The Great Gatsby Character Analysis Essay

In one particular scene in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, more information about Gatsby’s mysterious financial enterprises is revealed as Nick meets Gatsby and Gatsby’s eccentric friend Meyer Wolfsheim for lunch in a New York cellar. Throughout this odd interaction, Nick judges Wolfsheim to be a paranoid, suspicious, and notably nostalgic man involved in some sort of shady business, which leads Nick to believe Gatsby may also be such a man. Through Nick’s descriptions of the situation and Wolfsheim’s dialogue, Nick determines interesting aspects of Meyer’s personality personality, comes to understand more about Wolfsheim’s relationship to Gatsby, and eventually becomes even more suspicious of his wealthy neighbor. Wolfsheim’s distinct character traits, which Fitzgerald exaggerates through quirks in his behavior and manner, are subject to Nick’s judgements
Firstly, Wolfsheim recalls, with great wistfulness, his time spent with the murderer Rosy Rosenthal and several other men who were electrocuted for murder, saying “it was six of us at the table (74).” His association with convicted murderers invokes suspicion in Nick, as a businessman who deals with murderers is likely not in a “clean” profession. Additionally, Wolfsheim himself is well known for his involvement in illegal gambling, as Gatsby later tells Nick that “he’s the man who fixed the World Series back in 1919 (78).” This leads Nick to outright ask if Wolfsheim should be in jail for his offenses, to which Gatsby replies “they can’t get him, old sport (78).” So, Fitzgerald characterizes Wolfsheim as a man who eludes law enforcement and surrounds himself with guilty people, and, since this man has taken a strong liking to Jay Gatsby, it leaves Nick wondering if Gatsby is just as gulity as