Nick views Gatsby as a deeply flawed man, dishonest and vulgar, whose extraordinary confidence and power to transform his dreams into reality make him "great" nevertheless.
Daisy Fay 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. Daisy lives with Tom across from Gatsby in the stylish East Egg district of Long Island. She is ironic and somewhat cynical, and behaves apparently to mask her pain at her husband's constant infidelity.
Tom Buchanan: Daisy's wealthy husband, which once was a member of Nick's social club at Yale. His social attitudes are laced with racism and sexism, and he never considers trying to live up to the moral standards from those around him. Tom has no moral qualms because he had an affair with Myrtle, but condemns his wife and Gatsby for their infidelity.
Jordan Baker: Daisy's longtime friend, who Nick becomes passionately involved during the course of the novel. Jordan Baker is a professional golfer who cheated in her first tournament in order to win. Jordan is cynical, boyish, and self-centered. Jordan is beautiful, but also dishonest. .
Myrtle Wilson: Tom's lover, which has a lifeless husband (George) that owns a run-down garage in the valley of ashes. Tom treats her as a simple object of his desire. Myrtle is incredibly jealous of Daisy. After with a fight with her husband, she runs out into the street and is hit and killed by Gatsby's car.
George Wilson: Myrtle's husband, the lifeless, exhausted owner of a run-down auto shop at the edge of the valley of ashes. George loves and idealizes Myrtle, and is devastated by her affair with Tom.
