Nick's Evolving Perceptions of Gatsby in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

Nick had so many challenges with no limbs and he was depressed for a while. Nick also was almost rejected by his mother. Nick wanted to commit suicide when he was 10! “I felt I had no value, and I thought I would always be a burden to my parents and never get married”. (Nick P8) Nick wanted to be normal, because he was always excluded from things and sometimes laughed at. When he wanted to start a business it failed and someone stole money from him. He has overcome these challenges now, because Nick has had many challenges in his life he now he speaks to the youth about his life. Nick’s family encouraged him to speak to others. “Nick, you can make your dreams come true and reach

When considering Nick’s reliability as a narrator, several contradictions also exist concerning the consistency and dependability of his thoughts about Gatsby. Although Nick states that “Gatsby represented everything for which I had an unaffected scorn” (2) he also describes how Gatsby is “worth the whole damn bunch put together” (154) and that “there was something gorgeous about him [Gatsby]” (2). The above quotes contrast both Nick’s unfavorable and positive opinions of Gatsby and further add to his volatility and unpredictability. The greatest inconsistency occurs when Nick conveys how “Gatsby turned out all right in the end (2)”, despite later saying that he “disapproved of him from beginning to end” (154). It seems that by frequently changing his opinions on Gatsby, Nick is unsure and hesitant on portraying Gatsby’s character.

Nick of all people is interested in gatsby, but why so? First of all because no one truly knows gatsby. In a quote in chapter 3 some gossiping guests at Gatsby’s party said "Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once. Oh, no, said the first girl, it couldn't be that, because he was in the American army during the war. As our credulity switched back to her she leaned forward with enthusiasm. You look at him sometimes when he thinks nobody's looking at him. I'll bet he killed

Fitzgerald writes a story with a character that is considered “larger than life”; he throws massive parties, is in love with a married woman, is rich and goes by the name of Jay Gatsby. Nick is the narrator who is sees a different side of Gatsby that sees him “great” aside from his wealth and corruption. Nick grew up in the Jazz age and it was replaced with the vitality, and favor of the artificial American dream. Gatsby’s life was full of winnings along with failures that followed him into death throughout the novel; never the less he achieves a form of “greatness” because of his morality in Nick’s perspective.

The real contradiction to Nick is The Great Gatsby himself, Jay. Jay and Nick share a similar small town upbringing but Jay was able to parle his stolen trades into the corrupted version of the American Dream. Most of what Nick knows about Jay is based on his reputation and it’s not until they actually meet and Nick sees the “quality of distortion” in Jay’s New York lifestyle that Nick sees for himself the illusion that Jay created. Nick is attracted to the high life that Gatsby has created in the valley of ashes. Who can blame him with all the lavish parties, cars, mansions, women and other temptations. It’s like Fitzgerald has placed Nick in the Garden of Eden and the two characters; Nick and Jay, represent the good

“Life is much more successfully looked at from a single window” (Fitzgerald 4). This quote from the timeless classic The Great Gatsby references how an individual should only have one worldview. The Great Gatsby portrays characters with varying world views, some of which will be deliberated in this paper. Some characters have a more Biblical worldview, while others are more humanistic. This book also brings up issues of morals and ethics, leading to the underlying theme: “the love of money is the root of all evil”.

Although he has flaws, Fitzgerald reveals Gatsby’s great capacity for hope, and his kindness toward Nick, while holding onto the hope that he will win back the love of his life, Daisy, despite coming to the incredulous conclusion that they are from two separate worlds: old and new money. In this unpleasant happening he feels “far away from her” and comes to understand not all hopes can come true (109). Nevertheless, he still desperately clings to the fantasy of winning back Daisy. His fantasy is especially exemplified when he says “can’t repeat the past?... Why of course you can!”(110) This belief comes from the idea that his ‘new money’ world will win Daisy from Tom’s ‘old money’ paradigm. Although in the end he is killed because of his love for Daisy, keeping her safe after she murdered Myrtle, yet through all this Gatsby remains kind toward his friend Nick. Starting with the invitation to his “little party,” Gatsby tries to earn Nick’s

During one of the key scenes in the novel in the ------ hotel, Nick, his narration and point of view once again allow more of an insight to Gatsby, which allows my admiration to grow. If not for Nick, and his input in the events, many people would see Gatsby as a sly shallow liar who invents stories merely to entertain acquaintances. Instead of this however, nick says,

Nick points out a “secret place above the trees” that Gatsby could reach if he “climbed alone”; this secret place is the high-society life Gatsby has wanted all his life, but the only way for him to attain is it by leaving Daisy behind. Gatsby knows this and chooses to kiss Daisy anyway, where he “forever wed[s] his unutterable visions to her perishable breath”. Gatsby’s dreams were so vast and could have been gained had he not signed a death certificate by involving himself with Daisy, and Nick understands this. Gatsby loses a major part of himself to Daisy at this point in the story by devoting literally everything he does to her and remains just steps away from literally worshipping her. Another example of details is when Nick tells Gatsby not to “ask too much of [Daisy]” because “you can’t repeat the past”. This is something Gatsby refuses to accept as the truth and insists that he’s “going to fix everything just the way it was before”. At this point Nick registers that Gatsby’s life has been “confused and disordered” since he met Daisy and that he is actually stuck in the past. Nick is trying his best to deter Gatsby from pursuing Daisy yet Gatsby continues to ignore his one true friend that has only his best interests at

Gatsby loses his identity in his pursuit of marrying Daisy. When Nick begins to get to know Gatsby, Gatsby’s friend Wolfsheim describes him as, “’the kind of man you’d like to take home and introduce to your mother and sister” (Fitzgerald 72). When Nick first meets Gatsby, people who know him view him as a perfect gentleman who would never try to take another man’s wife, but as Gatsby becomes closer to Daisy, he loses a part of who he is by attempting to take Daisy from Tom. According to Barry Gross, “he has surrendered his material existence to an immaterial vision and once that vision is shattered it is too late for him to reclaim his material identity” (25). Gatsby has given away his own identity in his pursuit of Daisy and when he finally realizes he cannot marry Daisy it is too late for him to reclaim the man he once was. Also, Gatsby throws massive, elaborate parties, with people he did not even know or invite, at his house in hopes of attracting Daisy, who loves displays of wealth and affluence (Fitzgerald 42). Gatsby plans extravagant parties and spends massive amounts of money on them in the belief that if he tried hard enough and spent enough money, he would be able to bring Daisy back to him.

While Gatsby is blind when it comes to Daisy; Nick can see that what Gatsby wants is impossible. Daisy and Tom make an appearance at one of Gatsby’s many extravagant parties; Gatsby is flustered since he believes that Daisy did not enjoy herself. In an effort to try to reveal the truth, Nick attempts to tell Gatsby to not expect much of Daisy. After his failed endeavor Nick begins to see why Gatsby is intent on focusing on the past. If Gatsby leaves his past behind, he will also be leaving Daisy behind. Gatsby focuses on the past as if he left an important detail behind; “return[ing] to a certain starting place” would give Gatsby the chance to start over and find out what he did wrong in his pursuit to win Daisy’s affections. Unlike the future, Gatsby does not fear the past because he knew what happened. Stating that Gatsby’s life has been “confused and disordered” proves that Gatsby is not satisfied with his quality of life. He put all that he had into one dream that he could not let go of, every thought that he had involved himself and Daisy; he lost the ability to just focus on himself. Without Daisy, Gatsby could not possibly continue living for he is the tragic hero; his fate is

When it came to Gatsby, he was interested in Nick’s simplicity but he was also intrigued at Nick’s relation to Daisy, his long-lost lover. In the novel it states, “had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.” (Fitzgerald, 97). This quote shows how Gatsby had reconnected with Daisy through Nick and how Nick admired Gatsby’s passion when he finally meet up with Daisy once again. Lastly, the tragic death of Gatsby opens up a new realm of things for Nick. In the novel, it states, “After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction.” (Fitzgerald, 176). He now reflected on how Gatsby’s passion and drive to live allowed Nick to view life in the real world differently. Nick, who was directly inspired by Gatsby, now was left confused as he wanted to learn all that one needs for success, though the death made it impossible. The last page of the novel, it ends with, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eludes us then, but that’s no matter - to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arm farther.” (Fitzgerald, 180). This quote shows how much of a deep impact Gatsby’s death had on Nick. Now

Nick is one of the few and maybe the only person who really comes to understand Gatsby in the end. What makes Gatsby "great" to Nick is not just the extravagance of his lifestyle, but that, in his heart, he really does not care about wealth, social status, or any of the other petty materialistic things that plague everyone else in this shallow society. Instead, Gatsby is motivated by the finest and most foolish of emotions, love.

In the very first chapter we find out that Nick believes Gatsby represents everything he scorns. However, we also learn that Nick exempts Gatsby completely from his usual judgments.

Nick’s love for Gatsby became more and more apparent throughout the novel. Gatsby was an: "extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I[Nick] have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I[he] shall ever find again".(2) Gatsby aspired for something and someone, which gave him a depth to him that no other character Nick met throughout the novel had. He had loved Daisy from the moment they met, and from then on, dedicated his life to winning her back, after he had lost her when he went off to war. He weaved his endless love for her, into his vision of the american dream and decided form that moment on see that dream out in order to win Daisy back. In the 1920's many