One of these characters is like the others: Pages 97-108 (The Great Gatsby)

The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Grab your champagne glasses and uninvited friends: there's another Gatsby party.  But this one has a twist.  For the first time, the Buchanans are in attendance.  The party for the reader comes from the fact that this story allows for a comparison between Nick and his cousin Daisy, two of the few characters in the novel who are portrayed in a mostly positive way.

The main point of similarity between Nick and Daisy comes from their attitudes toward the guests at the party.  Both characters generally disapprove of the wild behavior of the guests and their egotistical reasons for coming.  Like Nick at that first party of the novel, Daisy soberly observes with disapproval the total lack of order brought on by alcohol.  At their table, Daisy asks a woman if she is feeling well and receives drunken mumbling and stories of the doctor dumping her head in a pool as an antidote.  To Daisy, with her simple outlook on life, the idea of a party with people looking so miserable and inept doctors is borderline idiotic and being in that kind of a party is borderline miserable.  Nick also observed the lack of logical thought in the car accident after his first Gatsby party.  The strongest similarity between Nick and Daisy comes from their disgust at the fact that most of the guests at Gatsby's party were not invited.  To both of them, it shows a lack of consideration for Gatsby on the guests' parts and egotistical searches for a fun few superficial hours.

Despite their shared disapproval of Gatsby's parties, one key difference emerges after the party.  Nick observes that, "She saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand" (Fitzgerald, 107).  Although Nick looks down upon the parties Gatsby throws, he does not feel so strongly about the situation.  Because he is so used to observing the inner struggles of people, he can see more than the arrogance and egotism of the guests.  Daisy's simplistic judgments might come between her and Gatsby who seeks to impress the former with such superficial displays.