Many can say that Tom is the one who is wrongly accused of a crime, because he did not know that daisy wrote and was emotional and furious at that moment .you can also say that Nick is the person who doesn't get convicted of a crime, and is the one who should because of various reasons. Although I agree with those ideas, I do not totally support them.
I think one of the characters that do not get convicted of a crime, or at least gets part of the fault is Jordan Baker. Jordan is one of the smaller characters in the story, but does have a big impact on the happening.
The first reason why I think that Jordan also has fault is that she is the person who introduces Gatsby to nick in the first place. In the first chapter, where Nick, Tom, Daisy, and Jordan are sitting at the dinner table Jordan mentions Gatsby to Nick and arises the first interest of nick to Gatsby "you must know Gatsby " {p15}.
Jordan: An Evening Portrait
Jordan River
Two Wire haired Fox Terriers. Listed on Flickr as ...Jordan must have known of Gatsby in some way from past experiences, so we cannot say she innocently introduced Nick to someone she just new and that was harmless. This partly is the reason why Gatsby and Daisy get together again in the first place.
Another reason why I think Jordan is also guilty is that she is the first person to know about Gatsby and Daisy and starts raising Nicks curiosity in what she had heard from Gatsby by not telling him at the night of the party saying: "Iv just heard the most amazing thing ["æ] it was simply amazing, ["æ] I swore I wouldn't tell it and here I am tantalizing you "(p57). Gatsby and Jordan hade made out that Jordan would talk about the whole situations with Nick. While nick had invited her to tea just to socialize with her "this matter"àwas brought upon him through her, she had "kindly sent to speak"àto him about this matter. Although nick did not like this, " I hadn't the faintest idea what "this matter"àwas, but I was more annoyed then interested"ÃÂ(p.72), He interest in Jordan was the reason for him to listen and cooperate with them on this whole issue.
Jordan tells Nick the whole background on Daisy and Gatsby's relationship and the whole deal. She enlightens him on how much Gatsby wants Daisy, and why Gatsby is here now. She is the one who asks of Nick to set up a meeting between them and to arrange the date and persuaded him to do that by telling him that its good for Daisy, " And Daisy ought to have something in her life, (p.85)"ÃÂ, So in a way she is the person who pulled the stings behind this and so to say who created the whole situation.
Jordan, generally also was a dishonest and careless person (p.63). In different parts of the story she is responsible for brining up tensions that lead ultimately to the disaster.
On occasions she mentions how Tom is on the phone with myrtle, " the rumor is, ["æ], that that's toms girl on the phone, " (p.122), bringing up the situation there. Jordan also raises Tom's anger and confusion in the car after he saw how Daisy and Gatsby were together. In the scene where Tom starts talking about how he had made some investigations about Gatsby, Jordan disagrees with him and says words what tom does not want to hear, and makes jokes about the phrases and words tom chooses (p.128) On the way to town, when Tom, Nick, and Jordan are driving by Wilson's garage, Jordan is the one who insist that Tom should stop at the garage, and tank some gas,"ÃÂBut there's a garage right here, I don't want to get stalled in this baking heat ".
It is in this scene where Toms fears and emotions even get more out of hand when he hears that Wilson wants to take his wife to the west, because Wilson has found out that myrtle has had an affair, " I've been here to long, I want to get away. My wife and I want to go west"à(p.130). It is also in this scene where Myrtle sees the Yellow car that Tom claims as his to Wilson, and this is where she was "engrossed " by seeing Tom with Jordan, and thinking Jordan is Daisy. " Her expression was curiously familiar, ["æ] her eyes, wide with jealous terror, were fixed not on Tom but on Jordan Baker, whom she took to be his wife."ÃÂ(P.131). This is the point where Tom starts to feel insecure and is panicking.
So in my opinion, the person pulling the strings behind this fiasco was Jordan Baker.
She always remained in the background but had a great impact on the events.
Nick was only the person who was pulled into this by Gatsby, who wanted Daisy, and Jordan who convinced him of fixing most of this. Jordan Baker isn't directly responsible for a moral or active crime, but she is the one who created the circumstances for everything that happened and at the end, quietly slips out of the whole plot and story without taking any fault or thought over what had happened; not taking any fault, nor feeling any responsible .She gets away easy and I think she is one of the people who never get convicted of anything, but should have.
The Great Gatsby (1974 film)
The Great Gatsby (1926 film)
The cover of the first edition of The Great Gatsby...