The Woman of Gatsby

Daisy Buchanan - Nick’s cousin, and the woman Gatsby loves. As a young woman in Louisville before the war, Daisy was courted by a number of officers, including Gatsby. She fell in love with Gatsby and promised to wait for him. However, Daisy harbors a deep need to be loved, and when a wealthy, powerful young man named Tom Buchanan asked her to marry him, Daisy decided not to wait for Gatsby after all. Now a beautiful socialite, Daisy lives with Tom across from Gatsby in the fashionable East Egg district of Long Island. She is sardonic and somewhat cynical, and behaves superficially to mask her pain at her husband’s constant infidelity.

(Picture of Daisy Buchanan via https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkeaLOfRddSmi86LkY3bL2xt-8rkkCn8Cn8Uw1PSM9E3Q9UFb40NwJbTH3lDZ_I4Gn4E1Bb8qRQovliAEXqMRmgeO4NTDTT9KbTuAwi2fdWjYQVT8yZNp1jHHm63zZEoOD46R5F8RArCY/s400/18456509.jpg)

Jordan Baker - Daisy’s friend, a woman with whom Nick becomes romantically involved during the course of the novel. A competitive golfer, Jordan represents one of the “new women” of the 1920s—cynical, boyish, and self-centered. Jordan is beautiful, but also dishonest: she cheated in order to win her first golf tournament and continually bends the truth.

(Picture of Jordan Baker via http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/object/1316/117/n2225749782_39185.jpg)

Myrtle Wilson - Tom’s lover, whose lifeless husband George owns a run-down garage in the valley of ashes. Myrtle herself possesses a fierce vitality and desperately looks for a way to improve her situation. Unfortunately for her, she chooses Tom, who treats her as a mere object of his desire.

(Picture of Myrtle Wilson via http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/58/58_images/58grgeorgia.jpg)

Sources: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/canalysis.html