Tuesday, September 22, 2015

In The Great Gatsby, is Jordan Baker a static character or a dynamic character?

In the story of "The Great Gatsby," Jordan represents a
fairly STATIC character.  Of course, to say that we should probably be certain we
understand what a "static character" is.


When something it
"static" that means it doesn't change much (or that it will give you a shock when you
touch it : )  This is contrasted with a "dynamic" character, which means one that will
change a lot during the course of a story.  A dynamic character grows and learns, when a
static one doesn't.


The proof, really, is in the fact that
Jordan is pretty much the same type of girl she was at the end of the story as she was
at the beginning of the story.  She starts out a little aloof with aspirations of
thinking she is better than most people, and toward the end she sort of remains that
way.  It is probably one of the reasons why Nick never takes a "serious" interest in
her...she is a little bit boring.


In fact, most of the
characters in Gatsby are a bit static.  None of them really changes much during the
course of the story.  Daisy has a bit of a melt-down for a while, but by the end she is
back where she started.  Gatsby dynamic nature occurs largely outside of the story, such
as his growing up period that we don't really get to see first hand.  And Nick, though
he does develop certain sensibilities during the story, isn't radically different after
that crazy summer.

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