The Role Of Nick In The Great Gatsby

and they eventually find out it was Gatsby 5. Nick likes and admires Gatsby throughout the novel. He at one point says that Gatsby is worth more than all of the other characters in his narrative put together. He simply feels that Gatsby deserves a strong showing at the funeral. Nick also believes he sees something in Gatsby that others don't.

We know that Nick is an unreliable narrator from the very first page of the book. He begins by telling us that he is the most honest person he knows, and that he does not judge anyone for any reason. However, one paragraph later, he says “Gatsby who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.”(1) He is saying that Gatsby is the epitome of

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.

World War I began in August of 1914 and continued for over a span of four years. For nearly three of those years the United States managed to stay out of the conflict because many Americans believed in the U.S. policy of isolationism and keeping out of foreign or European affairs. However, Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmerman Note ultimately saw the United States enter in their first world war. Entering into war was not favorable to many Americans who saw neutrality as their best bet during war time. Woodrow Wilson, president at the time, saw a need to get American behind the war effort and to see and end of anti-war efforts. These efforts would ultimately see a drastic change in the previously held American

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

Regarding Gatsby, Nick "had enough of all of them [referring to Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, and Jordan]"(Fitzgerald 79) and he thought Gatsby was "despicable."(Fitzgerald 79) This is all just after the accident. By the end of the whole story though, Nick's sympathy toward Gatsby improved. He felt terrible that no one paid honor to this man or cared that he was dead.

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

You have just came home from a long day at the office, but, however, your neighborhood seems odd today. Your children and housemaid are staying inside, along with your neighbors. The sheriff comes up to your house, offering a rifle. He tells you to go out there and shoot a dog that looks like it would jump at you and bite your guts out any second. You haven’t shot a rifle in decades, and along with your weak body, how would you approach the situation?

Nick’s behavioural changes are one the most evident changes that the reader is able to notice after he is invited to Gatsby’s house. These changes could be regarded as either negative or positive depending on how the reader interprets them. “Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.”(pg. 59), this is one of Nick’s quote from the beginning of the story before he meets Gatsby, he states that he is very honest to himself and to others but the reader soon finds out that is not the case. Nick is not an honest individual because after Gatsby is accused for Myrtle Wilson’s murder he does not speak up and tell Tom Buchanan and George Wilson (Myrtle’s husband) as to whom committed the crime. This misunderstanding ultimately leads to the death of  Jay Gatsby as he shot my George at his Mansion. These series of events are important to Nick’s behavioural changes as the reader to notice how being in Gatsby’s mansion had affected his honesty. Another behavioural change the reader is able to notice is Nick’s drinking habit as he starts to drink more when he first enters one of Gatsby’s parties. Chapter two of “The Great Gatsby” is where the

Through the observations and experiences of Nick, The Great Gatsby exposes the temptations that men have towards the allure of the East and the consequences of giving into them. When Nick first attended one of Gatsby’s parties, he noted that “they [the guests] conducted themselves according to the rules of behavior associated with an amusement park” (41). Nick describing the guests of Gatsby’s party with the behavior associated with an amusement park shows that people from the East are not truly any more civilised than those from the West. Throughout the book, the East is seen as being more privileged than the West, with grander houses and prestigious families, while the West is less fashionable with wide lawns and friendly trees. With the

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.

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

Nick is a dynamic character. Starts to leave his values behind, temporarily and in one instance, he gets drunk for the second time in his life “… either it was terrible stuff of the whiskey distorted things, because it didn’t make any sense to me” (29). Only has gotten drunk twice in his life, and the reader can come to the conclusion that the whole scene at Myrtle's party is skewed. "Instead of being the warm center of the world, the middle west now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe" (3). Gatsby's Influence The title of the story is The Great Gatsby Is Fitzgerald being ironic about how "great" Gatsby is or is it to emphasize how great Nick thinks he is? Nick thinks Gatsby is admirable and see that he is driven by love to achieve his dream. He finds that praise-worthy and thinks its an honorable dream. He believe he truly is a good person. Thinks Gatsby is an unfortunate victim to the Easts eccentric ways but is respectable. In the end he sides with Gatsby. It sets up his biases. He hears rumors that Gatsby is a "spy" and "killed a man" (48). He had expected that Mr. Gatsby would be a florid and corpulent person" (48). Time vs. Opinions His outlook gradually alters towards corruption as “the events of three nights several weeks apart” took effect on his writing and he found that they ” gave the impression that… they were all that absorbed” him (55). He has been focusing on one event and giving it great importance. He was partially opinionated

The real contradiction to Nick is The Great Gatsby himself, Jay. Jay and Nick share a similar small town upbringing but Jay was able to parle his stolen trades into the corrupted version of the American Dream. Most of what Nick knows about Jay is based on his reputation and it’s not until they actually meet and Nick sees the “quality of distortion” in Jay’s New York lifestyle that Nick sees for himself the illusion that Jay created. Nick is attracted to the high life that Gatsby has created in the valley of ashes. Who can blame him with all the lavish parties, cars, mansions, women and other temptations. It’s like Fitzgerald has placed Nick in the Garden of Eden and the two characters; Nick and Jay, represent the good

Secondly, Gatsby is a very mysterious character. Nick has been Gatsby’s neighbor, or so he thinks, and has never met him. Nick says “It was Gatsby’s mansion, or, rather, as I didn’t know Mr. Gatsby, it was a mansion inhabited by a gentleman of that name” (5). This shows you that even Gatsby’s own neighbor does not even know who he is; which shows that Gatsby is mysterious. Later on, once he actually meets Gatsby, Nick goes on to say “I don’t like mysteries, and I don’t understand why you won’t come out frankly and tell me what you want. Why does it all have to come through Miss Baker?” (71). As expected, this frustrates Nick and gives him more reason to believe that Gatsby is mysterious and not trustworthy. Nick doesn’t understand why someone who seems to be his friend is hiding so much