1 I believe the most crucial plot point in chapter one is Nick's introduction to the reader and the events of the dinner he attends with his college peers. This introduces Nick as a war veteran with old money who moves to Long Island in the search for a career, and also exposes us to Gatsby for the first time. It also gives the readers hints at future turmoil in the story via Tom's mistress interrupting their meal with phone calls. 1.2 Nick describes himself as being old rich, implying his wealth is either inherited or borrowed. He explains how he graduated from Yale and that he has served during World War 1. He also describes his aspirations to be a trader on Wall Street, which is what drove his move to the east. 1.3 Nick describes Tom as a very physical man who is also fabulously rich. Nick says he is gruff, racist and arrogant. He also describes Tom as being dismissive about his relationship, answering the phone to talk to his mistress while his wife is in the other room. 1.4 Jordan Baker is a friend of Daisy and Tom. Nick is attracted to her because of her cold demeanor and cynicism. She is also percieved as being somewhat masculine. 1.5 Nick first sees Gatsby standing on his lawn, looking at a light on the end of Daisy's dock. This may hint towards future conflict or turmoil, as it seems Gatsby is reaching for the light. 1.6 I believe Nick doesn't fully enjoy Tom's personality or company, but sees him as a good friend. " We were in the same senior
Nick longs to live the life of a millionaire, but for now the most he is able to do is to live next to one who represents his ideal life. Nick’s ideal world is one of money, and to him, Gatsby represents the life in which he thinks he would like to live. Nick demonstrates his admiration for Gatsby and his wish to be able to live that life when he says, “there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life” bespeaking that Nick finds the wealthy to be “gorgeous” and that he represents everything Nick finds to be the ideal life. Nick finds wealth to be something fantastical and it is something he strives to attain for himself in order for him to live his ideal life. Nick believes himself to be in the pursuit of the ideal life in his new home in West Egg, and that to be wealthy is a life of ease in which there is little struggle, the ideal life.
Throughout the novel Tom is shown as someone very arrogant and abrupt in the way he talks to people and feels he has the authority to question others in an interrogatory manner. In his first meeting with Nick he
Nick, the narrator of the novel, introduces the reader(s) to Tom Buchanan, the husband of his cousin, Daisy, and explains how Nick has always known Tom as the annoying, egotistical, and the stereotypical rich white man, which is shown in his thoughts,
This matter of the "girl back home" warrants further study. This is the girl whom Daisy and Tom ask about, and the subject of whom Nick clearly (and
Nick's assessment of the other characters is honest, he does not exaggerate their actions, although his incessant judging and prejudging is biased, that is reserved to him. Carroway relays Tom's remarks about race "It's up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things" but does not interrupt the conversation to add his judgement, rather he waits until Tom is finished to state "There was something pathetic in his concentration, as if his complacency, more acute than of old was not enough to him anymore." By separating his assumption from what actually happened the reader is encouraged to believe that Nick is a reliable narrator who does not distort the
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
Summary: The narrator of The Great Gatsby, Nick starts the novel by describing himself and introducing Gatsby, everything he scorns, but strives to be. Nick moves to the West Egg in New York to work in the bond business. Nick goes to Tom and Daisy’s house for dinner one night. Tom is a friends from college and Daisy is Nick’s cousin. Nick finds out about Tom’s lover, and sees Gatsby reaching off in the distance when he arrives home.
Sometimes, as the reader you can see his clear judgements towards other people. At different times Nick is oblivious to when he’s judging because it’s just his personality. Sometimes he doesn’t judge certain people but he’ll judge society without even knowing it. Nick’s character is really the only one who lives in reality. He understands this society when he states “They’re a rotten crowd. You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together”. Basically Nick is saying he hates the super rich people by saying they’re rotten. He says to Gatsby that he is worth more than all of them. By judging these “rich people” he's trying to cheer up Gatsby who just had his heart broken by Daisy, but he’s oblivious to the fact that he’s not being an honest man and that he’s just a judgemental person. Nick sometimes even judges himself and he doesn’t even realize it. It just the type of person he is. He’s judging himself on how small his house is, but he could care less because he lives next to millionaires. Nick states” I lived at West Egg, the – well, the least fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. 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. The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard … My own house was an eyesore, but it
1. In chapter 1, the thing most crucial to the plot is the moment that Nick first sees Gatsby at night. Gatsby is looking out over the water when Nick spots him.
tries to take Daisy away from her current husband Tom. He tries anything he can just to get close
Before Nick arrives at the Buchannan estate, with his limited knowledge of Tom, he describes him as a man who has reached “such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anticlimax.” Tom is established early on as restless and bored, with the threat of aggression spurred by the fact that “Tom would drift on forever seeking.” Tom exhibits this manner when he started to show Nick his estate by “turning me [him] around by one arm, he [Tom] moved a broad flat hand along the front vista.” Tom’s aggressive actions explicate his arrogance and narcissist
This reminds me of how when people spread rumors the story can change. He also describes how he fell in love with a woman named Daisy although she married another man and many other people loved her too. This reflects how the guys in the school just go for the “Hottest Chick” rather than the girls with brains and personality and everything that actually matters. Gatsby explains why Nick saw him staring at the green light across the bay because it's the end of Daisy's dock, they then make up a plan to have Daisy go over to Nick's for tea with Gastby to show up surprising her. Gatsby wanting Nick to agree to this plan.
Gatsby fully introduces himself to Nick while they are riding one of his luxurious cars. Gatsby wants to ensure that Nick is aware of the “truthfulness” of his background, so he won’t have to make judgements based on the rumors that were spread during the parties. He conveys that once his family died, they left a great sum of money for him. With this money, Gatsby lived an opulent life in different parts of Europe amassing his time by committing to various activities such as collecting jewels, hunting, painting, and attempting to forget a disheartening moment in his past. Nick wants to laugh at Gatsby’s story because it is very intricate and seems unreasonable in that there aren’t big games to hunt nor chiefly rubies available in Europe. There is a great vitality of mystique surrounding Gatsby because of his false, yet interesting stories.
Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Nick's cousin and her husband, are two of the most snobbishly wealthy people Nick knows. When Nick first introduces them, he states,
Not long after this revelation, Nick travels to New York City with Tom and Myrtle. At a vulgar, gaudy party in the apartment that Tom keeps for the affair, Myrtle begins to taunt Tom about Daisy, and Tom responds by breaking her nose. As the summer progresses, Nick eventually garners an invitation to one of Gatsby’s legendary parties. He encounters Jordan Baker at the party, and they meet Gatsby himself, a surprisingly young man who affects an English accent, has a remarkable smile, and calls everyone “old sport.” Gatsby asks to speak to Jordan alone, and, through Jordan, Nick later learns more about his mysterious neighbor. Gatsby tells Jordan that he knew Daisy in Louisville in 1917 and is deeply in love with her. He spends many nights staring at the green light at the end of her dock, across the bay from his mansion. Gatsby’s extravagant lifestyle and wild parties are simply an attempt to impress Daisy. Gatsby now wants Nick to arrange a reunion between himself and Daisy, but he is afraid that Daisy will refuse to see him if she knows that he still loves her. Nick invites Daisy to have tea at his house, without telling her that Gatsby will also be there. After an initially awkward reunion, Gatsby and Daisy reestablish their connection. Their love rekindled, they begin an affair. After a short time,