Friday, September 17, 2010
The Names (Willie)
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a somewhat Dickensian style of using characters' names to portray their personalities. While they are not outlandish or extravagant like "Bounderby" or "Gradgrind," they do still say something about the person. For example, Tom is a fairly bland person. He's rich and arrogant and doesn't do anything particularly of interest. By comparison, "Tom" is an equally bland name. How often do you think of someone named Tom as being fun and intriguing? Another great example of this in the novel is the namesake character of Jay Gatsby, whose last name is rather unusual. By comparison, he is a rather unusual man, never appearing to be fully understood or perceived by anyone, including Nick, our narrator. Yet another example would be Daisy, the young, attractive ex-lover of Gatsby. The first thing, at least for me, that comes to mind when I hear that name is beauty, outgoingness, and perfection. Daisy is the embodiment of this description.
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Yes, you are correct! Look especially at the names at the start of chapter four. Nick writes the names of the guests who attended Gatsby's party on a timetable (a train schedule, and another mention of the word "time"). What patterns do you see in these names?
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of chapter four, Nick's list of party-goers is nearly two pages long, and the pattern of the names is quite evident. For every name listed, the reader can conjure an accurate image of the person before reading the description that follows. For example, Nick references hair when talking about Edgar Beaver, and goats when talking about the Blackbucks. This rhythm of epithets continues as Nick introduces the reader to dozens of characters.
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