The Great Gatsby- 2

"Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward." page 7


I think characterization is achieved a lot by physical descriptions in this book. Every time a new character is introduced, an in depth physical description is given and I can immediately picture exactly what the character looks like and what kind of personality they have. The above quote is describing Tom and I immediately became almost threatened by his character. He seems very overbearing and seems like he always wants to be in charge. All of that comes from Nick's description of him, his "hard mouth" and "learning forward aggressively". Nick also describes Mr. Wolfsheim as a small, flat-nosed Jew...I discovered his tiny eyes in the half-darkness". This gives off the impression that Mr. Wolfsheim is secretive or sneaky. We soon learn that he is a gambler. I think the physical descriptions are an excellent depiction of the characters.