Nick Carraway In The Great Gatsby

In the Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby built up his wealth hoping he could win Daisy back. Daisy who was in love with Gatsby, married a man name Tom for "old money". Nick becomes friends with Gatsby and is Daisy's cousin. There is "a lot that is realistic in The Great Gatsby" but there is "also a strain of counter-realism.” (YaleCourses). Throughout the novel we find that all three characters are untrue with themselves and none possess true identities. This lack of authenticity in the characters is what leads to their downfalls.

Within the very first page of the novel, we can guess that Nick Carraway will be a descriptive narrator, as he says more than once, ‘I was rather literally in college’, showing that he will be an accurate and informative narrator. An example of Nick being very detailed in his descriptions is when he arrives at his

“The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love,” once said Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Russian novelist. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, narrator Nick Carraway spends a summer at Long Island where he befriends Jay Gatsby, a mysterious man of new money with an undying love for Daisy Buchanan, Nick’s cousin and the wife of Tom Buchanan. As Nick inadvertently becomes privy to the secrets of the corrupt world of the elite, he also becomes increasingly disillusioned with the moral decadence of high society. Through symbols such as Owl Eyes, Doctor

Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters in the novel, fails to realize that when one tells a lie, it comes back to bite you. For example, he initially tells his neighbor, and potential friend Nick, that he had inherited his redundant sums of money from his family. One night, the night Gatsby reunites with Daisy, he and Nick are admiring his substantial house. During the

Nick Carraway is a prime example of how an unbiased and trustworthy narrator can change a book. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is told in first person point of view, through the eyes of Nick Carraway, a 30-year-old man living in West Egg, New York. Carraway tells the story as it is happening and lets the reader know what is to come. Nick seems to be an “invisible character” because he is involved in the story but not in the major conflict. Nick Carraway is the perfect choice of narrator because he is reliable, connected to the main characters, and has an amicable personality.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, an unfortunate and rather tragic love story is told. The narrator, Nick Carraway, plays quite a big role in the novel. He ends up knowing quite a bit of vital information about nearly every character in the book, and what he chose to do with that information greatly affected the tragic ending of this book. Throughout the novel, Nick is trusted with several secrets and choses to keep all of them to himself. He doesn’t once cross or wrong anyone. Although this is usually considered a good thing, if Nick decided to share this vital information, the tragedy at the end could have been avoided, or at the very least been less extreme.

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,

Instead of promoting the idea of hard work and decency, the American Dream now sprouts the want for wealth above anything else throughout the novel. This is most evident in Jay Gatsby, he truly believed that wealth and material items would be able to fix his problems and recreate his happiness from the past. Gatsby was not born into money, he came from a family of poor North Dakota famers. Therefore, he must go out and acquire wealth for himself. However, Gatsby did not make his fortune honestly, throughout the novel it is suggested that he made a profit off illegal and corrupt business deals. This is first suggested when Nick meets Wolfsheim, a business associate of Gatsby, curious of what Wolfsheim does for a living, Nick inquires. Gatsby then tells him, “He’s the man who fixed the World Series back in 1919.” (73) Fixing a World Series is not honest work and it shows that Wolfsheim is a corrupt individual. Furthermore, Gatsby does business with Wolfsheim which implies that he has not earned his money through honest means either. Nevertheless, the wealth alone does not bring Gatsby the happiness and satisfaction he desires. Towards the end of the novel, Nick discovers the reason that Gatsby went through all the trouble to acquire his massive fortune, it was to reconnect with the love of his life and recreate the happiness they once shared together. However, in chapter six, Nick reminds Gatsby that the past cannot be repeated. Gatsby, who is infinitely full of hope

In The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway functions as both the foil and protagonist, as well as the narrator. A young man from Minnesota, Nick travels to the West Egg in New York to learn about the bond business. He lives in the district of Long Island, next door to Jay Gatsby, a wealthy young man known for throwing lavish parties every night. Nick is gradually pulled into the lives of the rich socialites of the East and West Egg. Because of his relationships with Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom, and others, along with his nonjudgmental demeanor, Nick is able to undertake the many roles of the foil, protagonist, and the narrator of The Great Gatsby.

This shows how little Gatsby puts into his lies because he genuinely does not care. Even though he makes us Jay Gatsby, the novel says, “His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people—his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all” and that is why he became Jay Gatsby. Since he actually believes in his heart he is Gatsby now, he really is not lying. When Tom discovers that Gatsby is a bootlegger Gatsby simply says, “What about it” (Fitzgerald 133) since he really does not care if his lies are believed. Nick basically just says, “I'm inclined to reserve all judgments” even though he seems to judge every character in the book (the book is one giant judgment), so he is a liar that cannot recognize his own lies- the worst kind (Fitzgerald 1). The rest of this society is terrible with their lies since they all are so good and ready to do it whenever. When Catherine says, “She’s a Catholic, and they don’t believe in divorce”, it is a total lie that symbolizes how the rest of this society lies about everything because they are so used to it (Fitzgerald 33). Women are not held to the same standard since “Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply” (Fitzgerald 58).

Gatsby was born to a very poor family under the name James Gatz. Gatz, gained a lot of his wealth through shady dealings in organized crime working with his friend Meyer Wolfshelm. With this new found wealth, Gatz changed everything about himself. Gatz even went so far as to change his name to something fancier--Jay Gatsby. This is a form of deception, because Gatsby goes out of his way to keep his past hidden, and hard to dig up. He doesn't discourage any of the rumors surrounding him, his source of wealth, or his personal history. This is how Gatsby lies to the entirety of all the people he comes in contact with. The readers don't even know the truth about Gatsby's past until he opens up to Nick about it. Gatsby

The truth is the main opposite of lies. Nick states that he is “one of the few honest people that I have ever known” (64). Nick believes that he is telling the truth in this statement, but others make take this the wrong way. In using himself as a testament to his statement, he is setting up the falsehood of himself always being correct. Instead, the story is told through his point of view, where his views are twisted by both love and deceit. The love is expressed through Jordan Baker, while deceit could essentially be expressed through the character of Gatsby. Gatsby lied to Nick about his past, and Nick only found out about Gatsby's past after Gatsby's father came to the funeral and told Nick about how Gatsby's name was really “Jimmy Gatz”, and how Gatsby had “always liked it better down East” (176). This was probably due to Gatsby knowing where Daisy, his long-lost lover, was. For instance, Gatsby knows exactly where Tom and Daisy live because of the green light at the end of the dock. How Gatsby found out, no one knows.

In a coming of age story, a character must look back on his or her youth and say goodbye. Nick Carraway comes to Long Island as an almost 30 year-old man who prides himself on the fact that he is a non-judgmental person. However, after his experiences he is no longer the same person he was before his 30th birthday. Along with turning 30, Nick’s experiences allow him to see past the illusions of the upper class lifestyle. Initially, Nick was intrigued by the glitz and glamour that accompanied the lives of Tom and Daisy. Slowly but surely, he matures out of his infatuation and comes to several realizations about himself and those around him. Fitzgerald initially presents Nick as a trustworthy character who reserves judgment and is unaffected by others. This first impression provides a meaningful contrast for Nick’s final opinions. After an unforgettable summer, Nick matures into a different person and has several judgments to make towards the people of East and West Egg.

Nick, the narrator, usually has disdain for wealthy people, holds respect for Gatsby. As Nick says in his last words to Gatsby, ‘"They're a rotten crowd," I shouted across the lawn. "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together."’ (Fitzgerald 160). We see Gatsby’s nature when he takes the blame for Daisy when she kills Myrtle.

These are but a few examples of the judgments Nick passes about the characters in this novel. When Nick judges the characters it shows how he cannot resist the temptation to be critical of every little fault with each character whether it has to do with their appearance, personality, or actions.