Honors Blog: 3/1/09

Nick Carraway
Physical Presence:
-The character is about 5'10", weighs approximately 160 lbs, is relatively skinny, mildly athletic, and likes to stand in a figleaf position, and often looks modest.
Visual Details:
-He has dirty blond hair, blue eyes, a modest, simple face, slightly crooked teeth, no tattoos, and one scar from when he fell off his bicycle when he was 4 years old.
Wearing:
-He is wearing a long sleeve collared shirt and slacks (don't mind the picture). He has relatively nice black shoes.
Behavior:
-He is very quiet and polite, he is always reserved, and although not quite shy, relatively modest. He is quick to respond to situations and has the uncanny ability to analyze a situation and think of a solution, or, if in conversation, to think of advice. He enjoys chicken pot pie.
Societal Role:
-He is in the bond business. He enjoys meeting people, and taking walks around the neighborhood. He also strikes up the occasional romance with a new neighbor.
Religion:
-He is Agnostic. He is very innocent, and virtually un-corruptable. He tries not to associate with people who he deems are lacking in morals, although he makes exceptions. He accepts all others, and tries to reserve judgement. This creates great problems when he moves to a place where people are relatively corrupt and do bad things, and yet they are intriguing and interesting to him.
Other's Opinions:
-Other characters in the book think Nick is very nice, and sociable. They enjoy talking to him, and people seem to trust him for some reason.
World Connections:
-Although he is in the East, he and the other major characters come from the West. This sets a sort of contrast to the book, since the West has an environment and mindset that goes along with it, and the East has a totally different one - one which Nick ended up not being fond of.
Name:
-Nick Carraway probably is symbolistic because of the last name. Carraway could be an abbreviation of "carried away", possibly implying that he is always being carried away from one place and situation to another.
Development:
This character develops in the way that he discovers he likes the West better, and he learns more about the main characters, and what their true colors are.

Jay Gatsby
Physical Presence:
-The character is about 6 feet tall, weighs approximately 187 lbs, is relatively athletic, muscular, and usually remains leaning against the wall, mysterious, shaded, and enigmatic.
Visual Details:
-He has dark brown hair, blue eyes, a chiseled face with a strong chin, straight teeth, no tattoos, and one scar from where the bullet hit him and killed him.
Wearing:
-He is wearing a tuxedo and bow tie, along with shiny black shoes and some hair gel.
Behavior:
-He is very enigmatic at first. Once he gets to know someone, he opens up to them. He has dreams and aspirations, and bases every action he takes and every thought he has off of those. This conflicts with the story because he builds his whole life around winning Daisy's heart, so in the event that he would fail, he would have nothing left to live for.
Societal Role:
-He trades illegally, among other things. He enjoys throwing parties, swimming in the pool, and obsessing over Daisy Buchanan.
Religion:
-He is atheistic. He is willing to do immoral things. He is not a "bad person" per se, he is still willing to do things for others. However, he is partly selfish, but for the most part, it's in a way that doesn't hurt anybody (but himself).
Other's Opinions:
-Other character's opinions of Gatsby greatly differ. Some see him as a great man, some know nothing about him, some are willing to kill him, and most just don't know anything about him, and spread rumors which aren't true (although sometimes that have some truth to them). He may be popular, but he is not well loved.
World Connections:
-He comes from the West, and has been to many different places and met many different people. He first met Daisy before he would be shipped off to the service. He also worked for a drunk on a yaht, and he was a janitor in Yale.
Name:
-The case Jay Gatsby's name is very unique in this story, because he is the only person who doesn't use his real name. His original name was James Gatz. The changing of this name is deeply symbolic of how he as a person changed when his life changed course, and he then based his entire reason for being off of two things: the pursuit of wealth and winning Daisy's heart.
Development:
-This character doesn't do much developing, although you discover as a reader that he is not quite as enigmatic as he appears. The fact that he doesn't develop, and persists in pursuing Daisy, and taking the blame for her hit-and-run, is what leads to his demise.

Daisy Buchanan
Physical Presence:
-The character is about 5'7", weighs approximately 130 lbs, is quite skinny and shapely, and usually composes herself in a very innocent way, one which draws attention from sophisticated people such as Gatsby.
Visual Details:
-She has black hair, brown eyes, a simple, pretty face, and nice teeth.
Wearing:
-She wears a blouse, a turtleneck, a skirt, gloves, high heels, a nice necklace, well done hair, nice earings, and a hat worn at a slant.
Behavior:
-Se is very quiet and polite, she is always reserved, and shy and modest (this is how she acts, not how she is). She usually causes more trouble than she fixes, half the time not even being aware of it. She doesn't really have regard for the consequences her actions have lead to.
Societal Role:
-She mooches off of others.
Religion:
-She is athiestic. She has no morals or values. She breaks promises. She runs people over with her car and lets others take the blame. She may not intend to be evil, but she is. She is quite selfish.
Other's Opinions:
-Everyone seems to love her for some reason. By the end of the book however, I am sure that Nick hated her, her hisband was dissatisfied with her, and had Gatsby been alive, he would have probably had a bone to pick with her.
World Connections:
-She knows and takes advantage of people wherever she goes. She probably has the whole East and West coast under her thumb.
Name:
-The significance of Daisy Buchanan's name probably lies in her first name. She appears harmless. Like a daisy. This could not be any further from the truth. This is only in regards to her outward appearance.
Development:
-Like Gatsby, she does not develop her character. Since Gatsby had at least some morals, and he did not change, he died. Since she is evil, nothing happened to her. This parallels America today in many many ways. She represents all that is evil, and all the justice that won't be had upon these evil evil people.


For Nick, I notice he is more quiet and reserved. I notice that the way he acts, and handles situations fits in with this nicely. I can come to the conclusion that he is a very decent person, and there is nothing hypocrytical or amoral about him. For Gatsby, I notice that he has virtually 2 different identities, in many different ways. He has 2 different names and he has 2 different personas. There is no labeling Gatsby. He is neither good nor bad. He is invested in his own interests, and virtually nothing else. However, his own interests connect him to and affect many other people. For Daisy, I notice that she is evil, and everything she does corresponds to that. That is the pattern. That is who she is. Evil.