KISS💋, MARRY💘, KILL💀
KISS💋, MARRY💘, KILL💀
After reading the entirety of the book entitled “The Great Gatsby”, you will develop a deep understanding of each character. In which you either love or hate. Over time my opinions on certain characters had changed multiple times. Initially, I loved Daisy, I considered her a princess. She was beautiful and charming and with Nick's descriptions, it was understood that she was respected and well-liked. I had stood with that opinion up until the sixteenth to last page. Like Daisy, my opinion about every character has changed over time. For instance, my love or hatred for a specific character would continue to increase throughout the book. Alternately I grew to love or hate a character the more I got to know about them, changing my primary point of view. With that, I have to decide to kiss Tom and Myrtle, marry Gatsby and Jordan, and kill Daisy and Wilson.
First off, I will be kissing Tom. Tom’s character is important in a sense of the book but not an important character for me. To me, Tom's character is solely to be Daisy's husband, within Daisy having a husband, it makes Gatsby have to prove himself, even more, to reclaim Daisy as his again. If Daisy was single, Gatsby would not have to work nearly as hard to salvage the old existing love between Daisy and Gatsby. With Tom being her husband something is standing in the way of them. Without that, the premise of the book and Gatsby's whole purpose would have been dull.
In chapter one we were introduced to Tom; he was described by Nick as stalwart and physically strong, as Nick says on page six, “physical accomplishments.” While he was described like this, throughout the book we had continued to learn that Tom indeed had a temper. Examples like Tom punching Myrtle in the nose and the fighting that occurred between him and Gatsby in chapter seven in the New York City heat exemplified this assertion.
Continuing with my first impression of Tom, I had initially thought that he was a nauseating cheating pig. Comparing Daisy to Myrtle I did not understand why he would do that, I also am very biased against people who cheat, hence me strongly disliking Tom. But that all had changed once Daisy started cheating on Tom, he was upset but still fought for them by arguing with Gatsby in telling them that Daisy and he are forever and still love each other. Again if Tom's characteristics did not consist of this and he was a weak cowardice man then Gatsby could have wiped Daisy’s right off her feet into his arms all over again. But Tom was heartbroken when he found out that Daisy loves Gatsby, but he never gave up nor left her. On page 119 Nick narrates Daisy expressing her love to Gatsby, Tom sees and, “He was astounded.” While Tom has gone through a lot, he had almost lost Daisy to Gatsby and lost Myrtle to death, I do not gain pity for him. I also do not like or hate him, which brings me to kiss him. He is a necessary character for the book, but I did not develop a connection or deep enough analysis for me to do anything else but kiss him.
Subsequent to that, I will be marrying Gatsby. I had chosen this path through Gatsby's determination to impress and win over Daisy and his loyalty. While we did not know much about Gatsby in the beginning, it was obvious that he was an important character based on the title of the book. In the beginning, we had learned from Nick that Gatsby has been throwing many parties over the summer. Gatsby was throwing these big elaborate parties that consisted of many rumors about him and his wealth, which is expressed on page 44 when a woman said, “..he killed a man once.” Despite this, he continued to throw these parties just to grasp Daisy's attention. That type of love and dedication shows that Gatsby is sincere in retrieving Daisy's love.
In proceeding with my decision to marry Gatsby, I had made this verdict based on his characteristics, for I view Gatsby as determined, strong-willed, and loyal. While most people will say that he is a criminal by distributing illegal alcohol and trading in stolen securities in his early years to get an income, I see it as determination and bravery. He has always longed to be rich, he knew what he wanted and accomplished it by advancing from a poor childhood in rural North Dakota to becoming fabulously wealthy.
Over the course of this book, I have gained more love for this character. His story of growing up to the moment he was killed was remarkable. He never stopped working in achieving something, he had worked from the moment he was deployed till the moment he died. He was determined to become rich and accomplished that with lots of hard work, then he was determined to win back Daisy and had done everything in his power to do so. For example, Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay from him, expressed on page 78 chapter four. He was almost successful but had been killed too soon.
I know I would want the person I am marrying to fight for me and feel so strongly about me, like the way Gatsby felt about Daisy. Consequently, why I chose to marry Gatsby. He was a strong character who had come from nothing and became truly “great” in my eyes, and most definitely would have made the best husband.
Leaving me to kill Wilson. I always believed that Wilson was a coward, from the moment he was described. While was described as spiritless, pale, and skinny. He also always followed what his wife had directed him to do. And the fact that he was completely unaware of his wife's whereabouts in cheating on him with Tom, struck me as either careless or oblivious. If Daisy knew, how did Wilson not know?
In continuation of my choice to kill Wilson, I believe that he really expressed his ultimate cowardness when he had shot and killed Gatsby, and then he had fatally shot himself afterward. On page 162 it states, “the holocaust was complete”, in stating the deaths of both Wilson and Gatsby. Wilson lacked courage in facing danger, he was timid and scared of the consequences of his actions in killing Gatsby or was intensely fearful in proceeding on with life without his wife. While some might view his act of killing Gatsby as bold, I view his response as doing so as cowardice. Therefore I would kill Wilson for being nothing but a coward and living his life behind the shadow of his wife in letting him be taken advantage of.
Not a lot of analysis is brought together with her character, she is the mistress of Tom and is desperate to advance out of her social class. Because I know her character the least and do not hate or love her, I end up kissing her. I truly believe she did not deserve to die and think she would have left the Ally of Ashes based on how badly she wanted to, I believe she could have done it with her determination.
Moving on, I will be marrying Jordan. Jordan is an unashamed, independent, confident, and self-assured woman. Unlike most women of that time period, lived a conventional life of marriage and children, did not work and did not drink alcohol. Jordan exhibits a new light for women during their era. Whereas Jordan is not the ideal fantasy of men, she exhibits a confident induced role, which works for Nick.
Jordan has also portrayed characteristics of the “messenger”. She had told Nick about Tom's affair in chapter one on page 15 when she said, “Toms got some woman in New York” and in chapter seven pages 75-78 where Jordan gossips to Nick again in telling him about the love story that Gatsby and Daisy had shared. Some people might view these characteristics as drama-filled and consequential, while I view them as strong-willed and confident. She is free-spirited and does not care what others think, which is what a lot of flappers felt as well at that time. I would marry Jordan because of her new confident and independent way of living.
This leads me to kill Daisy, As the book began I loved Daisy. I loved how Nick along with everyone else was so mesmerized by her. She was beautiful as expressed in chapter one on page seventeen, “a beautiful little fool.” While Daisy was not a fool herself, the product of a social environment did not value intelligence in women. Daisy was always portrayed as lady-like, well-loved, and well-liked. But my love for Daisy disappeared on the sixteenth to last page of the entirety of the book where Nick goes to call Daisy about the death of Gatsby but Tom and Daisy had already packed their bags and left. In chapter nine, page 164 it states, “But she and Tom had gone away early that afternoon.” After that Nick concludes that Daisy is an uncaring person and that she and Tom destroy people and things, knowing that their money will shield them from ever having to face any negative consequences.
Daisy had gotten away with killing Myrtle and after admitting she loved Gatsby she leaves after his death with her husband. I find that move done by Daisy careless and selfish. Therefore, I would without a doubt kill Daisy just for that one sole reason.
After assessing each character it was easy to identify which characters I was kissing, marrying, and killing. Each character was unique to the book and played important roles, while I most definitely like some over others.
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