The Underlying Mystery The novel The Great Gatsby was written and published in the 1920’s, a time where homosexuality was forbidden both legally and socially. Some authors in this era implied homosexuality in the undertones of their book, which is how Fitzgerald wrote Nick Carraway, so he is not publicly frowned upon. Nick is from the upper midwest and potentially raised from the typical midwestern values. Most of the midwestern being very conservative, or traditional, likely gives Nick yet another reason to be closeted, out of fear of social rejection, since he is determined to make his way in the social world. “A decade of loneliness, a thinning list of young men to know.” (Fitzgerald, 81). He relies on being social to withhold his social status he has built up overtime, although he does believe “‘they’re [Tom, Daisy and Jordan] a rotten crowd’” (160). When Nick describes the female characters he is around, he speaks of Jordans “erect carriage” (8), how Daisy speaks, and Myrtles’ lack of beauty. Only while describing the men in the book, both Gatsby and Tom, he spends time to deeply talk about their features, their smiles, their eyes, their bodies, how they stand, the look of dominance, etc. It is very obvious in the book, if you look deep enough and read inbetween the lines, Nick is not sexually attracted to the women he is around, including the beautiful female strangers at Gatsby’s parties. He chooses to follow a man home after leaving Catherine, Myrtle's sister behind. The man, Mr. Mckee, is explained by Nick as “feminine” (34), and explains his wife as “handsome and horrible” (30). Both Nick and Mr. Mckee sneak out of the party together, fairly late in the night, leaving Lucille Mckee behind. Going down the elevator Chester Mckee asks Nick out “to lunch some day” (42), Nick agrees. Later on, they get back to Mr. Mckee’s home, and he undresses, then gets into bed. “I was standing beside the bed and he was sitting up between the sheets, clad in his underwear, with a great portfolio in his hands.” (38) Whether Nick is dressed or not will forever be unclear. If Mckee was only showing Nick his photographs, he wouldn't have to be laying in bed down to his underwear to do so. As Mckee sleeps, Nick takes out
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
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
Not identifying himself as gay would be in keeping not only with the general tenor of the times but also with Nick’s typical caginess regarding his personal history.” (Bolton, 197) Is Nick only attracted to men? It's possible, but I believe he's attracted to both genders. He was somewhat attracted to Jordan Baker, they had a relationship of sorts. But there was no passion in it. He didn't talk or think about Jordan nearly as much as he did about Gatsby. Not to mention, he explicitly stated that he wasn't in love with her. He said this about her, “At first I was flattered to go places with her, because she was a golf champion, and everyone knew her name. Then it was something more. I wasn't actually in love with her, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity.” (Fitzgerald 57) He may have used her as a way to get closer to Gatsby, whether he did it purposefully or subconsciously. He broke up with her once Gatsby was killed because there was no point anymore. “This change, personified by the character of Baker and marked by Carraway’s complex and not wholly honest breakup with her, is ultimately what allows him to reflect on and appreciate Gatsby as a human being by the end of the novel.” (62,
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
Nick and Gatsby can both relate to wanting the girl that they can't have. For Gatsby, his dream girl is Daisy. They had a relationship but then Gatsby had to go into war and they hadn't seen each other for five years. All Gatsby thought about was seeing daisy again, he even bought a house across a lake from her. Daisy obviously moved on because she married Tom, a rich socialite but their relationship is toxic. A quote to support this statement is “Look!” she complained. “I hurt it.” We all looked- knuckle was black and blue. “You did it, Tom, she said accusingly. I know you didn't mean to but you did do it. That's what I get got marrying a brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen of a-”( ). This shows that Tom is abusive and he is a very ignorant and disrespectful human being. Gatsby's has always had an undying love for Daisy and he states that they should be together. A quote that shows is “I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before,” he said, nodding determinedly. “She’ll see.” ( )That shows that Gatsby has never stopped loving Daisy and he wants to fix his relationship with her. Nick on the other hand has his eyes on Jordan. Things are not easy because Jordan is focused on her golfing career and her Aunt is very controlling. Gatsby obsesses over Daisy and is in love with her but with Nick he is just attracted to Jordan, nothing close to love. Nick says, “ I wasn't actually in love but, I
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
Fitzgerald uses Gatsby's parties and the way in which Nick views them to reveal that whilst Gatsby is surrounded by shallow and vulgar people, he is above this. Fitzgerald also uses these parties to expose Gatsby's isolation which leads us to feel sympathy toward Gatsby. Despite the amount of people at the party, Nick observes Gatsby's seclusion and loneliness, "my eyes fell to Gatsby, standing alone on the marble steps". This evokes a great deal of sympathy from us as although Nick describes Gatsby in a warm and friendly way, "It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life", we now can see that Gatsby is a lonely figure. This sympathy is accentuated when Nick is the only person to turn up to Gatsby's funeral, as we know that Gatsby is a decent and honourable character and thus our sympathies are emphasised by Gatsby's isolation. When Nick first meets Gatsby, he reveals Gatsby to be a fascinating character that we would like to know more about. The warm and assuring smile that Nick describes is in antithesis to the
True love is seen through a relationship of two people. Love exists when two people give all their trust, loyalty, and support to one another. Now imagine finding out all of the love and loyalty was false? Betraying a loved one can make someone capable of things they didn’t even know they were capable of. Betrayal is the breaking of a trust that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals. In The Great Gatsby, characters pursue in the action of having an affair and the result of betraying their loved ones. In the book, The Great Gatsby, the concept of true love is portrayed in a way that negatively affects the characters.
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
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.
Nick is still, however, an honest and good man. He is not extravagantly rich, but unlike Gatsby he earned all of his high social connections fairly. He is rather disgusted with the East and it’s empty values by the end of the book. But he is still intrigued by it all, as he demonstrates through his relationship with Jordan Baker. He holds an almost subconscious
The Great Gatsby is a well written novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald where a midwesterner named Nick Carraway gets lured into the lavish and elegant lifestyle of his enigmatic neighbor, Jay Gatsby. As the story unravels, Nick Carraway begins to see through Gatsby's suave facade, only to find a desperate, heartbroken and lonely man who just wanted to relive the past with his one and only desire. This sensational love story takes place during the well known“Roaring Twenties” in New York City. The genre of this thrilling and exciting novel is historical fiction.
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
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.
Although to Nick, Gatsby seems at once completely unoriginal, extremely knowable, being with him, he notes, was "like skimming hastily through a dozen magazines” (Fitzgerald 55). Gatsby, in Nick’s point of view, was disruptive. He is unable to trust Gatsby, for a fear that he would just vanish at the moment in which a promise leans toward its fulfillment.