Journal 19 - Characterization
in Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby
Write a description for each of the following characters
based on his/her first appearance in Chapter 1.
Your description should include:
-the character’s physical
appearance;
-the character’s actions/words;
-an adjective that best describes
the character based on his/her initial
appearance
Nick Carraway Adjective
___Introverted_____________
Nick is a reserved man that is described as looking like his
great-uncle. There is no real description of his physical appearance but Nick admits
that he is a reserved person on the first page of the novel. He said, “I’m
inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious
natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores.” In the
movie Nick is depicted as a smaller man that is quiet, and timid. Nick’s
reserved nature will play a significant part in the later stages of the novel.
His quiet nature lends him to be the outlet for the other characters secrets,
regardless of if he wants to hear them or not.
Tom Buchanan Adjective
_____arrogant___________
Tom is the husband of Daisy, who is Nick’s second cousin
once removed. Tom is depicted as a strong arrogant man. Nick comments about Tom
and says that in college he was a very wealthy man that was not afraid to show
it. Physically Tom describes him when he says; “Now he was a sturdy
straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner,
Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him
the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward… It was a body capable of
enormous leverage – a cruel body.” In describing Tom, Nick makes is clear that
Tom has a very stuck up and full of himself.
Daisy Buchanan Adjective
____delicate________
Daisy is Tom’s wife and Nick’s second cousin once removed. In
the novel she is described as having a “her face was sad and lovely with bright
things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth, but there was an
excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to
forget.” Daisy’s character is reminiscent of a stereotypical blond haired woman.
In the movie, she is depicted as a bond haired, fair skinned, dainty woman.
Jordan Baker Adjective
______strong willed_________
Jordan is the
opposite of Daisy in many ways. She is described as very poised and elegant. “She
was extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless, and
with her chin raised a little, as if she were balancing something on it which
was quite likely to fall.” Her physical appearance is described on page 11; “She
was a slender, small breasted girl, with an erect carriage, which she
accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet.
Her gray sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity
out of a wan, charming, discontented face.”
Jay Gatsby Adjective
___mysterious_______
Throughout the novel Jay has a mysterious side. Jay confides
in Nick, but for the most part Jay keeps an air of secrecy about him. In the
first couple of pages Nick talks about Jay in an astounded way; “If personality
was an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something
gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if
her were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes
then thousand miles away.” The first physical description of Gatsby in chapter
one occurs during the scene where Nick sees Gatsby staring across the water at
the green light. This scene only furthers adds mystery to Jay and his character.
