Great Gatsby Characters Essay, Research Paper

The novel, The Great Gatsby, has many characters in it. Four prominent

characters are Tom Buchanan, George Wilson, Daisy Buchanan, and Myrtle Wilson.

These four characters have some similarities, but in reality they are very

different people. Tom Buchanan and George Wilson have very little in common. The

first similarity is that they are the only two people in the novel to use

violence. Tom strikes Myrtle and George shoots Gatsby. The other similarity is

that they both "love" Myrtle Wilson. Tom cheats on his wife Daisy with

Myrtle, which brings about a difference between the two men. George is faithful

to his wife, while Tom does not seem to really care about Daisy or even Myrtle

for that matter. George shows respect to people while Tom shows no respect, or

care for anyone. This lack of respect is probably due to their opposite

positions in life. Tom is an arrogant rich man, while George is a humble

merchant. The comparison and contrast for the women is much more complicated

then the men. They were similar because they were both fake. Myrtle pretended to

be rich, and Daisy pretended to care about people. This quote shows Daisy’s

false care, "I’m p-paralyzed with happiness." In Myrtle’s mind the two

women are very much similar. When Tom and Myrtle go out, Myrtle acted out her

dreams of being rich. She buys useless things with Tom’s money. However this was

not reality. In fact Daisy was everything Myrtle wanted to be, and everything

she was not. Daisy really lived a luxurious life. She really had no cares or

concerns. Myrtle tried to be just like Daisy, but she never really could because

the life she lead was fake. These people were totally different in almost every

way. George was happy this way, and had no problem with his life. Unfortunately

Myrtle was not content. She strived to be something she was not(Daisy). Daisy

didn’t try to do anything, she didn’t care about anything because she was rich.

Tom Buchanan was rich, and he felt indestructible because of this. He had no

real compassion for anyone. Tom Buchanan, George Wilson, Daisy Buchanan and

Myrtle Wilson have some minor similarities, but for the most part are very

different.