Name: ______________________________
Date: ___________________
Indirect Characterization of Jordan Baker
Type of Indirect
Characterization
Speech
What does the character
say? How does the
character speak?
Thoughts
What is revealed through
the character’s private
thoughts and feelings?
Effect on others
How do other characters
feel or behave in reaction to
the character?
Actions
What does the character
do? How does the character
behave?
Looks
What does the character
look like? How does the
character dress?
Evidence
(complete sentences in MLA format)
Explanation
While at Gatsby’s party, she explains to Nick, “‘Anyhow, he gives large
parties… And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there
isn’t any privacy’” (49).
Jordan speaks straight forward and decisively. Her
speech reveals that she is very sure and secure in
herself and her environment.
She defends her poor driving abilities by claiming that “‘…other people are
[careful]… They’ll keep out of [her] way…’” (58).
Jordan’s lack of responsibility is astonishing. She
does not believe she has to watch out for herself
because other people will do it for her.
Nick thinks back on his time with Jordan explaining that he liked being
around her “…because she was a golf champion, and everyone knew her
name” (57).
Her fame on the golf course and wealth give her
credibility and value to others. She’s interesting for
the things she has and does.
Jordan is often described as “…sitting very straight” or “…motionless… as if
she were balancing something on [her chin] which was quite likely to fall (74,
8).
These movements hint at Jordan’s extreme selfcontrol. She moves deliberately almost as if she’s
orchestrated every single move.
Nick describes his first impression of Jordan by admitting “[he] enjoyed
looking at her. She was a slender, small-breasted girl, with an erect carriage,
which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a
young cadet. Her gray sun-strained eyes looked back at [him] with polite
reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming, discontented face” (11).
Her appearance almost contradicts itself. Nick
describes her as being both physically controlled
and poised, yet her face looks exhausted and
dissatisfied. The contradictory appearance
highlights an important theme of the novel: all that
glitters is not gold.
Name: ______________________________
Date: ___________________
Indirect Characterization of ___________________
Type of Indirect
Characterization
Speech
What does the character
say? How does the
character speak?
Thoughts
What is revealed through
the character’s private
thoughts and feelings?
Effect on others
How do other characters
feel or behave in reaction to
the character?
Actions
What does the character
do? How does the character
behave?
Looks
What does the character
look like? How does the
character dress?
Evidence
(complete sentences in MLA format)
Explanation