Not with condolences, however, but to say that he believes he left a pair of shoes at the mansion and would Nick be so kind as to mail them to him! Worse still, after Gatsby is murdered, Klipspringer leaves the mansion immediately.įitzgerald doesn’t say where he goes, but wherever he is, he does manage to call. When Gatsby asks him to play the piano, he does so grudgingly, as if he were being taken advantage of, instead of the other way around! Though living at Gatsby’s mansion rent-free, Klipspringer does not appear to be grateful. He asks Klipspringer to play something so he and Daisy can dance together. In the novel, Gatsby invites Daisy over to his mansion so he can impress her with his wealth. In the movie, you will see Klipspringer playing the piano like a drunken madman at the party that Nick attends. He does appear to have one redeeming value-he plays the piano. Klipspringer appears to be a party guest who simply decided never to leave. You might wonder how this could be possible, but when you consider that Gatsby’s mansion has so many rooms that even Gatsby can’t seem to remember them all, you will understand how one person could virtually live there and not be noticed too much. Nick tells us that “A man named Klipspringer was there so often and so long that he became known as ‘the boarder’-I doubt if he had any other home.” Gatsby tells Nick that he calls Klipspringer “the boarder” because he spends all his time at Gatsby’s house. The narrator, Nick Carraway, describes Klipspringer as a “slightly worn young man with shell-rimmed glasses and scanty blonde hair.” Who is Klipspringer in The Great Gatsby? When Is Klipspringer Introduced in The Great Gatsby?Įwing Klipspringer is introduced to the reader in Chapter 4 of the novel. While the book doesn’t say too much about him, per se, he does impart a lasting impression once you realize what Fitzgerald was trying to say about him. If you’ve read The Great Gatsby book or watched the movie, the small character called Klipspringer may have completely escaped your attention.

The Late Gatsby by S.A. Klipspringer