Examples Of Self-Made Man In The Great Gatsby

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

Honesty is one of the most pivotal traits for a narrator to portray. Nick is a very honest man and he often, through the novel is not afraid give his opinion. As he was introducing the novel to the readers he gives and honest assessment of Gatsby, Nick says “Gatsby , who represented everything for which I have unaffected scorn.” (Fitzgerald 2) This displays that Nick is willing to bring forth his opinion on Gatsby and shows that he will be honest if it is necessary. Nick is exclaiming that his first reaction to Jay was off-putting, and he rejected his lifestyle. Nick honesty fuels him into a friendship with Gatsby and lets the story flourish. Nick also seems to be in the thick of things whenever something went wrong. He gets insider information throughout the story and

Fitzgerald chose Nick to narrate the text because his perspective creates a multifaceted view of the world Fitzgerald portrays. He is an outsider to the wealthy materialistic world in which he lives. His similarity to Gatsby in that respect helps us gain an appreciation for Gatsby’s character, but although Nick and Gatsby are both outsiders Nick fails to fully understand Gatsby. This appreciation but lack of full understanding gives the reader a very different perspective than a narration from Gatsby’s point of view or that of anyone else in the novel. Nick is caught between the perspective of the man “looking up and wondering” (35) and the man in the party. Gatsby is neither; he holds the party but then scarcely shows up. Far from being an outsider to the world of wealth and materialism, he seems to embody it. Gatsby and Nick both disdain the world of vacuous wealth, but they do so from different perspectives. Gatsby has everything he needs to be part of it and chooses not to; Nick is caught on the edge, unsure whether or not he wants that world, but ultimately he cannot have it. If Nick is an outsider unsure about trying to become an insider, Gatsby is an insider trying, studiously, to make himself an outsider.

On the first page of the novel, he speaks to the audience and says, “In consequence, I’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores” (Fitzgerald 1). Nick tells the audience this fact after saying how his father used to tell him to never criticize anyone, as “all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had” (Fitzgerald 1). What Nick’s father meant was to not judge people who are less advantaged than he is. What Nick’s father did not think of, however, was how harshly to judge people who are more advantaged than he is. Nick learned to not judge people based on the fact that they’ve had less advantages, but he failed to learn how judging people in a good light who have had more advantages than him could also be harmful. This comes into play when Nick starts harshly judging Gatsby, but in a good light. This affects the entire story, and makes Gatsby seem like a better man than he actually

Nick is a very judgmental person thought the book when it comes to Gatsby Nick’s views are constantly changing about this character, but how he perceived Gatsby was inappropriate. when Gatsby begins to get nervous around Daisy he gets up to leave the party, and Nick goes up to Gatsby and says “you’re acting like a little boy I broke out impatiently not only that, but you’re rude” (Fitzgerald p. 88-89). At this point we see just how judgmental Nick is. He uses the words “little boy”, and says he is

Nick seems compassionate when he said that Jay invented the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would invent (Fitzgerald 104). I think it would have to be a desperate and miserable seventeen year old boy to invent a person and take on that new identity. Nick supports me on this idea when he says: "But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot" (Fitzgerald, 105). Nick goes on to say that Gatsby's thoughts of him himself haunted him in bed at night. The dreams Gatsby had were a beautiful hint of the unreality of reality they were "a promise that the rock of the world was found securely on a fairy's wing" (Fitzgerald 105).

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a story that centers around the narrator Nick, and his encounter with the enigmatic figure simply known as Mr. Gatsby on his trip to New York. This encounter with the namesake character leaves Nick with a deeper understanding about Gatsby and the corruption within the richer communities of nineteen-twenties New York. Toward the end of the novel, while having a conversation with Gatsby, Nick comments that Gatsby is “worth the whole damn bunch put together” (Fitzgerald 154). The reason Nick makes such a statement is because Gatsby’s motive to make money is to gain Daisy’s affection, because Nick’s own companions are corrupt in comparison, and because Gatsby has displayed noble qualities throughout

In addition Gatsby says “It took me just three years to earn the money that bought it.” This makes the reader feel suspicious of Gatsby because he is so wealthy but he says he gained all the money for his mansion in three years. This shows that Gatsby probably has a disreputable way of making

He constantly boasts about his Oxford education and wealthy family in an attempt to convince others that his ideal self-concept is his reality (Fitzgerald 65). However, in truth, Gatsby’s

“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, he told me, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.” (F Scott Fitzgerald, pg 1) In being a self made man such as Gatsby was, there are connections that are made which can be good or bad. There are also many characteristics that can come with being a self made man that F. Scott Fitzgerald discusses in The Great Gatsby. Gatsby has many ostentatious possessions that he gained from wealth as an outcome of being a self made man.

Throughout the novel, Nick reserves his judgements till he reaches the end. The first sign of Nick’s changing “attitude” and outlook would be when he had become practically repulsed by Jordan’s literal lack of empathy and care (which he initially pinned as being a tactic of self preservation). Then, by “complementing” Gatsby, he gave judgement to his wealthy friends -- Tom, Daisy, and Jordan -- saying that all of them combined are no better. This goes to show that Nick does in fact like Gatsby, as he mentioned very early on, but not for any “normal” reason. He never approved of Gatsby’s lies, lifestyle, etc., but rather found something genuine and caring in Gatsby that he had not found in any of the rest. Unlike them, Gatsby didn't necessarily

First, the social status between Nick and Gatsby is completely different. Nick is a middle class man who lives in a small house. “My house was at the very tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge places that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season”(Fitzgerald 10). He

A self-made man is defined as the following: “A "self-made man" or "self-made woman" is a person who was born poor or otherwise disadvantaged, but who achieves economic or other success thanks to their own hard work and ingenuity rather than because of any inherited fortune, family connections, or other privileges” (Wikipedia). Jay Gatsby was a man who often tried to step into the facade of a privileged heir, yet there were times he would slip up. “It took

Despite his recognition that he changed over the course of the events, this does not make Nick any more self aware and does not orient him towards self improvement. Nick blames everyone else for how he changed and judges them for their mistakes, therefore showing that Nick doesn’t truly regain his initial image of an objective and morally upright individual. This is evident by the fact that Nick identitfies with Gatsby, because Gatsby and Nick are both seeking enterance into and acceptance in a world they were not born into. But, on this quest, Gatsby ends up dead, and Nick claims over and over that this is not Gatsby’s fault; it is always because of the immoral and hollow world of wealth that Gatsby delt with. Nick says, “Gatsby turned out alright at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams…” (2), showing that he deeply believes that what Gatsby did and hoped for were not the problems, but instead it was that which was sewn into the values of high society that ultimately destroyed Gatsby.

Gatsby is a common man who had the ambition to achieve a big dream. Part of Gatsby’s dream was wealth, which is the idea that each person desires to achieve within their lifespan through their hard work. Gatsby is not born into wealth nor privileges. He was a farm boy from North Dakota with no education or money, Nick states “His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people — his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all” (Fitzgerald 98). Some of Gatsby’s many achievements were becoming a war