Great Gatsby #2

Fitzgerald does a fantastic job of revealing details to us a little at a time, allowing us to pass and change judgment as the story progresses. Address the following questions in relation to the development of Jay Gatsby: 1) What is the purpose of Meyer Wolfsheim as a character? How does he affect the way we see Gatsby? 2) What does the back story about Jay and Daisy's past do to our impressions of Gatsby? 3) What does the story of the rest of Gatsby past due to our impressions of him? 4) How does your overall impression of Gatsby change over these three chapters - do you like him more, less, and why?

1) Meyer Wolfsheim is used in the story to reveal more about Gatsby and his past in a more subtle way. He tells Nick about what an upstanding citizen Gatsby is and how wonderful of a person he is. This makes us relate to Gatsby more and makes us care more about him as a character.
2) Jay and Daisy's past gives Gatsby a more realistic background. Before, he was just an elusive neighbor of Nick's who enjoyed staring at the water in the middle of the night. Now, with the introduction of more in-depth emotions, Gatsby seems much more human to us.
3) Gatsby's past makes us more sympathetic to him. We understand now how he came into his money, but also how he missed out on most of it in the end, when Ella Kaye received what remained of the millions.
4) After these three chapters, I like Gatsby less than I did at the start of the book. Before these three chapters, he was mysterious and someone who we wanted to find out more about, which made him interesting to the audience. However, now that we know who he is, the mystery has worn away, and it is not really replaced with any exciting character traits to make him interesting. We see him as a nervous wreck when Daisy comes near, which makes him seem weak in my eyes, and therefore, less interesting.