What Does Nick Carraway Represent In The Great Gatsby

Nick and Gatsby’s relationship becomes especially clear at the end of the novel. In life, Gatsby appeared to have it all - wealth, status, an innumerable amount of friends, judging by the attendance of his parties. But in death, he was no one.

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

Since he died for taking the wrath of something he did not do. Gatsby is a man who struggled to get what he wants and who much reach a certain status before marrying the woman he is in love with. He was basically an outsider who comes from an uncertain past. Gatsby was able to win the hearts of many of the people around him with his tales of adventures and showing off his wealth. Yet, there is not a view that shows the success of Gatsby. He tries to convince Nick about his upbringings and his heroic exploits. Gatsby’s stories seemed extraordinary to the point where people questioned it but they still believe

From now we begin to wonder about how great Gatsby really is? On one hand he is “vile” because Carraway tell us he has “Unaffected scorn” for him while on the other hand he is “gorgeous”. We consider Nicks opinions to be very accurate as he is a fair and sensitive person who is also the

In The Great Gatsby, Nick’s perspective on others is much different compared to how he responds to Gatsby. Nick sees Tom, Daisy, Jordan, Myrtle, and Wolfshiem all self-centered and shady individuals who are lost in the time era. However, Nick is enlightened by Gatsby; he is interested in Gatsby and uncovering his inner realness since he recognized many characteristics that he wishes people would hold (Bevilacqua). In the first chapter of the novel, when leaving New York heading to the Midwest, he says that he has lost all hope for humans because they have seemed to have lost their morality (Will). Nick continues to say he is one of the few honest people he has met. When he meets Gatsby and starts to discover Gatsby’s emotions, he finds that Gatsby is different from all his other acquaintances; he’s true to his word and proves it all throughout the story.

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

Nick thinks Gatsby is great because he was able to create a new identity for himself when he needed to be someone else. Gatsby's strive to accomplish things amazes Nick. Gatsby focused on a goal of winning Daisy, and he did whatever was necessary to accomplish it. Gatsby never quits from his goal and dream of winning Daisy, and even in reality, his strive is admirable , and somewhat misunderstood. All Gatsby wanted was to be with Daisy, and for her he moved up so he could be equal to her in the same status. So that she would notice him and would return the feelings back to Gatsby.

In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald introduces a complex and round character, Nick Carraway, a very honest, small town man. One specific interaction that stands out, when you begin to see a change when Nick is invited to one of Gatsby’s extravagant parties. Nick was the only person ever invited personally to one of these parties. Nick hears rumors about Gatsby. When they both first meet, Gatsby is very friendly. He invites him to live the high lie with him. It was all an act to get Nick to arrange a date for Gatsby and Daisy. Nick being the honest, well rounded man he is, is in a tough spot. Arranging a meeting secretly between his married cousin, and neighbor is something out of his character. But he agrees to Gatsby’s request

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 sees Gatsby as the beacon of human perfection a man with a dream so pure it couldn’t be corrupted by anyone. Nick sees this once incorruptible dream in the “Gatsby believed in the Green light, the orgastic future…” (Fitzgerald 180). Nick’s tone shows that he saw Gatsby’s dream not what the end goal was but what the dream symbolized. The dream of Gatsby was treated so poorly as if it meant nothing to everybody, and Nick could sympathize with this dream for, in the beginning, Nick was much the very same way weak and vulnerable to the power of everyone else. Gatsby’s dream only grow the more he wanted to achieve it and Nick grows in character from watching Gatsby never give up on it. Gatsby teaches Nick to be dignified indirectly and teaches him to see the world as a place that is formal and filled with dignity. When Gatsby is murdered because of the corrupt people around him, Gatsby’s dream dies with him, and Nick is tormented by the absence of the once great Gatsby. Nick later walks the streets of the once great wonderland and sees its wonder no longer, “After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction” (Fitzgerald 176) Nick has been taught by Gatsby that the world should be seen as formal and be dignified, and with this knowledge he realizes that the

Scott Fitzgerald chose to tell the story of The Great Gatsby in a somewhat unconventional way by using a narrator that is a main character himself. Fitzgerald presents Nick in a specific way to serve a particular purpose. Fitzgerald uses Nick to demonstrate that people naturally judge others and that it is impossible for someone to remain completely unbiased when making these judgments. Usually, the sole purpose of the narrator is to give a medium in which to tell the story, but Nick tells the story and is involved in it at the same time. He has his own thoughts and feels different emotions throughout the novel and some of these emotions and feelings creep into his recollection of what happened. Because of this, the reader feels a stronger connection to him but at the same time, can be easily persuaded to have the same opinions as him about other characters. This also may be why Nick changed the most throughout the novel. He started out as a young man who is looking to make his fortune in the bond business out east but ends up moving back west because he is fed up with the corruption and greed that comes with the wealthy lifestyle of the east coast. At the close of the novel Nick says this about the eastern lifestyle, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy⎼they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

When it came to Gatsby, he was interested in Nick’s simplicity but he was also intrigued at Nick’s relation to Daisy, his long-lost lover. In the novel it states, “had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.” (Fitzgerald, 97). This quote shows how Gatsby had reconnected with Daisy through Nick and how Nick admired Gatsby’s passion when he finally meet up with Daisy once again. Lastly, the tragic death of Gatsby opens up a new realm of things for Nick. In the novel, it states, “After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction.” (Fitzgerald, 176). He now reflected on how Gatsby’s passion and drive to live allowed Nick to view life in the real world differently. Nick, who was directly inspired by Gatsby, now was left confused as he wanted to learn all that one needs for success, though the death made it impossible. The last page of the novel, it ends with, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eludes us then, but that’s no matter - to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arm farther.” (Fitzgerald, 180). This quote shows how much of a deep impact Gatsby’s death had on Nick. Now

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.