Importance of Nick Carraway, Narrator of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
In The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the narrator,
Nick Carraway, tells a story in which Jay Gatsby tries to attain happiness through wealth. Even though the novel is titled after Gatsby, Nick analyzes the actions of others and presents the story so that the reader can comprehend the theme. Throughout the novel, Nick is the vehicle used to gather all of the pieces together to learn about Gatsby. Nick is the only character that changes in the novel from the beginning to the end.
Nick is the literary device that is employed to learn about Gatsby, which ultimately tells the theme of the story.
…show more content…
Without Nick, Gatsby's true colors would not be shown and his behavior would be left not pondered. His presence from the beginning to the end of the novel is imperative. Nick's uniqueness parallels his importance in the novel.
Nick is very unique and different from all of the other characters in The
Great Gatsby. Most of the characters symbolize reckless people during the "rip roaring twenties" that only want to be in the "fast lane" and do not give a damn about others. Nick sticks out of this crowd like a "sore thumb". Geographically, Nick was raised in the "friendly" middle-east, while the book takes place in the "snobby" east. Tom, which is a representative of the rich, casually has an affair with Mrytle while with Daisy. On the other hand, Nick does not get involved with Jordan extensively because he has not broken relations with his old girlfriend in Chicago. He promises himself that "there
(is) a vague understanding that (has) to be tactfully broken off before I (am) free"(Fitzgerald 64).
As a result of Nick's and the other character's differing values, he is considered an outsider. Only several times is Nick invited to rich gatherings. When he is "partying" with the rich, he resents the fact that they merely drink and gossip. Nick's uniqueness is probably best illustrated by
Gatsby's funeral. Even though Nick knew Gatsby the least amount of time of all of his
Nick Carraway is the most reliable character for the choice of narrator. At the beginning of the book Nick’s father
A soft breeze lifts off the Sound and brushes Nick Carraway’s face as he emerges from the shadows into the moonlight. His eyes first gaze across the bay to the house of Tom and Daisy where Nick sees past the walls to people who “...smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back to their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together...” (Fitzgerald: 187- 188). Nick’s head then turns to his side where he views Gatsby’ s mansion. His heart swells for the man who was unable to let go of the past, and move toward his future. With the two houses juxtaposed in his mind’s eye, Nick ponders his experiences in the East, and enters the car to take him home with a new
beginning to end.” What does this curiously ambivalent admiration for Gatsby tell us about Nick,
At the beginning of the book Nick sees Gatsby as a mysterious shady man. In the beginning of the chapter Nick somewhat resents Gatsby. In Nick’s opinion Gatsby was the representation of “…everything for
In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the novel, The Great Gatsby, that is now known as a classic. The Great Gatsby describes the society of the 1920s and tells a timeless story that transports readers into a different era. The story takes place in New York City which, during the Jazz Age, was dripping with outlawed alcohol. It concentrates on a specific love affair of Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald incorporates issues of the time period such as race, women’s roles, the makeup of a family, and even homosexuality. Despite the immense popularity and recognition of the film today, during Fitzgerald’s life, he sold less than twenty-five thousand copies (Donahue). Nick Carraway serves as the narrator of the story and establishes himself as a remarkably honest man for the situation he is put in. Though he is a figure of moral character, he is fully immersed in several circumstances where no matter the decision he chooses, there will be consequences. Nick Carraway narrates the novel The Great Gatsby,
One thing that surprises me about Nick is that he was loyal to Gatsby who seemed likeable enough but empty inside. He seemed like the picture was more important than the real person. Nick was interested in person and would put himself in a bad light to help a friend. “I didn’t want to go to the city. I wasn’t worth a decent stroke
In The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald presents a specific portrait of American society during the roaring twenties and tells the story of a man who rises from the gutter to great riches. This man, Jay Gatsby, does not realize that his new wealth cannot give him the privileges of class and status. Nick Carraway who is from a prominent mid-western family tells the story. Nick presents himself as a reliable narrator, when actually several events in the novel prove he is an unreliable narrator. Although Nick Carraway may be an unreliable narrator, he is the best narrator for the novel because he creates the correct effect.
Self-Improvement Plan for Nick Carraway Rough Draft Nick Carraway, you are a trustworthy, caring, and helpful man. Sometimes you are often too helpful. Your focus in life is not on you, but rather the others that surround you. You have given great advice to many of the other figures that surround you in the novel, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but now it is time for you, Mr. Carraway, to shift the spotlight and focus on yourself.
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.
The story began with Nick coming to East from Middle-West in spring, and following three seasons had their own symbolic significance. Gatsby is an incarnation of the people who scheming to pursue the "American dream" but ended in failure. Spring symbolizes the beginning of lives, and Nick began to make new life. In hot summer, the story developed to the climax. Summer symbolizes the full blossom of lives, and the color fulness in the world, it also symbolizes all sorts of people. When summer was about the end, autumn was upcoming, Nick experienced that Gatsby pursued his dream and love at the expense of death, and witnessed the merciless and irresponsibility of human nature. Nick decided to go back Middle-West. Finally the story came to end gradually in cold winter.
In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald proves that Nick Carraway is an honest and reliable narrator. The author uses writers effect to portray how Nick is within and without, how he reserves all judgments and how he is honest.
Since he died for taking the wrath of something he did not do. Gatsby is a man who struggled to get what he wants and who much reach a certain status before marrying the woman he is in love with. He was basically an outsider who comes from an uncertain past. Gatsby was able to win the hearts of many of the people around him with his tales of adventures and showing off his wealth. Yet, there is not a view that shows the success of Gatsby. He tries to convince Nick about his upbringings and his heroic exploits. Gatsby’s stories seemed extraordinary to the point where people questioned it but they still believe
The novel The Great Gatsby is an interesting tale of two cities really. Nick Carraway; the narrator, represents all that is good an wholesome in the great midwest. He is a well-educated man who aspires to be a bond broker. His character is conflicted internally and externally throughout the novel but really culminates into a loathing for all things eastern. Carraway’s farmboy charm and doe-eyed innocence is put to the test when he meets The Great Jay Gatsby. Gatsby represents all things Nick is unfamiliar with and is curious about. Nick, being from the midwest, has no real street smarts so when he meets the “wicked” east, his lack of experience is proof positive that he really does not belong
“Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all people in this world haven’t had the same advantages that you’ve had,” (page 2) narrator, Nick Carraway’s, father advises him as a child. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s American Classic, The Great Gatsby, is told from the point of view of Midwest native, Nick Carraway, who arrives East in the Spring of 1922 in search of the American dream. Nick moves in next-door to millionaire Jay Gatsby in the West Egg of Long Island and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her husband, Tom. Thus, Nick becomes drawn into the captivating world of the wealthy and after bearing witness to their illusions and deceits, writes a story of impossible love, dreams, and tragedy. Nick Carraway claims at the beginning of the novel to be, “inclined to reserve all judgements,” in which he explains is, “a habit that has opened up many curious natures to (him) and also made (him) the victim of not a few veteran bores” (Page 1). However, despite Nick’s candid self-expression not to judge others, he is naturally flawed into doing so. Nick is unreliable as a narrator because he he has unintentionally and subconsciously judged every character throughout the novel, he is actively involved in the lives of the other characters, and he is telling the story as it has already happened to him. The only way a reliable and unbiased narrator
In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway's role as both narrator and character makes for a dishonest, unreliable storyteller. Besides Gatsby, Carraway is one of the few characters in the novel whose past and values are truly examined to see what kind of person he is. Also, Carraway can be seen as a somewhat unreliable narrator since he is a sometimes biased, active participant and has a history with almost everyone in the novel. Carraway’s relationship with Gatsby and growth as the novel progresses allows for the reader’s view of Gatsby to change as the story progresses. Overall, Fitzgerald's use of Carraway as the narrator of Gatsby's story affects the story by making it unreliable since he is dishonest,