Fitzgerald uses indirect method of characterization. He delays the introduction of his character until chapter 3. Gatsby’s reputation precedes him. Gatsby himself does not appear in a speaking role. Fitzgerald presents Gatsby as the aloof, enigmatic host of the unbelievably rich parties thrown every week at his mansion. The author surrounds his character by spectacular luxury, courted by powerful men and beautiful women. Fitzgerald focuses reader’s attention on the fact that Gatsby is a subject of a gossip throughout New York …show more content…
This talent for self-invention is what gives Gatsby his quality of “greatness”. He has ability to blends in so well that it seems like he’s a guest at his own party (We were sitting at a table with a man of about my age). Gatsby has a way of making people feel like he is only thinking about them which helps him to seem sincere. Gatsby is obsessed with winning people over (Nick, and obviously Daisy), so Fitzgerald elaborates on why he is so successful. (He smiled understandingly—much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced—or seemed to face—the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey). He’s notably detached. While his guests enjoy his party, he merely watches in approval but cannot exactly take an equal part in the fun—many of the guests do not even know what Gatsby looks like(just as it began my eyes fell on Gatsby, standing alone on the marble steps and looking from one group to another with approving eyes). Where are many examples which serve as a catalog of reasons why Gatsby is considered “Great.” One of those reasons is that not drinking keeps him classy, charming, and attractive as his guests are increasingly shameful drunk ( I wondered if the fact that he was not drinking helped to set him off from his guests, for it seemed to me that he grew more correct as the fraternal hilarity increased). Not drinking also