Gatsby Vs Fifth Business Essay Research Paper

Behind every great man lies a great women. In some cases the women herself may not

always be good or ideal according to society. Nevertheless it seems to add character to the man,

and also influences his actions and maybe even his morals. In Shakespearean literature,

Shakespeare tends to use people to develop certain characters throughout the play. In Romeo

and Juliet, Juliet is the person with the most influence on Romeo. This influence allows him to

develop as a character and also helps develop the play. This is also evident in Hamlet and

Ophelia. In the novel The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway’s realization of the equality of man

altered through his origin sets him up as a morally sound standard, until confronted by Jordan

Baker. The “American Dream” will never be a failure if Jordan does not develop Nick into his

final character. In the novel Fifth Business, Jung’s theory suggests that the conscious part of

Dunny’s personality is brought out by Liesl. It is Liesl that allows Dunny to understand his

function as “Fifth Business.” The development of Dunny’s character in the novel begins when

Dunny falls in love with Faustina. It is because of these female characters that both protagonists

learn to accept the emotional side of their lives, which are provided by these women, who possess

immoral values that allows Nick and Dunny to develop into the final stages of their characters,

essentially making them the same.

Nick’s realization of the equality of man and morals change when he comes in contact

with Jordan Baker. Jordan possesses certain qualities that only benefit her. She likes to bend the

rules so that the positive result ends up in her favor. She has allowed herself to be wrapped in a

blanket of dishonesty that Nick would not be able to live, until he realizes that he can. It is

undetermined whether or not Nick chooses to ignore Jordan’s dishonesty or whether it goes by

naturally, because, in the early stages of the novel he does not seem affected by it. “No thanks,

said Miss Baker to the four cocktails just from the pantry, I’m absolutely in training. Her host

looked at her incredulously. You are!…How you get anything done is beyond me.”(pg.. 27 ln16)

Now this was the first time Jordan and Nick came into contact with one another, and it is said that

the first impressions are extremely important. However, for a strong moral person like Nick, his

reaction is surprising when he simply states, “I enjoyed looking at her.”(pg. 27 ln 23) This is a

sign of his first stages of development, which will soon result into what the author intended.

The “American Dream” cannot be recognized as a failure if Jordan does not develop Nick

into his final character. It is known that Nick, just like Dunny holds high moral values, but it is

slowly beginning to be affected by Jordan Baker. Jordan has had such low moral values for quite

some time, which is evident in chapter four. “Daisy said to Jordan Baker…While she was drunk

as a monkey, she told Jordan, Here dearis. Take’em back downstairs and give’en to whoever

they belong. Tell’em Daisy’s changed he mind!” (pg. 79 ln 5) “But the next day she married

Tom Buchanan without as so much as a shiver…” (pg. 79 ln 19) It was evident that Daisy and

Jordan were both filled with immoral value before Daisy even got married. This later begins to

affect Nick as well when Nick later found out from Jordan that Gatsby was once in love with

Tom’s wife Daisy. This shows how Nick begins to slip because he is now part of the

development of the plot. It comes down to the point where a self-respected-man like himself

begins to gossip. Nick inevitably stoops to a lower level. This may be bad in regards to his

character but is vital in the role of the novel. It is later that Nick realizes that he becomes twisted

and that he finds no desire to associate himself with careless people like Tom, Daisy, and Jordan,

thus siding with Mr. Gatsby. He comes to an understanding at the end that he could not have

come forth if it were not for Jordan Baker. Nick has finally reached the final stage of his

character development.

The conscious part of Dunny’s personality is brought out by Liesl. Jung states that, “Ones

self is composed of a group of several different kinds of psychic energy, each component of which

has a different function in balancing the total self.” Liesl has a small part in Fifth Business yet play

a vital role in the novel. It could be argued that the end of the novel is a result of what she says to

Dunny. This would not be so if she did not play a vital role in the developing of Dunny’s

character. “You underestimate yourself Ramsay. Are you not the writer of A Hundred Saints for

Travelers? And Forgotten Saints of the Tyrol? And Celtic Saints of Britain and Europe? When

Eisengrim mentioned last night that you were in the audience…I wanted to meet you at once. A

distinguished hagiographer does not often come our way.”(pg. 212 ln 12) Dunny’s reaction was

much like Nick’s, but nevertheless, would be deeply affected. “Many people when they are

flattered seek immediately to show that themselves as being very hard-headed, to conceal the fact

they have taken the bait. I am one of them.” (pg. 212 ln 31) At the end of the chapter Dunny will

find his morals and spiritual value in the clutches of Liesl.

Liesl confronts Dunny with the truth about life and about his function as “Fifth Business”,

and she also leads him to his conscious and recognition of his spiritual life. These actions cause

Dunny to fill his “spiritual and emotional void,” and as a result he brings Boy and Paul together to

finish unfinished business, causing the book to unfold and end. These are one of the confirming

reasons why Liesl plays such an important role in the novel because without her, Dunny would

have not developed into his final character and there would have no reason for the novel to be

written. Dunny leads a double life that seems to be outwardly ordinary and normal. What he

symbolizes is the journey that one sometimes takes in order to find ones inner self. It is Liesl that

makes Dunny realize his flaws, and it is Liesl that gives him the initial push which ultimately helps

finally complete his journey. The difference between Jordan and Liesl’s approach are that Jordan

does it naturally and Liesl just comes out in the open and splurges it out. As a result Dunny was

quickly pointed out to his problems, and given a little nudge in the right direction of his fate as his

character, and becomes “Fifth Business”. “I wanted to tell you that you are human, like other

people…You make yourself responsible for other peoples troubles.” (pg. 229 ln 11) “But every

man has a devil, and a man of unusual quality, like yourself, Ramsay, has an unusual devil. You

must get to know your personal devil.” (pg. 230 ln 10) Thus making Liesl’s job complete because

as a result of Liesl bringing forth these truth’s about life, it brought Dunny to the last stage of his

characters development. Even though Dunny’s character development bean with Faustina, this

also shows that Dunny plays a vital role in bringing forth the characters repressed guilt that brings

Boy’s death as well as the end of the novel.

Dunny’s character development begins when he falls in love with Faustina. Dunny is first

shocked when he encounters Faustina and Liesl in the dressing room. “I saw Faustina naked – she

was always changing her clothes – in the arms of Liesl, who held her close and kissed her

passionately;” (pg. 224 ln1) Dunny was devastated by this and went almost into a shock and rage

because he believed that he was in love with Faustina. It was this that began Dunny’s character

development. He first begins to feel for what he has just seen, “I never knew such a collapse of

the spirit even in the worst of the war. And this time there was no Little Madonna to offer me

Courage or ease me into oblivion.” (pg. 224 ln 7) Dunny finds himself upset because his morals

and values came crashing down when he saw Faustina and Liesl, but he quickly and bluntly

confronted by Liesl. “That is you privilege, watching life from the sidelines and knowing were all

the players go wrong. Life is a spectator sport to you. Now you have taken a tumble and found

yourself in the middle of the fight, and you are whimpering because it is rough.” (pg. 225 ln 25)

This quote helps strengthens Dunny and also gives him that initial push towards his way on

developing his character into the vital role, otherwise the novel would not have ended the way

that it did.

Throughout The Great Gatsby the characters values are exposed for the reader and

because of this, the readers are hence allowed a great insight into what a true nature of the

character really is. At this point of the novel Jordan seems to be growing on Nick, and Nick is

still not bothered by Jordan’s dishonesty. It is important to know that Jordan is not dishonest in

the sense that she sleeps around and is immoral in regards to her sex-life. This is important

because Nick begins to feel tender towards Jordan’s behaviour, but he comes to discover that her

affections are a result to conceal her dishonesty. “At her first big golf tournament there was a

row that nearly reached the newspapers – a suggestion that she had moved her ball from a bad lie

in the semi-final round.” (pg. 65 ln 33) “Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men.”

(pg. 65 ln 3) Jordan avoided clever men because it made here secure and she could not stand it

when she was at a disadvantage. Nonetheless, assumptions can be made that she was taught this

at a very young age in order to keep or maintain her image. Unlike Dunny, Nick take a little

longer to develop, and unfortunately realizes in an inopportune moment. This results in Nick still

not being bothered by Jordan’s morals because he is approaching a state where he is almost falling

in love with Jordan. “Dishonesty in a women is a thing you never blame deeply – I was casually

sorry, and then I forgot.” (pg. 65 ln 12) Nick seems to be going through a gradual process of

moral decay, because in the later stages of the novel, Daisy begins to have an affair with Mr.

Gatsby behind her husbands back. Yet with such high morals Nick avoids telling Tom and

becomes part of the cause, when he helps organize meetings between Daisy and Mr. Gatsby, and

he and Jordan are the only ones who know about the affair.

The women in Fifth Business and The Great Gatsby both shape Dunny Ramsay

and Nick Carraway into the same person. In the novel Fifth Business, the development of

Dunny’s character begins when Dunny falls in love with Faustina. It is Liesl that allows Dunny to

understand his function as “Fifth Business.” Jung’s theory suggests that the conscious part of

Dunny’s personality is brought out by Liesl. In the novel The Great Gatsby, the “American

Dream” will never be a failure if Jordan does not develop Nick into his final character. Nick

Carraway’s realization of the equality of man altered through his origin sets him up as a morally

sound standard, until confronted by Jordan Baker. Men and Women seem to be in constant battle

for certain right but in the end, it is obvious that society has a real difficult time dealing with such

issues. It is the job of society to understand this, and come to a realization about themselves.

“She lived by a light that arose from within; I could not comprehend it.”

Fifth Business(pg. 52)

Bibliography