Wolfsheim appears only twice in the novel, the second time refusing to attend Gatsby's funeral. He is a clear allusion to Arnold Rothstein, a New York crime kingpin who was notoriously blamed for the Black Sox Scandal which tainted the 1919 World Series.

Daisy goes out of her way to make sure Pammy is presented to Gatsby. The existence of a daughter seems to startle Gatsby, but it does not deter him from his plans.

Fitzgerald based Jordan on the golfer Edith Cummings, one of the premier amateur golfers of her generation. On August 25, 1924, she became the first golfer and first female athlete to appear on the cover of Time magazine.

Jordan is Nick's girlfriend for most of the novel, though they grow apart towards the end.

George Wilson finds an expensive-looking dog leash wrapped in a piece of tissue hidden in Myrtle's bureau. As the item must have cost a fortune, and as the Wilsons don't have a dog, George rightly concludes that Myrtle has been cheating on him.

Myrtle is accidentally killed by Gatsby's car (driven by Daisy, though Gatsby insists on taking the blame for the accident).

At the end of the novel, George fatally shoots Gatsby, wrongly believing him to have been driving the car that killed his wife.

Disillusioned with the East, Nick moves back to the Midwest.