The Great Gatsby Character Analysis Jay Gatsby The title character of The Great Gatsby is a young man, around thirty years old, who rose from an impoverished childhood in rural North Dakota to become fabulously wealthy. However, he achieved this lofty goal by participating in organized crime, including distributing illegal alcohol and trading in stolen securities. From his early youth, Gatsby despised poverty and longed for wealth and sophistication--he dropped out of St. Olaf's College …showed first 75 words of 1776 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1776 total…the valley of ashes. George loves and idealizes Myrtle, and is devastated by her affair with Tom. George is consumed with grief when Myrtle is killed. George is comparable to Gatsby in that both are dreamers and both are ruined by their unrequited love for women who love Tom. Works Cited Phillips, Brian. SparkNote on The Great Gatsby. 8 Apr. 2004 <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby>. F. Scott, Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby published in 1925