The Great Gatsby

Step into The Great Gatsby’s jazz-lit haze, where “the orgastic future” fades to “dark fields.”

This category probes F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic with book quotes like “So we beat on…” and character voices—Nick’s “I’m one of the few honest people,” Gatsby’s “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!,” Daisy’s “I love you now,” Tom’s smug “common swindler,” and Jordan’s “tied to another.”

Through a cracked compass lens, explore their arcs—lure, ruin, and the East’s hollow shine—peeling back illusions with vivid prose and sharp insights into a mirage of wealth and wreckage.

Mr. & Mrs. McKee Character Analysis: Gatsby’s Unsettling Guests

In the chaotic, smoky apartment where Tom Buchanan keeps his mistress, F. Scott Fitzgerald introduces Mr. and Mrs. McKee. This couple’s brief appearance in The Great Gatsby offers a crucial snapshot of middle-class aspiration and Jazz Age anxiety. As the downstairs neighbors at Myrtle Wilson’s party, their actions and Nick Carraway’s unsettling encounter with them […]

Mr. & Mrs. McKee Character Analysis: Gatsby’s Unsettling Guests Read More »

Mr. and Mrs. McKee character analysis: An expressionist painting of the McKees at Myrtle's chaotic party in The Great Gatsby, showing Chester's artistic pretension and Lucille's social anxiety, with a watchful elevator boy in the background symbolizing themes of surveillance and subtext.

Catherine Character Analysis: Gatsby’s Other Worldly Woman

In the grand, chaotic theater of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, minor characters often reflect the novel’s core themes with startling clarity. Catherine, Myrtle Wilson’s sister, is one such figure. Although she appears only briefly in a cramped New York apartment, her performance of worldliness and her final act of loyalty offer a powerful

Catherine Character Analysis: Gatsby’s Other Worldly Woman Read More »

Catherine character analysis image: A split-panel illustration contrasting Catherine's gaudy, aspirational femininity in a cramped apartment with Jordan Baker's cool, privileged athleticism on a golf course, symbolizing the class divide in The Great Gatsby.

Michaelis Character Analysis: The Voice of Reason in Gatsby’s Wasteland

In the desolate Valley of Ashes, a landscape of industrial refuse and suffocated dreams in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Michaelis is a quiet but crucial figure of human decency. Michaelis is the Greek immigrant who runs the coffee shop next to Wilson’s garage. His life intersects with the novel’s central tragedy, casting him

Michaelis Character Analysis: The Voice of Reason in Gatsby’s Wasteland Read More »

Michaelis comforting a grieving George Wilson in his desolate garage, with the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg in the background, symbolizing his role as a compassionate witness and voice of reason in The Great Gatsby.

Klipspringer Character Analysis: Why He Really Wanted His Shoes

In the grand, chaotic theater of Jay Gatsby’s mansion, amidst the “men and girls [who] came and went like moths,” one figure lingers long after the music stops: Ewing Klipspringer, known simply as “the boarder.” He’s a man who came to a party and seemingly never left. While often dismissed as a mere freeloader, Klipspringer

Klipspringer Character Analysis: Why He Really Wanted His Shoes Read More »

Klipspringer character analysis image: Klipspringer playing the piano with a bored expression while Gatsby and Daisy are in the background, symbolizing his transactional role and the ironic soundtrack to the romance in The Great Gatsby.

Dan Cody Character Analysis: Gatsby’s Corrupted Mentor

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, some figures cast a shadow far larger than their physical presence on the page. Dan Cody, the millionaire yachtsman and “pioneer debauchee,” is one such character. Though he never appears alive in the novel’s present timeline, his story is the foundational myth upon which James Gatz builds the

Dan Cody Character Analysis: Gatsby’s Corrupted Mentor Read More »

Henry Gatz Character Analysis: Gatsby’s Tragic Origins & The Original Dream

In the final pages of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, after the last party guest departs, Henry C. Gatz arrives from Minnesota, a figure from a past his son sought to escape. As Gatsby’s estranged father, his brief, grief-stricken appearance grounds the magnificent myth of “Jay Gatsby” in the humble, human reality of “Jimmy Gatz.”

Henry Gatz Character Analysis: Gatsby’s Tragic Origins & The Original Dream Read More »

Henry Gatz character analysis: An elderly man's hands holding open Gatsby's boyhood "Hopalong Cassidy" book, showing his ambitious schedule, with Gatsby's grand mansion blurred in the background, symbolizing his humble origins and a different American Dream.
Scroll to Top