Nick Carraway's Epiphany in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

This lovely rich girl is known Daisy Buchanan, a women married to Tom Buchanan and also the love of Jay Gatsby’s life. The two met five years prior to her marriage, but were separated when Jay was forced to go off to war. The root of his desire for wealth occurs back to when Daisy’s parents did not approve of Gatsby for their daughter due to the fact that he came from a poor family. Jay is once again blinded, this time by the beauty and grace of Daisy and fails to see that Daisy is not who she appears to once be. He craves her for the realization of his golden family in his perfect dream, but really Daisy is far from that.

Nick and Tom were best friends in college, but hadn’t really talked much since then. When Nick visits Tom and Daisy one afternoon, he learns from Jordan Baker, Daisy’s friend, that Tom has a mistress. “‘Why-’ she said hesitantly, ‘Tom’s got some woman in New York.’ ” (Fitzgerald 15) This gives Nick reason to not like Tom and give him reason to tell Daisy, but he doesn’t. The next morning, Tom invites Nick to go to lunch with him in the city and Tom takes him to see his mistress-Nick does not want to, but he humors Tom. Tom’s mistress’ name is Myrtle Wilson. Nick does not agree with this, although he does keep it a secret. Nick listens to Tom and keeps his secret from Daisy, even though she already knows. Even though Nick develops a negative impression of Tom, he plays a role as a major confidant towards him.

The Great Gatsby is considered to be a great American novel full of hope, deceit, wealth, and love. Daisy Buchanan is a beautiful and charming young woman who can steal a man’s attention through a mere glance. Throughout the novel, she is placed on a pedestal, as if her every wish were Gatsby’s command. Her inner beauty and grace are short-lived, however, as Scott Fitzgerald reveals her materialistic character. Her reprehensible activities lead to devastating consequences that affect the lives of every character. I intend to show that Daisy, careless and self-absorbed, was never worthy of Jay Gatsby’s love, for she was the very cause of his death.

When Gatsby reveals to about his relationship with Daisy, Nick’s relationship with Gatsby takes a full u-turn as it rapidly advances their association from simple acquaintances to close friends. Nick’s outlook of Gatsby undergoes a similar transformation. When Nick learns of the previous relationship between Gatsby and Daisy, Gatsby’s actions make sense to Nick. The mansion, the extravagant parties, and the green light were all in the efforts for making Daisy notice him. Gatsby lives his life for the past life that he lived. He spends his life seeking the attention of his love, Daisy, and as Nick explains, “He wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was…” (Fitzgerald 110). Gatsby sought out the American dream in order to win over the love of Daisy which creates a different perception of himself to Nick. Nick, now knowing Gatsby’s intentions worries about Gatsby’s possible rejection, and then warns him that, “[he] wouldn’t ask too much of her, you can’t repeat the past.” (Fitzgerald 110) But Gatsby, blinded by love, strives to win Nick’s married cousin’s heart. Nick perceives Gatsby as a man dwelling on the past

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

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.

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

The theme at the heart of the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F Scott Fitzgerald lies in the doomed relationship between the protagonist, Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. Narrated by Nick Carraway, the friend of Gatsby’s whom Gatsby finally confides in at the most tragic moment of his life, the story unfolds against the backdrop of the roaring 20’s.

“In his blue gardens men and women came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars” (Fitzgerald 39). In his character, his relationships, and his gatherings, Jay Gatsby epitomized the illusion of a perfect romance. When Gatsby and Daisy met in 1917, he was searching for money, but ended up profoundly falling in love with her. “[H]e set out for gold and stumbled upon a dream” (Ornstein 37). Only a few weeks after meeting one another, Gatsby had to leave for war, which led to a separation between the two for nearly five years. As “war-torn lovers” Gatsby and Daisy reach the quintessential ideal of archetypical romance. When Gatsby returned from the war, his goal was to rekindle the relationship he once had with Daisy. In order to do this, he believed he would have to work hard to gain new wealth and a new persona. “Jay Gatsby loses his life even though he makes his millions because they are not the kind of safe, respectable money that echoes in Daisy’s lovely voice” (Ornstein 36). Gatsby then meets Daisy’s cousin, Nick Carraway, who helps to reunite the pair. Finally being brought together after years of separation, Gatsby stops throwing the extravagant parties at his home, and “to preserve [Daisy’s] reputation, [he] empties his mansion of lights and servants” (Ornstein 37). Subsequent to their reconciliation, Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, begins to reveal sordid information about Gatsby’s career which causes Daisy to

Finally, Jay Gatsby’s delusions draws more pity for him. Daisy comes from a rich family and chances of her ending up with Gatsby, a poor soldier, is totally unrealistic. Furthermore Gatsby wants Daisy to “ go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you’” (105) but Daisy asserts that “ [she] can’t say [she] never loved Tom…It wouldn’t be true.”(126) Jay cannot grasp the present reality that Daisy could not leave Tom permanently, especially when the fruit of their love is already three years of age.

Jay saw her as an object that he needed to obtain, as evident by the fact that, “It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy, it increased her value in his eyes“ (82). Rather than settling down and truly loving a woman, Gatsby needed a wife that dozens of other men desired. He doesn’t care about how she is as a person, simply her value to others. He thinks he is capable of anything because of his extravagant wealth, as evident by his conversation with Nick Carraway when he explained, “Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can!" He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand. "I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before," (59). Gatsby is completely incapable of settling for anything, so he feels he is able to recreate his and other people’s lives, simply to please himself. Jay Gatsby is unable to have a real relationship with Daisy Buchanan because he can’t compromise and empathise with others, instead, everything has to be perfect in his own

Gatsby’s claim to love Daisy is nothing more than wanting to complete his collection of the grand prize being a trophy wife. It became apparent to Nick that Gatsby wanted to repeat the past in order to win the award of a perfect woman. While reminiscing, Nick realizes Gatsby’s desire was that, “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you.’ After she had obliterated four years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken. One of them was that, after she was free, they were to go back to Louisville and be married from her house- just as if it were five years ago” (Fitzgerald 109). Gatsby’s relentless need to ‘get the girl’ blinds his ability to comprehend Daisy’s feelings of the situation. His want to shatter the Buchanan’s marriage

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 does not think Tom and Myrtle really loves each other (Hays, “Fitzgerald”). Everyone knew about Tom’s affair with Myrtle expect Myrtle’s husband. Nick left Tom and Myrtle at his house when he went to the store. Nick buys some cigarettes and finds Tom and Myrtle in his bedroom (Hays, “Fitzgerald”).

Jay Gatsby’s disappointment is portrayed when he realizes that Daisy was not the person he pictured her to be in his mind. He had been building up a ludicrous fantasy of meeting Daisy, who he had previously known, for nearly five years. When Gatsby finally met Daisy Buchanan, he “...was running down like an overwound clock” (Fitzgerald 92). He did not know what to do with himself due to the fact that he had only dreamt of Daisy and obsessed over the idea of her. Rather than speak to her in person, Gatsby continuously planned out the day they met until he could barely fathom who Daisy was in real life and how her visit would go. After a while of speaking with Daisy, Gatsby realized that “There must have been moments even that afternoon when