a hat in order to further his own goals.

mysterious

2025-10-21 15:44:19 UTC

"Its more that he was a German spy in the war." (Fitzgerald 44). It shows that Gatsby wasn't really known among the public and that they started spreading rumors.

Confident

2025-10-21 15:44:39 UTC

¨ Your wife doesn't love you, said Gatsby. She never loved you, she loves me." Gatsby had said this firmly in front of everyone, he was confident in this and that Daisy would choose him right away.

Mysterious

2025-10-21 15:45:10 UTC

"Who is he?" 'I demanded' "Do you know?"

"He's just a man named Gatsby" (48). This shows us that nobody really knows the true Gatsby. Giving that towards the end, nobody came to the funeral, would support that nobody really cared about him enough to really be that close to know the real him.

Judgmental

2025-10-21 15:45:35 UTC

"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made...."(191).

Even though Nick said in the beginning of the book that he refrains from judging people, he still does, like Tom and Daisy for the choices they made.

Observant nature

2025-10-21 15:46:54 UTC

"Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone... just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had" This quote showcases Nick's Midwestern values and his tendency to reflect on his own privilege and mortality

Superficial

2025-10-21 15:48:32 UTC

" What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon?" cried Daisy, "and the day after that, and the next thirty years?"

(Fitzgerald 118)

Daisy's life is so full of comfort and satisfaction that she has no idea what reality feels like.

Fickle

2025-10-21 15:49:51 UTC

"She's not leaving me! Tom's words suddenly leaned down over Gatsby" (133). This shows that Tom all of the sudden cared about Daisy when Gatsby said she was leaving him but he didn't care to not cheat on Daisy in the beginning.

Lack of agency

2025-10-21 15:53:21 UTC

"She looked at me with absolute calmness and said 'Tom's got some women in New York.' " This quote shows her passivity and lack of agency when it comes to her relationships and desires

Naive

2025-10-21 15:53:44 UTC

"Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can!"(Fitzgerald 110). gatsby's belief that he can recreate his old romance with Daisy exactly as it was five years ago shows his naivete. His dream is unrealistic.

Arrogant

2025-10-21 15:56:28 UTC

" 'Civilization's going to pieces' broke out Tom violently. I've gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things. Have you read 'The Rise of the Colored Empires' by this man Goddard?" This quote showcases Tom's condescending and elitist attitude

observant

2025-10-21 15:57:11 UTC

"As I went to say good-by I saw that the expression of bewilderment had come back into Gatsby's face, as though a faint of doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness." (Fitzgerald 95)

Nick often notices the smallest things about a person; how they're doing or what they're doing.

Unstable

2025-10-21 16:02:46 UTC

"'What will we do with ourselves this afternoon?' cried Daisy, 'and the next day after that, and the next thirty years?'" (Fitzgerald 115). This evidence shows Daisy is unstable because she is in such a rush to complete a life with Gatsby and leave Tom.

2nd option

2025-10-21 16:02:54 UTC

"They had forgotten me, but Daisy glanced up and held out her hand; Gatsby didn't know me now at all. I looked up once more at them and they looked back at me, remotely, possessed by intense life. Then I went out of the room and down the marble steps into the rain, leaving them there together." (Fitzgerald 96)

Once Gatsby and Daisy got comfortable with each other again they acted as if Nick wasn't there. He was no longer a thought to either of them.

Abrasive

645813_1 — 2025-10-21 16:05:02 UTC

"I didn't hear it. I imagined it. A lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers, you know" (Fitzgerald 107).

This shows how Tom says whatever he thinks, not caring if he is offending someone which is a big part of his personality. Tom does not care who he insults or offends, he just says ignorant things and it causes others to be upset or creates tension.

charming

2025-10-21 16:07:00 UTC

"He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it"(48).

Cantankerous

2025-10-21 16:21:12 UTC

"Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand"(Fitzgerald 37). This happened when Myrtle and Tom were arguing at the party in their apartment. It is an example of Tom being problematic and displaying his bad temper.