Essay on Gatsby is Not Really Great

At the onset of this book, the reader is introduced to the narrator, Nick Carraway, who relates the past happenings that construct the story of Jay Gatsby and Nick during the summer of 1922. After fighting in World War I, or the Great War as Nick called it, Nick left his prominent family in the West of America for the North where he intended to learn the bond business. Nick was originally supposed to share a house in West Egg near New York City with an associate of his, but the man backed out and so Nick lived with only a Finnish cook. Right next door, Gatsby lived in a glorious mansion with expansive gardens and a marble swimming pool, among other luxuries. Yet Nick did not even hear about Gatsby until he went to visit his

In the beginning of the novel the narrator Nick Carraway says, “Gatsby turned out all right in the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men”. Well we don’t know how justified Nick is saying this since it’s in the beginning of the novel. So we only see Gatsby through Nick’s eyes, so all of our opinions of him are based on what Nick sees and thinks. I can assume what he writes about Gatsby is the truth, since Nick says he reserves all judgments. I believe what he says because he makes us trust him through his comments on the first few pages. For example, on the very first page of the book Nick says, “Gatsby represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn”. Even though, Nick had doubts towards he could not help but admire him. From the beginning when Nick first met Gatsby he recognized his faults, but Nick still liked Gatsby. Nick is attracted to Gatsby’s bright and understanding smile. That’s why I feel like Nick said “Gatsby turned out all right in the end”.

Gatsby is not formally introduced until chapter three, and due to his initial description, readers hold him in much higher regard than other characters in the novel. Nick introduces Gatsby in an extremely intriguing and flattering manner, saying, “He smiled understandingly –

The imperfections that hinder Nick Carraway include being extremely censorious, egotistic, conceited, self-deluding, self-absorbed, and socially inept. Despite Nick viewing himself as unprejudiced “The Great Gatsby” contains multiple instances that prove to be contrary to Nick’s morals. “They’re a rotten crowd. You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.” (Fitzgerald 154)

Jay Gatsby in Nick's’ eyes was the best thing that came out of his residence in New York. “...I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction-- Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.” Nick had always felt something special about Gatsby and his personality. “If personality is an unbroken series of unsuccessful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away.”

Throughout The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway narrates the novel through his own eyes. Carraway portrays himself to be honest, but readers learn in every part of the novel Carraway seems to integrate his own judgemental and biased views. Nick Carraway’s prejudice and hypocritical opinions make his narration throughout the novel questionable and ultimately undependable because of his always changing tendentious views. Because of Nick Carraway’s hypocritical disposition and his alternating opinions, Carraway proves himself to be an unreliable narrator in The Great Gatsby.

The Great Gatsby focuses on lies, illusions, and Materialism throughout the story. The story is told from the perspective of Nick Carraway, who tends to describe everything he sees in grave detail. From the bustling streets of New York to the hushed noise of his own home. Before meeting Gatsby at his own home, Nick goes to his home and is astonished at the pure elegance and grace that Gatsby’s home possesses. However, when Nick begins to learn of Gatsby’s true self, he slowly strays away from the describing of the materials, but he starts leaning more so towards the fact that Gatsby isn’t who he claims to be, and that it’s all a lie, which is what eventually will lead to Gatsby’s demise.

From the beginning of Nick Carraway’s narrative, Gatsby is introduced to the reader as an exception, as special, as someone who had “an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as [he had] never found in any other person and which it is not likely [he] shall ever find again” (2). This introduction to Gatsby sets the readers’ standards high for the man he or she has yet to meet and to know, but upon meeting Gatsby and delving into his world of dishonesty and longing, this introduction to Gatsby comes into question. Gatsby hopes to be wealthy, to win back Daisy, and to be someone important; that was his American Dream and he would do whatever he must to attain it. Essentially, everything he hoped for and worked for was for the sole purpose of impressing Daisy Buchanan, whom Gatsby was still convinced, was “the one”. Gatsby wants Nick to host the first meeting between himself and Daisy because “he wants her to see his house” so that she can see the great wealth he had acquired (79).

You know what they say don’t judge a book by its cover, when I started to read, Gatsby who is the main character of the book, didn’t introduce to the reader in the first pages and I begin to wonder what are the qualities that making him so great? Why is he so valuable that the author of the book gives Gatsby’s name on the title? Even if Nick Carraway our narrator says that I’m not judgmental about any issue or people and I treat equally to everybody as much as I can, he watched Gatsby’s actions for a while, although he lives on his next door.

The stories behind Jay Gatsby’s developing, contradicting persona uncover how he also falls victim to exaggerating his backstory. “I think he hardly knew what he was saying, for when I asked him what business he was in he answered: ‘That's my affair,’ before he realized that it wasn't an appropriate reply.” (Fitzgerald 90) Gatsby doesn’t seem to want to deceive nick but to fit in with him. He is not trying to dwell over his reputation in order

As the sole narrator, what Nick sees of Gatsby becomes what readers see as well. Within the first two pages of the book, Nick has already deemed there to be “something gorgeous about [Gatsby], some heightened sensitivity to the

In chapter one I learned that Nick, the narrator, is a genuinely nice guy who cares about his cousin Daisy. Even though he doesn’t like the guy that she is with because he has a mistress. I also learned that Nick has a little crush on the professional golfer Jordan. I believe that the rumors that were told about Mr. Gatsby are not real because no one who has talked about him have ever really talked to him or have been with him.

As a result of the readers knowledge being filtered through Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby it can already be said that there is little honesty in the story telling due to the judgemental and narrow minded character “his language is consistently seen to work against the demands of veracity” (Will, 2005), unlike

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is an insightful story with many different themes and motifs. Some of the more obvious themes are wealth and social class. The theme that is not as clearly seen is the theme of deceit. One may think that the title, The Great Gatsby, reveals the hero of the story. However it is not Gatsby but Nick Carraway. Fitzgerald uses the theme of deception and Nick’s first-person point of view to show his readers that Nick is the hero of The Great Gatsby.

The American Dream is the idea that any human being could achieve their ultimate goal if they work hard enough for it. This idea was at its peak during the 1920s. The American economy was booming, and society was being led by the rich. Everyone was aiming to have money, and while some made it there, others continued to live in poverty. The American Dream shows that any human being, whether rich or poor, could have the opportunities to achieve their ultimate life goal. The Great Gatsby is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald that also takes place during the 1920s. It is about a man named Jay Gatsby who has a dream of his own -- to be with his true love again. The Great Gatsby represents the idea of the unattainability of the American Dream of the