How Is Nick Carraway Shown In The Great Gatsby Catastrophes

594 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gatsby's tragedy

Nick Carraway and the Complicated Catastrophes Often regarded as one of the most prominent books of the 20th century, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a book about kind-hearted and honest Midwest native Nick Carraway, who, after recently moving to New York, comes into contact with illustrious millionaire Jay Gatsby, and gets tangled up in a web of lies and violence involving himself, his cousin, her husband, her friend, and Gatsby. In other words, Nick expected his life to retain its simplicity when moving East, but he had no idea what was in store for him. Many characters are affected largely by the events of the book, but maybe most of all would be Nick. The reason he moved East was to learn the bond business and find a more exciting life than the one that was back home in the Midwest, but what he got definitely wasn’t what he was expecting. …show more content…

Tracing the events of the novel back far enough, the causes of all of these were set into place when Nick became involved in the lives of the residents of East Egg and West Egg. Take for instance Myrtle’s Death. She only got killed because Daisy wanted to go to town, Daisy only wanted to go to town to escape telling Tom of her and Gatsby, Jay and Daisy only rekindled their relationship because Nick invited Daisy to tea, Nick only invited Daisy to tea because Gatsby told him to, and if Nick had never moved to New York, he couldn’t have invited Daisy to tea. Coincidentally, there would’ve been few good things that would’ve come out of Nick staying in the Midwest. Gatsby would still be chasing (and failing to achieve) the ‘American Dream’, Tom would still be more abusive to Daisy than he is at the end of the novel, and many other things that, while less significant in the scale of the story, are still important to the effect Nick had on the lives of the other

Show More
Related

  • SELF- IMPROVEMENT PLAN FOR NICK CARRAWAY

    849 Words  | 2 Pages

    As much as generous and honest Nick Carraway is, he still needs a few important improvements in himself. Nick went to Yale, fought in world war one and moved to East of New York to work in finance. After moving to New York, Nick faces tough dilemmas throughout the story such as revealing secrets, and witnessing betrayal. His innocence and malevolence toward others was beyond his control. He did not have the ability or knowledge to know what he should have done in the spots he was set in. He seemed lost and having no control of what went on- almost trapped- but indeed, he had more control than he could have ever known. Because of the situations he has experienced and the people he has met, such as Gatsby, Tom, Jordan and Daisy, his point of view on the world changed dramatically which is very depressing. Trusting the others and caring for them greatly has put him in a disheartening gloomy position.

    Read More

  • Nick's Evolving Perceptions of Gatsby in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 which I have unaffected scorn.” (Fitzgerald 2). Nick sees Gatsby as what he hates the most in life, rich folk. Since the start of the novel it was obvious that had “Disapproved of him from beginning to end.” (Fitzgerald 154). As time passes, Nick realizes his neighbor has quite a mysterious past. Some think he’s a bootlegger, and a different person wa...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Nick In The Great Gatsby

    1949 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Great Gatsby was one of many creative stories F. Scott Fitzgerald successfully wrote during his era. The 1920’s brought new things to Fitzgerald and his newly wedded wife, but once all the fame and glamour ended so did they. Fitzgerald’s life eventually came crashing down in depression and misery following the 1920’s, and he would never be the same. Fitzgerald became very vulnerable to this era and could not control himself, which came back to haunt him. Fitzgerald wrote the book in first person limited, and used Nick as his narrator to explain the dramatic story which revolved around the life of Jay Gatsby. Nick told of the roaring 1920’s, and how the wealthy people of New York lived and prospered, just like Fitzgerald. Drinking, partying,

    Read More

  • gatsby research paper

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Great Gatsby was a major success in Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald’s writing career. With more failures than successes, Fitzgerald’s determination to achieve a best seller had become a reality by reason of The Great Gatsby published 1996. The novel is written with many twists and hidden mysteries. Nick Carraway, a young and said to be attractive man, finds himself mentally captivated by Jay Gatsby, his neighbor who is seen to live this wild lifestyle. Carraway receives an invitation to one of Gatsby’s parties. Intrigued by Gatsby’s ambitious lifestyle, Nick attends. Although seeming to be wild and overwhelming, he realizes something about this atmosphere seems phony. Nobody knew the real Gatsby; most guests couldn’t identify him if he was standing right next to him. Taken back by all that is happening around him, Nick is determined to find this Gatsby everyone speaks so highly about, but no one really knew. Further on Gatsby’s side, his heart ached for Daisy Buchanan. Married to Tom Buchanan with a child, it was not as easy to love him as it was for him to love her. Gatsby truly believed Daisy never loved Tom, and pressed for her to admit it throughout the novel. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald highlights the concept of the cliché upper class living in the 1920’s along with the act of illegal importing; this thematic structure of the text parallels the concept of the American Dream and hustling in current popular culture and for this reason the text is a classic still read and respected today.

    Read More

  • How Did Nick Carraway Grow In The Great Gatsby

    684 Words  | 2 Pages

    When he first moves to West Egg, Nick “ha[s] that familiar conviction that life was beginning all over again” (4). While to many people, the East represents the older society, Nick sees the possibility of rebirth there. He seeks a new life so as to escape the chaos that war has introduced into his life and to restore order, which is often associated with the East. After his move to New York, Nick is enchanted by the beauty that surrounds him. He describes Gatsby’s house as a “colossal affair” (5) and Tom’s as an elaborate and “cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion” (6). To him, these new houses, created in old architectural styles, are works of art, representative of the success of those around him. Nick wishes become prosperous himself, just to have a taste of this extravagant lifestyle and to prove himself to those around him, especially Tom. Later, when he attends Gatsby’s party, Nick describes it as “alive with chatter and laughter” (40) and full of “spectroscopic gayety” (44). His positive portrayal of the festivity implies that he enjoys this excessive glitz of the people around him. Even though he is very much an outsider in this sub-culture, Nick wants to be a part of it. In his initial experience with the wealthy’s lifestyle in New York, Nick becomes enamored by

    Read More

  • Who Is Nick Carraway The Protagonist In The Great Gatsby

    575 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway is his own protagonist and our narrator. He is a young conservative who turns thirty in the progression of the novel. Nick was raised in the Midwest and thinks of his hometown to be suffocating and decides to move to the East Coast to learn the bond business; hoping to find himself and a new life. His character is conflicted internally and externally throughout the novel but really culminates into a loathing for all things eastern. Nick Carraway functions as a round character and Foil to Gatsby with his realistic, but judgmental qualities in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

    Read More

  • Essay On Why Is Nick An Unreliable Narrator In The Great Gatsby

    665 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about Nick Caraway, a man who moved into New York in West Egg. He soon finds out that his house borders a mansion of a wealthy man, named Jay Gatsby, who is in love with Nick’s cousin Daisy Buchannan. Nick describes his past experiences with Gatsby. He is an unreliable first person narrator, for he is extremely subjective being biased towards Gatsby and he is deceptive, with his lying and past actions. His evaluation of Gatsby is not entirely just, due to his close friendship with Gatsby.

    Read More

  • Who Is Nick Carraway A Narrator In The Great Gatsby

    2114 Words  | 5 Pages

    The events leading to his retreat start with Gatsby’s death but continue until the end of the novel. First Nick tries to go back to work but finds it too boring to contemplate saying, “I tried for a while to list quotations on an interminable amount of stock, then I fell asleep in my swivel-chair” (Fitzgerald 154). Nick is slowly pushed back into the west, but not of his own free will, by everyone he knows in the east cutting ties with him-probably because they figured out what kind of evil person he actually is. Daisy and Tom leave first fleeing from Nick quickly and silently, “I called up Daisy… But she and Tom had gone away early that afternoon, and taken baggage with them” (Fitzgerald 164). Similarly Jordan does not want anything to do with Nick, “She didn’t answer. Angry and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away” (Fitzgerald 177). While many defenders of Nick Carraway would advocate that Nick leaving to go west depicts him regaining his morals, this is asinine assumption. Should Sigmund Freud evaluate Nick using his theories of the Id, Ego, and Superego, it is likely he would conclude that Nick has a underdeveloped Superego and an overdeveloped Id (McLeod “Psychoanalysis”). The most feasible explanation Nick went back to the west is that he got bored; and with a overdeveloped Id he wants immediate satisfaction leading to him abandoning the world that was now boring him. The underdeveloped Superego would also explain why he has no problems with lying or annihilating his friends’

    Read More

  • Nick's Relationship In The Great Gatsby

    867 Words  | 2 Pages

    Because Gatsby and Nick both differ from the rest of West Egg, they are considered outsiders and they grow to love each other over time. Since Nick values hard work, he

    Read More

  • Nick's Transformation In The Great Gatsby

    1970 Words  | 4 Pages

    Nick lives amidst a “time of profound human change,” and his character clearly shows transformation from start to end (Hermanson 12). Nick begins as a person seeking and dreaming of fortune, and then meets Gatsby, further making dreams seem within reach as “his vision comes slowly, in the act of writing the book” (Samuels 15). As Nick writes the book, change can be detected from before and after he meets Gatsby from his written accounts. Before, Nick begins a hopeful bondsman wanting to reach success in Long Island, and after he meets Gatsby, he realizes that far-fetched dreams can become true, as Gatsby’s enormous mansion confirms. In addition, as Nick writes, his thoughts evolve with each event described. First, he “decided to go East and learn the bond business,” but then seeks adventure by meeting Gatsby and spending time with him at his mansion and around New York, putting together pieces about the real nature of Gatsby's business (Fitzgerald 3). Nick proceeds with experiencing life in New York through and with Jay Gatsby. He observes Gatsby’s life by writing the book but ends up “discover[ing] himself” because he learns from the lies of rich, unhappy people which strengthens Nick’s already strong morality (Samuels 14). His father’s words define Nick’s character, but the morality Nick claims to have is proven when he does avoids falling into the abominable lives Daisy, Nick, and Gatsby live. While in New York, Nick discovers first-hand the consequences and miseries of wealth. From passing the site of Myrtle's murder to being the only one attending Gatsby’s funeral, Nick leaves the city with his true ability to “judge people’s actions with compassion,” even through the corruption and lies he sees which affects his outlook on life (Lewis 498). When Nick meets Gatsby, he fantasizes

    Read More

  • The Results of Keeping Secrets in the Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby, a novel set in The Roaring Twenties, portraying a flamboyant and immortal society of the ‘20s where the economy booms, and prohibition leads to organized crimes. Readers follow the journey about a young man named Jay Gatsby, an extravagant mysterious neighbor of the narrator, Nick Carraway. As the novel evolves, Nick narrates his discoveries of Gatsby’s past and his love for Daisy, Nick’s married cousin to readers. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald develops the theme of the conflict which results from keeping secrets instead of telling the truth using the three characters – Tom Buchanan, Nick Carraway, and Jay Gatsby (James Gats).

    Read More

  • Alcoholism In The Great Gatsby

    1313 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book, The Great Gatsby, one of the greatest classics of all time, was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald attended Princeton University and wrote The Great Gatsby in 1925. After reaching success, he struggled with alcoholism and died at the young age of 44 years old. Fitzgerald was one of the most famous writers of the Jazz Age. The Jazz Age was when jazz music and dance became popular, and younger women took more risks compared to the older generation. They went to all-night parties, drove motor cars, smoked in public, and did more of their own thing. The setting of The Great Gatsby is the 1920s in the West Egg district of Long Island, New York. Some of the main characters in the book include Nick Carraway, Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker, Myrtle and George Wilson, and of course the Great, Jay Gatsby. The book is narrated by Nick Carraway, a rich man from Minnesota. Nick traveled to New York to learn the bond business. He got

    Read More

  • Essay On Nick Carraway In The Great Gatsby

    657 Words  | 2 Pages

    At the end of the book, it is revealed that all of Tom, Daisy, and Nick are extremely careless. Nick’s carelessness detriments his reliability as a narrator. Because of Nick’s deep and familiar connection with Gatsby, Gatsby is “the exception” and Nick cannot be a reliable narrator towards him. Nick really admires and appreciates Gatsby as a friend, although it seems that Gatsby may not feel nth same way ads Nick. Gatsby may have befriended Nick solely because of his connection with Daisy. Nicks obsession with Gatsby and Gatsby’s obsession with

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby and the American Dream

    1547 Words  | 4 Pages

    F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby”, is one of the few novels he wrote in 1925. The novel takes place during the 1920’s following the 1st World War. It is written about a young man named Nick, from the east he moved to the west to learn about the bond business. He ends up moving next to a mysterious man named Gatsby who ends up giving him the lesion of his life.

    Read More

  • Who do you think is the hero of this novel Gatsby, or Nick Carraway?

    629 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nick is more of a spectator than an actor in the story. He is just an

    Read More

More about How Is Nick Carraway Shown In The Great Gatsby Catastrophes

Open Document