...In the 1925 novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway, the narrator, makes himself out to be an incredibly understanding and patient man. He asserts to shun judgement of people before genuinely becoming acquainted with them, essentially priding himself on what he considers to be a strong morality. While somewhat of a conceited statement, it, for the most part, accurately describes Nick’s appraisal of Jay Gatsby. From their initial encounter, Nick demonstrated disharmonious feelings towards Gatsby; at times Nick would laud him, and others Nick spoke considerably poorly of him. These conflicting opinions of Gatsby stem from a contention with Nick’s moral values. Many of Gatsby’s actions struck Nick as superfluous and untrustworthy....
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...Judgement, Opinions, Changes When The Great Gatsby is first introduced, the narrator, Nick, describes how his dad once told him, "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all people in this world haven't had the advantages you've had” (Fitzgerald). He then goes on to say as a consequence, he's "inclined to reserve all judgments” (Fitzgerald). This is rather ironic due to the entire novel consisting of many opinionated views and comments from the viewpoint of Nick, toward others, especially toward Jay Gatsby. Throughout the novel Nick has positive and negative thoughts toward Gatsby and seems unsure of his overall opinion of him. His is continuously indecisive and contradictive. Eventually however, his mind is set, that Gatsby is actually a down to earth, fine young man, seeking for his righteousness to be seen. Nick sets the scene by telling the story of how he had moved to New York "in the spring of twenty-two” (Fitzgerald), and had accepted an offer to share a house with a man in the office. He describes how he decided to "go east and learn the bond business” (Fitzgerald), and how his father had agreed to finance him for a year. Nick’s pretentious West Egg house is next door to Gatsby’s eyesore mansion. Nick is clearly unlike his West Egg neighbors, Gatsby included, where they lack many social connections; Nick is from Yale and has many. When Nick first describes the 'hero of the story,’ Gatsby, he makes his opinion of Gatsby very clear. Gatsby states how...
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...The Great Gatsby In The Great Gatsby (1825) by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby had a dream that developed an extraordinary gift for hope. Fitzgerald founded the Gatsby persona and gave him his backstory to accomplish his dreams such as: changing his own name when he met Dan Cody, become rich by being a bootlegger, and moving into a enormous mansion. The intended audience is everyone and he shows that this is not a story about love. F. Scott proves that Gatsby is a gorgeous person by the perspective of Nick Carraway in order to develop Gatsby's true intentions. The character Gatsby is focused and determined in order to accomplish his fantasy. In a intriguing conversation between Nick and Gatsby, Gatsby exclaims that the past is repeatable, although it is impossible to exactly repeat it, Gatsby words show that he will do the impossible: "Nick says, 'You can't repeat the past.' 'Can't repeat the past?' Gatsby cries out. 'Why of course you can!'" (p.110) The author makes Gatsby believe that his dream is achievable in his perspective. He uses Nick to help Gatsby with his dream but at the same time tries to get him back into reality. Gatsby is generous in the eyes of Nick and his party guests. During one of his parties, a guest mentioned about a dress that was ruined during her last visit but was replaced after the host asked for an address and sent her a new one that was very expensive. The others guests marveled at his hospitality as well as wondered why Gatsby was like that when...
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...Serri 11/3/11 English 11-1 The Great Gatsby Character Questions It is almost impossible to grasp anything fully from one side. To truly understand a 3-dementional item you need at least two different angles. This is precisely what makes Nick Carraway the perfect narrator for The Great Gatsby. He is a stranger in a strange land, who sees the most eccentric part of the east coast. Therefore, the reader not only gets his own perspective on the situation but sees through Nick’s fresh pair of eyes. Also Nick has two very key personality traits, unique to the mid-west, which make him the ideal narrator for The Great Gatsby. He restrains his judgment and he is a good listener. His listening skills give him a sense of trust and people respond by telling him certain secrets. We definitely see this with his relationship with Gatsby. Nick’s opinion of Gatsby changes drastically, along with the reader’s. Ultimately, Nick believes Gatsby. Gatsby, on their ride together, tells Nick about his life. Our unbiased narrator seems to pass a little judgment on his neighbor’s story. “And with this doubt his whole statement fell to pieces and I wondered if there wasn’t something a little sinister about him after all” (p. 66). This is mentioned after Gatsby talks about his Oxford education. It is clear that Nick, at first, does not believe most of what Gatsby is saying. It is funny how his perception changes as the conversation continues. Once Gatsby mentions his wartime achievements...
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...a house. Whatever dream drives the average American, it’s what they want. The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which explores themes of immorality, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and the Roaring Twenties that has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream. The American Dream is based off of the ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American, at least that’s what I believe in my eyes is the intended goal. There are many characters within the story of The Great Gatsby that have their own personalities, as well as their own goal. My favorite character of the book is Nick Carraway. As he is the narrator of the story, it follows his tale in West Egg, New York becoming a stockbroker when he comes along a man of the name Jay Gatsby. The story follows events that take place in that time of drama and romance, and well being. Nick Carraway is not only special because he is the “main” character, but special from what he tries to achieve. It’s all a matter of opinion of what characters are said goals in the book are. I find myself believing that Nick Carraway doesn't find his until the end of the book. Spoilers for if you haven’t read the book or saw one of the movies, which would be ridiculous, Gatsby dies in the end. This is when Nick realizes his American Dream. Is that we learn from the past. On Nick’s last night in the East, he walks over to Gatsby’s mansion. Nick looks out along...
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...against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 180). The ending phrase in The Great Gatsby sums up human life; people fight against the incessant stream of obstacles flowing towards them in the path called reality as they are forever linked to their past and their mistakes. The Great Gatsby, as told through the eyes of Nick Carraway, tells the story of a young man fruitlessly striving to overcome the societal barriers to be with his true love: a married Daisy Buchanan. As two separate entities written in different time periods, the novel The Great Gatsby-written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925-and the movie The Great Gatsby-directed by Baz Luhrmann in 2013-converge and diverge on several topics...
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...The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about a peculiar man named Jay Gatsby. He is a remarkably rich individual with peers that surround him who treasure wealth, reputation, and social status. Jay Gatsby, the mysterious man was impacted the most throughout the novel. Jay Gatsby lived with the theory of ending his life with Daisy whom impacted Gatsby the most, not realizing that the day he would die she’d not be attending his funeral. Nick being the help for finding love again amongst Gatsby and Daisy seems to genuinely impact Gatsby as well. We all know love makes us do some exceptionally strange things, when Jay Gatsby is introduced to Daisy again after many of years, he realizes how affectioness he is towards her. Which intensely affects gatsby wanting her back...
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...The Great Gatsby’s third chapter mainly focuses on Nick’s first encounter, with the shrouded character of Jay Gatsby. Nick meets Gatsby at one of his gaudy parties; at which Nick seems to be “one of the few guests who had actually been invited”. Nick, of course, is employed by Fitzgerald and used to frame this chapter. Our established retrospective narrator writes in the subjective first person, meaning we only get his point of view of events; this peripheral style of narration generates intrigue within the reader, as Fitzgerald deliberately doesn’t want us guessing everything .In Jay McInerney’s article on ‘Gatsby’, he writes “Fitzgerald’s best narrators always seem to be partaking of the festivities even as they shiver outside with their noses pressed up against the glass.” I have to concur with McInerney here, as this quote sums up Nick’s narrative style completely. Nick is “within and without”, constantly on the outskirts of events, observing. From this it would be easy to conclude that Nick is a very dull narrator, whose appearance in the novel is only to mask Fitzgerald; so that Fitzgerald can get his opinions and views on this hedonistic lifestyle across. However, that is not the case, as Nick accommodates many aspects which pair with a good narrator. Nick is undoubtedly “one of the few honest people that I have ever known” and through his powerful quality of reservation, Fitzgerald allows other characters to express themselves and develop. This makes the novel more accessible...
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...narrator in Nick Carraway? In my opinion Nick Carraway is the best narrator possible for The Great Gatsby as he is an active participator. His opinions are not biased and I feel that if another character was narrating we would not know all the information there is to know about them e.g. if Gatsby was narrating we would never find out about his criminal record and his mischief, or if Daisy was narrating we would never find out about her affair and drunken secrets. I am not sure that Nick is completely honest about everything that goes on, and it’s clear we can’t trust him on occasions that he is drunk. I am also unsure whether Nick is as honest as he portrays, im not sure that Nick influence the readers thoughts on characters such as Tom and Myrtle; and even making the readers feel sympathy for Gatsby when in reality he’s a crook, who is trying to steal away someone’s wife! I also believe that Nick’s character reflects Fitzgerald, and it allows Fitzgerald to criticise society at the time (1920’s) through Nick Carraway. Chapter one shows how as a reader we feel we can trust Nick straight away; ‘In my younger and more venerable years’ Immediately we feel we can trust the narrator and that what he says is sensible and reliable; This implies that he is now older and wiser, perhaps endured something that has made him this way and, ‘I’m inclined to reserve all judgements’ ‘Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope’ Makes us feel that Nick’s judge of character is fair, although...
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...Pursuing the American Dream The Great Gatsby, written by Scott F. Fitzgerald in 1925, follows the life of the various characters that lived in West Egg, a fictional town on Long Island. It is narrated by Nicholas “Nick” Caraway, a Yale graduate and one of the main characters. By the way the book is written, one can deduce that Nick lived through all the events, or wrote what others told him about the events he was not present in, and wrote the book by end of it all. Its main theme is the pursuit of the American Dream, and what characters have to do to reach it, and how it can all crumble down. Basically, in this essay I will show the different ‘American dreams’ that are strongly projected in this novel. The first dream, the one with the strongest portrayal, was the desire of escalating in the social status ladder. There were characters with a high social status for their family’s name, like Tom Buchanan who inherited his family fortune. He was described as the kind of person that thinks money allows him to treat people as the lowest scum; even though his mannerism and tastes were exquisite, his attitude towards those who were not on the same status as him was detestable. “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.” (Page 188, The Great Gastby) Tom counts as an example of...
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...Throughout Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the central character – Jay Gatsby experiences the adverse elements of wealth. Fitzgerald illustrates money as the creator of dubious assurance though Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship. Additionally, he construes money as a temporary title by examining individuals’ actions before and after Gatsby’s death. Furthermore, he also portrays money as disingenuous matter that disrupts personal principles. In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald demonstrates the negative aspect of money such as creating a false sense of security, causing of momentary admiration and disrupting one's morals. Money often creates an erroneous impression of security for many. Money gives Gatsby a deceitful confidence. During...
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...A Analysis is the practice of looking closely at small parts to see how they affect the whole, but a Literary analysis focuses on how plot plus structure, character, setting, and many other techniques. That's what I intend to achieve in this essay about The Great Gatsby. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the theme of wealth can breed carelessness in my own opinion. Using the literary techniques of point of view, juxtaposition, and foreshadowing to create meaning in his classic work. The word “careless” sums up Nick's friends as I think and also what the author says in the book himself. For example I feel like Gatsby’s whole life trying to contract his money and status so that he could reach a certain position in life. This is what motivated him to move to west egg to be right across the lake from Daisy, making as much money by doing anything possible. I felt in his position Daisy wanted and needed a man that was wealthy so he changed himself to win her back. At a point him and Daisy were perfect for eachother when he was unwealthy, but their affair foreshadowed that it was a doomed relationship showing that she only wanted him for his money now. As we can see now, the relationship was never doomed at the end for Daisy as she runs away, as her secondary lover dies. Another...
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...Calvin Liu English IB-SL 14 September 2014 Great Gatsby Essay In Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the readers can see a change in the character of Nick Carraway. In fact the readers see a change in Nick in the very first chapter. “I enjoyed the counter-raid so thoroughly that I came back restless.” (3) shows that after Nick returned from the Great War he saw the Middle West as “the ragged edge of the universe” (3) causing him to go seek excitement in the East. Nick is introduced as a character that possesses a strong morality who came from a family that brought its way up through hard work, but by the end of the novel he possesses a bit of the dishonest and immoral life of the high social class around him. After his experiences and interactions with the wealthy and high class of the East, Nick ultimately changes from innocent and pure to judgmental and immoral. Nick’s initial experiences with that of the wealthy and high class in the story are what begin to corrupt him and change him from the man that he originally was back in the Middle West. One instance where the readers see Nick get affected by the wealthy is in chapter two. In an attempt to leave Tom and Myrtle alone during the drive to their apartment, Nick tries to respectfully leave and get off at Fifth Avenue however Tom replies to Nick saying “No, you don’t, Myrtle’ll be hurt if you don’t come up to the apartment. Won’t you, Myrtle?” and thus Tom makes Nicks efforts to disembark fruitless. Another instance...
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...Scott Fitzgerald creates characters who all have strong personalities. The first character the readers are introduced to is Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby. Although, he does not play a huge role in the novel, Nick is the catalyst as he observes the events of the main plot, without being instrumental in any of the action. Nick is a college man, he graduated from Yale, however he doesn’t really brag about his educational background. Nick says “I graduated from New Haven”, he doesn’t boast about the fact he went to Fitzgerald establishes him as a humble person. Additionally, Nick explains that his father gave him some advice: “whenever you feel like criticizing anyone… just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” By Nick telling the readers about his father’s advice and that he is “inclined to reserve all judgments”, the implications are really strong. Nick comes from at least a middle class family that value a sense of moral justice. In this way, the readers are encouraged to trust Nick and to believe in his impartiality and good judgment, a biased narrator will make the narrative reactionary, not honest, so stressing his good judgment is crucial. This establishes Nick as a trustworthy character and friend. However, throughout the novel, the readers witness Nick’s rude and snide comments. For example, Fitzgerald writes: “…drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together.” In this...
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...The author’s diction in these sentences reveals some aspects of Nick Carraway’s life. The first sentence, “It was Gatsby’s mansion”, suggests that Nick Carraway is an honest straightforward person. He always has an opinion in everything he sees. Beyond his honest character, Nick Carraway has a reflective side, which is presented by the second sentence. The phrase “inhabited by a gentleman of that name”, elaborates on Nick’s thoughtfulness and precision in his judgment. The wording of the second sentence indicates that Nick reflects on his previous sentence and tries to correct himself. By saying, “it was a mansion inhabited by a gentleman of that name”, Nick acknowledges that he and Gatsby do not know each other in a conversational level. Nick, therefore, thinks that it is appropriate to address Gatsby in a more objective manner. One of the Gatsby’s guests is imitating Joe Frisco as he or she is dancing in Gatsby’s party. Joe Frisco, according to some accounts, is a famous comedian and jazz dancer during the decade of The Great Gatsby’s release. He has choreographies that appeal to those who like to follow the...
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