The Great Gatsby: The Sympathetic Readers

The Great Gatsby: The Sympathetic Readers

You can easily become very sympathetic to a character by how the author

portrays him or her in a story. In The Great Gatsby the main character is an

ostentatious bootlegger who pines for one thing, a married woman. Somehow,

the author swindles the reader into being sympathetic for Gatsby throughout

the entire novel. Fitzgerald makes the reader compassionate by showing how

Gatsby had extravagant parties for anyone who wanted to come, how he

struggled to get ahead in life, and how he endeavored for Daisy's love.

Gatsby had an exuberant and lavish party almost every night. His house

was full of people, some of whom he had never met before. "I believe that on

the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had

actually been invited. People were not invited - they went there." (45) Some

may think Gatsby was just trying to swagger. However, if this was the

circumstance he would have just invited the people he wanted to show off to.

To hold these prodigal parties Gatsby may have obtained money from

racketeering but he still used it appropriately. He had dignified caterers,

brilliant and luminous lights, scrumptious and exquisite food, and a grand

orchestra at all of his parties. Gatsby let people have a great time at his

expense. "I like to come," one guest said. "I never care what I do, so I

always have a good time. When I was here last a I tore my gown on a chair,

and he (Gatsby) asked me my name and address-inside of a week I got a package

from Croirier's with a new evening gown in it." This incident was not even

Gatsby's fault, but he was kind enough to pay for a brand new, exorbitant

dress. Despite Gatsby's ex...

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...sby fabricated that he had been the

one driving the car. He waited outside Daisy's house just to make sure Tom

didn't aggrieve Daisy.

The dictionary defines "great" as an adjective that means remarkable in

magnitude, degree, or effectiveness, full of emotion, eminent, distinguished,

grand, markedly superior in character or quality, noble, remarkably skilled,

marked by enthusiasm, used as a generalized term of approval. All of these

terms together though can not adequately describe Gatsby. Nick declares,

"They're a rotten crowd. You're worth the whole damn bunch put together."

Nick vocally expresses his admiration for The Great Gatsby. The reader is

compelled to agree, conjuring up all of the sentiments of the very

definitions of "great". Despite some of the methods and antics utilized by

Gatsby, in the end we all became sympathetic readers.