Great Gatsby`s Minor Characters Essay, Research Paper

In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the minor characters play

an important role in contributing to the plot, theme and give the reader an

overall understanding of the novel as a whole. The three most important minor

characters in the novel are Myrtle Wilson, Tom Buchanan?s secret mistress,

George Wilson, Myrtle?s husband and the owner of a run down garage on the side

of the road leading into the city, and finally Jordan Baker, an attractive young

woman golfer who is a compulsive liar, she also eventually becomes more and more

involved with Nick Carroway, the narrator. All three of these characters

contribute a great deal to the novel as a whole. Though their parts are small,

without them the novel would not be the masterpiece that it is. Jordan Baker is

the minor character with the biggest part. she is seen very often throughout the

novel. Jordan Baker?s most striking quality is her dishonestly. She is tough

and aggressive-a tournament golfer who is so hardened by competition and because

ot that she is willing to do anything to win. At the end of Chapter III, when

Nick is thinking about Jordan, he remembers a story about her first major

tournament. ?At her first big golf tournament there was a row that nearly

reached the newspapers-a suggestion that she had moved her ball from a bad lie

in the semi-final round. The thing approached the proportions of the

scandal-then died away. A caddie retracted his statement and the only other

witness admitted that he might have been mistaken. the incident and the name had

remained together in my mind.? pg. 63. This incident stays with the reader

throughout the novel, reminding the reader (as it reminds Nick) that Jordan is

the smart but extremely dishonest new woman, the opportunist who will do

whatever she must to be successful in her world. Jordan Baker?s use in the

novel helps Fitzgerald get the story told. Because she is Daisy’s friend from

Louisville, she can supply Nick with information he would not have otherwise.

She also serves as a link between the major characters, moving back and forth

between the world of East Egg (Tom and Daisy’s house) and West Egg (Gatsby’s and

Nick’s houses). She is rich enough to be comfortable among the East Eggers but

enough of a social hustler to appear at Gatsby’s parties. Jordan serves still

another purpose, she is actually Nick’s girlfriend during the summer of 1922.

The Nick-Jordan romance serves as a good sub-plot to the Gatsby-Daisy

relationship, and allows the reader to compare and contrast the romantic-dream

like love of Gatsby for Daisy to a very practical but weak relationship created

through Nick and Jordan. Fitzgerald brilliantly uses Jordan Baker to incorporate

Nick into the novel as more than the narrator but as a real person. Jordan is

also used to show the contrast between two different kinds of relationships,

that of Gatsby and Daisy and Jordan and Nick. Myrtle Wilson is another minor

character that plays a great role in The Great Gatsby. She is the wife of George

Wilson. Myrtle is a very important character, because Fitzgerald uses her to

help expose Tom?s brutality and to show how Tom is a hypocrite. Fitzgerald

uses Myrtle because it shows how Tom thinks of her as one of his possessions,

she is displayed openly to all of Tom?s friends and acquaintances and they all

freely accept her. Tom uses Myrtle for the fueling of his own ego because it

makes him feel powerful and superior. The novel is propelled into excellence

because of Fitzgerald?s ability to use Myrtle to help portray Tom as an evil,

brutal and hypocritical man. By incorporating Myrtle into the novel Tom becomes

hated more by the reader because he disapproves Daisy?s relationship with

Gatsby but he feels that his relationship with Myrtle is appropriate because

Myrtle is nothing more than a possession to him. Myrtle is basically confined to

chapter II, except for when she is killed in the end of the novel. During

chapter II the reader finds that Myrtle?s one wish is to leave her class and

to become on of the elite rich. Myrtle obviously has the logic and morals to

become one of the elite because she is obsessed with appearances and unaware of

the realities of life. Myrtle says that she married George ?because I thought

he was a gentleman…I thought he knew something about breeding but he wasn?t

fit to lick my shoe.? (pg. 39). Myrtle honestly thinks that she is above

George and that he is so far below her because , in her mind, she is one of the

elite because of her relationship with Tom. In reality Myrtle is just another

one of Tom?s possessions. Fitzgerald uses Myrtle to show the reader how the

disillusioned life of the rich is not confined to the rich alone. Myrtle is from

a lower class but yet she has shares the same perspective on life with Tom and

the rest of the rich. They all feel that money is their key to superiority.

Though Myrtle is not rich at all she feels that she superior to the world

because she is connected to vast extensions of wealth through Tom. In the end

Fitzgerald shows the reader why he incorporated Myrtle into his novel. He used

her to show Tom?s brutality and hypocrisy, but Fitzgerald uses Myrtle for a

deeper purpose. He questions the reader and the reader?s morals directly and

basically makes the reader question his/her own self worth. He asks the reader

?Do you feel above the world, because if you think that you are, you have

already proven that you are not.? George Wilson is the last major minor

character in the novel. He is the husband of Myrtle Wilson and in the end the

murderer of Gatsby. Tom treats George in a very unique way. Though Tom is having

an affair with his wife he still makes regular contact with him. Tom?s

attitude towards George is one of pure evil. He treats George terribly because

Tom feels that he is so far above him and that he can feel free to treat him

with as little respect as possible. Tom uses George as his own personal punching

bag. This is seen when Tom baits the poor George into believing that he wants to

sell a car to him that in reality, Tom has no real intention of selling.

Fitzgerald also uses George to show a love that Tom could never have. With out

George in the novel the joy of true love would not have ever been seen in the

novel. Throughout all the relationships in the novel only George?s love for

his wife was true. Because of George?s love he was truly richer than Tom could

ever be. In the end it is seen why Fitzgerald used George Wilson in the novel.

George has such a greater spirit than Tom, and this just shows how Tom, along

with the rest of the rich, are so confused as to how to go about life.

Fitzgerald shows the reader that George reacts to the loss of his wife with a

show of grief that reveals a love that is beyond Tom?s capacity. For Tom can

not love because he is incapable of true love, This is one of Tom?s greatest

flaws, the closest thing to love for Tom is his love for his money. George

Wilson is used in the novel to show how deprived Tom?s life really is. All

three of these characters play such an important role throughout the novel.

Though they are considered minor characters, but without them, the novel would

not and could not have had achieved the level of greatness that it is known for.

Fitzgerald brilliantly uses Jordan Baker to incorporate Nick into the novel as

more than the narrator but as a real person. Jordan is also used to show the

contrast between two different kinds of relationships, that of Gatsby and Daisy

and Jordan and Nick. Gatsby?s relationship with Daisy is one of false hope, a

sort of unattainable goal that plunges Gatsby deep into self pity. The

relationship of Nick and Jordan is a more modern relationship, neither of them

knows a great deal about eachanother, yet they pursue each other purely out of

physical attraction. In they end Nick does learn about Jordan and the life she

lives and he ends the relationship and Jordan appearance in the novel. George

Wilson played a key role in the novel as well. His purpose was to show the

reader the life of a working class man. George showed what life was like for a

man who had to work for every penny that he had. Though Tom feels that he is

above George, in the end Tom is not. George showed a love that Tom could never

have. With out George in the novel the joy of true love would have not ever been

seen. Throughout all the relationships in the novel only George?s love for his

wife was true. Because of George?s love he was truly richer than Tom could

ever be. Finally, Myrtle Wilson, she was perhaps one of the most astounding

characters in the novel. Fitzgerald used her not only to make the reader hate

Tom even more but to use her life and demeanor to question the reader directly.

Fitzgerald?s main goal, for the use of Myrtle, was to not so much to scare the

reader into questioning his/her own self worth, but to suggest to the reader

that you do not have to blinded by money to be disillusioned in life. The three

most important minor characters in the novel are Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson,

and Jordan Baker. All three of these characters contribute a great deal to the

novel as a whole. Though their parts are small, without them the novel would not

be the masterpiece that it is one of the best of the kind.