Meyer Wolfsheim is a crucial character in The Great Gatsby as he helped Jay Gatsby build his wealth.
Wolfsheim is infamous for his rumored role in fixing the 1919 World Series.
His portrayal in the book reveals Gatsby’s mysterious origins and ascension to wealth, primarily through his involvement in bootlegging during the post-World War I era.
The Great Gatsby Quotes With Page Numbers
Meyer Wolfsheim Quotes With Page Numbers
“Mr. Carraway, this is my friend Mr. Wolfsheim.”
A small, flat-nosed Jew raised his large head and regarded me with two fine growths of hair which luxuriated in either nostril. After a moment I discovered his tiny eyes in the halfdarkness.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway about Meyer Wolfsheim, Chapter 4, Page 44
“— So I took one look at him,” said Mr. Wolfsheim, shaking my hand earnestly, “and what do you think I did?”
“What?” I inquired politely.
But evidently he was not addressing me, for he dropped my hand and covered Gatsby with his expressive nose.
“I handed the money to Katspaugh and I sid: ‘all right, Katspaugh, don’t pay him a penny till he shuts his mouth.’ He shut it then and there.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway and Meyer Wolfsheim, Chapter 4, Pages 44, 45
“This is a nice restaurant here,” said Mr. Wolfsheim, looking at the Presbyterian nymphs on the ceiling. “But I like across the street better!”
…
“It’s too hot over there.”
“Hot and small — yes,” said Mr. Wolfsheim, “but full of memories.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby and Meyer Wolfsheim, Chapter 4, Page 45
“What place is that?” I asked.
“The old Metropole.
“The old Metropole,” brooded Mr. Wolfsheim gloomily.
“Filled with faces dead and gone. Filled with friends gone now forever. I can’t forget so long as I live the night they shot Rosy Rosenthal there. It was six of us at the table, and Rosy had eat and drunk a lot all evening. When it was almost morning the waiter came up to him with a funny look and says somebody wants to speak to him outside. ‘all right,’ says Rosy, and begins to get up, and I pulled him down in his chair.
“‘Let the bastards come in here if they want you, Rosy, but don’t you, so help me, move outside this room.’
“It was four o’clock in the morning then, and if we’d of raised the blinds we’d of seen daylight.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway and Meyer Wolfsheim, Chapter 4, Page 45
“Did he go?” I asked innocently.
“Sure he went.” Mr. Wolfsheim’s nose flashed at me indignantly. “He turned around in the door and says: ‘Don’t let that waiter take away my coffee!’ Then he went out on the sidewalk, and they shot him three times in his full belly and drove away.”
“Four of them were electrocuted,” I said, remembering.
“Five, with Becker.” His nostrils turned to me in an interested way. “I understand you’re looking for a business gonnegtion.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway and Meyer Wolfsheim, Chapter 4, Page 45
“Oh, no,” he exclaimed, “this isn’t the man.”
“No?” Mr. Wolfsheim seemed disappointed.
“This is just a friend. I told you we’d talk about that some other time.”
“I beg your pardon,” said Mr. Wolfsheim, “I had a wrong man.”
A succulent hash arrived, and Mr. Wolfsheim, forgetting the more sentimental atmosphere of the old Metropole, began to eat with ferocious delicacy. His eyes, meanwhile, roved very slowly all around the room — he completed the arc by turning to inspect the people directly behind. I think that, except for my presence, he would have taken one short glance beneath our own table.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway and Meyer Wolfsheim, Chapter 4, Pages 45, 46
“Fine fellow, isn’t he? Handsome to look at and a perfect gentleman.”
“Yes.”
“He’s an Oggsford man.”
“Oh!”
“He went to Oggsford College in England. You know Oggsford College?”
“I’ve heard of it.”
“It’s one of the most famous colleges in the world.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway and Meyer Wolfsheim, Chapter 4, Page 46
“Have you known Gatsby for a long time?” I inquired.
“Several years,” he answered in a gratified way. “I made the pleasure of his acquaintance just after the war. But I knew I had discovered a man of fine breeding after I talked with him an hour. I said to myself: ‘There’s the kind of man you’d like to take home and introduce to your mother and sister.’.” He paused. “I see you’re looking at my cuff buttons.” I hadn’t been looking at them, but I did now.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway and Meyer Wolfsheim, Chapter 4, Page 46
“Gatsby’s very careful about women. He would never so much as look at a friend’s wife.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Meyer Wolfsheim, Chapter 4, Page 46
“You’re very polite, but I belong to another generation,” he announced solemnly. “You sit here and discuss your sports and your young ladies and your ——” He supplied an imaginary noun with another wave of his hand. “As for me, I am fifty years old, and I won’t impose myself on you any longer.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Meyer Wolfsheim, Chapter 4, Page 46
“He becomes very sentimental sometimes,” explained
Gatsby. “This is one of his sentimental days. He’s quite a character around New York — a denizen of Broadway.”
“Who is he, anyhow, an actor?”
“No.”
“A dentist?”
“Meyer Wolfsheim? No, he’s a gambler.” Gatsby hesitated, then added coolly: “He’s the man who fixed the World’s Series back in 1919.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby about Meyer Wolfsheim, Chapter 4, Page 47
“Fixed the World’s Series?” I repeated.
The idea staggered me. I remembered, of course, that the World’s Series had been fixed in 1919, but if I had thought of it at all I would have thought of it as a thing that merely HAPPENED, the end of some inevitable chain. It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of fifty million people — with the single-mindedness of a burglar
blowing a safe.“How did he happen to do that?” I asked after a minute.
“He just saw the opportunity.”
“Why isn’t he in jail?”
“They can’t get him, old sport. He’s a smart man.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby about Meyer Wolfsheim, Chapter 4, Page 47
“My memory goes back to when I first met him,” he said. “A young major just out of the army and covered over with medals he got in the war. He was so hard up he had to keep onwearing his uniform because he couldn’t buy some regular clothes. First time I saw him was when he come into Winebrenner’s poolroom at Forty-third Street and asked for a job. He hadn’t eat anything for a couple of days. ‘come on have some lunch with me,’ I sid. He ate more than four dollars’ worth of food in half an hour.”
“Did you start him in business?” I inquired.
“Start him! I made him.”
“Oh.”
“I raised him up out of nothing, right out of the gutter. I saw right away he was a fine-appearing, gentlemanly young man, and when he told me he was at Oggsford I knew I could use him good. I got him to join up in the American Legion and he used to stand high there. Right off he did some work for a client of mine up to Albany. We were so thick like that in
everything.”— he held up two bulbous fingers ——” always together.”~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Meyer Wolfsheim and Nick Carraway, Chapter 9, Page 104
“Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Meyer Wolfsheim, Chapter 9, Page 105
Meyer Wolfsheim Character Analysis
Meyer Wolfsheim is a striking character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.”
Introduced in Chapter 4 on page 44, he is depicted as a small, flat-nosed Jewish man who strikes an imposing figure with his large head and significant loads of hair luxuriating in either nostril.
Fitzgerald frames him as a highly expressive, seemingly uncultivated yet daunting figure, with his eyes nearly concealed in the half darkness.
His persona looms large in conversations, as seen in his earnest handshake and vehement narration of his past experiences.
Wolfsheim is sentimental and nostalgic, referencing his preferred restaurants filled with memories and narrating grim tales, such as the murder of Rosy Rosenthal at the Metropole.
But he’s also capable of indulging in lighthearted moments, as reflected in his hearty enjoyment of a delicious meal. Beyond this, Wolfsheim highly regards sophistication and education, as evidenced in his discussion of Jay Gatsby.
He takes great pride in being associated with an Oggsford man and lauds Gatsby as a handsome figure and a perfect gentleman.