The Complex Themes Hidden in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The opening lines of the book, give the audience an idea of how we are going to understand Nick’s descriptions of everything that happens throughout the novel. Nick presents himself as a wise, and intelligent young man. Over the course of the novel, we learn that Nick is not always the smart and “wise young man” he wants to be portrayed as. Nick sometimes comes across as snobby to the audience, and may have begun his narration with a childhood lesson, from his father, so that the audience would think that he is a nice, young gentleman, who loves his family.

As a main character we may get a different impression of Nick since we are now analysing his personality and how he interacts with the other characters in the story. We read numerous pronouns in the first chapter, ‘I’, suggesting that he is self-indulgent and pompous. For instance, once at Gatsby’s party, Nick only kisses Jordan Baker because he ‘had no girl’, conveying he only kissed her because there was no one else there. This makes Nick seem selfish and arrogant as he is only thinking of himself. To the reader, we

However Nick’s style is challenging; his sentences can be complex, and his vocabulary can be difficult to understand. This could be due to him being an aspiring writer and wishes to impress the reader with his written style. Nick is a participant in the novel with his own specific characteristics therefore his narration is not a neutral affair. In reading the Great Gatsby we need to be aware of what he is disclosing about others.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, is the story of the idiosyncratic millionaire Jay Gatsby. It is narrated by Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner from Long Island who later moves to Manhattan. Gatsby’s life is organized around one desire, Daisy, the woman he loved. This desire leads him on an expedition from poverty to wealth, reuniting with his old love, and his eventual death. In his novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald is able to portray the American Dream where people seek out self-gratification and pleasure. He captures the romance of the roaring twenties with the cars, money, illegal alcohol and the wildest parties one could imagine. Much like the character, Jay Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), wasn’t born into the upper class. While Gatsby is from the lower class, Fitzgerald from the middle class, both end up becoming exceptionally rich, fall into the wildest and reckless life, and use their fortunes to win the love and approval of the women they once loved.

Fitzgerald uses Nick to lead us to sympathize with Gatsby whom Nick understands and sympathises with.

Nick Carraway is the most reliable character for the choice of narrator. At the beginning of the book Nick’s father

Nick is an unreliable narrator. He seems, from the beginning, to be level headed and wholly observant. However, he blacks out when he gets drunk, and we lose time. Also, he is deeply embedded and prejudices us against Tom and for Gatsby.

Nick, the narrator throughout the book, experiences changes but not as many as other characters. Nick was a shy

character but is vital in the role of the novel. It is later that Nick realizes that he becomes twisted and that he finds no desire to associate himself with careless people like Tom, Daisy,

1. We see all the action of The Great Gatsby from the perspective of one character whose

Nick is a reliable narrator because he is within and without of the story. Towards the middle of the book thats when Nick and the readers realize that he is “within and without”. “..., simultaneously enchanted by repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life” Here, the author portrays Nick as if he was present in mind but absent in heart, he has an overview of everything which means that through him we will see the truth and that he is someone to trust throughout the book.“Human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I was him too looking up and wondering”. Here, the author wants us to know what nick is doing, he is in the scene getting along with them, knows their secrets, but he observes it all and knows what is really going on. Clearly, Nick is reliable because he is within and without, views it all, knows each individual and through him we are able to see what is truly happening between the characters.

When reading a book you should be transported into a world that you can both relate to but also learn from. In the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald you are effectively transported into the early twentieth century. You see many things that people living in 1922 would have to go through as well as things that are still relatable to today. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald shows you many images to effectively convey and highlight his themes of the innocence and lose of innocence, differences in social classes, and the american dream.

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, provides a dark and pessimistic outlook into the American life style in 1922. Jay Gatsby, an American wealthy social identity, appears to have it all. But wealth, stature and an extravagant lifestyle seems not to be enough for Gatsby; he still yearns for his old idealistic love Daisy. In an ideal world this has the making of a great love story with a happy ending, but Fitzgerald chose to carry the story as a reflection of the American era the book is set in. An era consumed by appearances and excess and overall pursuit of the American dream.

It is often said that certain literary works and characters within such works represent real-world issues. In the work The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the character of Gatsby is shrouded in ambiguity to the reader, providing them with a possibility for personal interpretation. In the work, Gatsby’s character develops from a character representing materialism and a fixation on status to one filled with humility and selflessness for his romantic devotion towards the character of Daisy. Through this shift, the reader is provided with insight in order to draw parallels between Gatsby and two distinct periods in American history. The materialistic side of Gatsby, driven by wealth and his status in Long Island, represents the moral corruption and materialistic desires of America in the 1920s, whereas the romantically devoted Gatsby represents wartime America, devoted to sacrifice and nobility. The contrast within the life of Gatsby allows for a profound insight into the significance of the work as a representation of changing American values.

“The Great Gatsby” is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in 1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922. The novel takes place following the First World War. American society enjoyed prosperity during the “roaring” as the economy soared. At the same time, prohibition, the ban on the sale and manufacture of alcohol as mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment, made millionaires out of bootleggers. After its republishing in 1945 and 1953, it quickly found a wide readership and is today widely