Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway.
The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald during the time period of American history called the "Roaring Twenties". Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway are the main characters in the novel. They are neighbors that become good friends at one of Gatsby's lavish parties, and they remain friends throughout the novel. They are two different characters in morality and in action.
Even though Jay Gatsby's real name is James Gatz, he changes his name in an effort to leave behind his old life as a poor man and create an entirely new identity filled with wealth and power. When Nick and Gatsby become acquainted, Gatsby tries to hide his real identity from Nick by lying to him and making him believe that he is, "the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West- all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated in Oxford" (Fitzgerald 60). Although Jay Gatsby is very wealthy he is also a liar and a criminal, having accumulated all his wealth and his position by dishonest means and corruption. Rumors and stories go around the town stating that Gatsby is a killer and does underground business. .
Tom Buchanan does not believe that Gatsby could have inherited his whole wealth and says to Nick, " He's a bootlegger, many of these new people are bootleggers" (Fitzgerald 65). Nick also had his doubts about Gatsby's personal background and says," Gatsby sprang from the swamps of Louisiana or from the lower East side of New York. I believe they did not drift coolly out of nowhere and buy a palace on Long Island Sound" (Fitzgerald 54). Gatsby tries to defend himself by telling Nick about his life when the war was over, " after that I lived like a young rajah in all the capitals of Europe- Paris, Venice and Rome" ( Fitzgerald 70). And making Nick believe that he has real wealth. .
Gatsby's only dream in life was to reunite with his long lost lover Daisy Buchanan, which he left behind when he went to war.