Gatsby #1

Looking at first three chapters of The Great Gatsby, make some predictions about these characters and classify them into one of the three categories - hero, antihero, and villain. Give ample reasons for your classification, with support for the text Nick is the hero, Gatsby is the antihero, and Tom is the villain. Nick is obviously the hero because it is from his point of view therefore we see what he wants us to see and the thoughts he wants us to read in order to make us like him, so obviously he is going to appear as a good guy. Nick can appear very relatable and likable as well. For example, he says, "Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known." (64). This makes us like him more and think he is trustworthy. I think Gatsby is the antihero because of his parties. Everybody likes parties, so it is easy to like Gatsby because he throws this party, but since he is very elusive character, it makes us suspicious of his reasoning for throwing the parties. This is just like an antihero-he does good things, just not in the best way. Tom is obviously the villain because he is abusive and a cheater. We know he is a cheater and that he isn't very secretive about it because of the line spoken by Miss Baker: "Tom's got some woman in New York" (19). This is shunned upon not only then but now.