Nick's Idealism In The Great Gatsby

As the story progresses, Nick Carraway learns that much of Gatsby’s success is based on the lies, cheating, and other immoral actions. Yet Nick still feels loyal to Gatsby. Claire Stocks shares that “Nick’s version seems increasingly unreliable as he glosses over lies, erases criticisms of Gatsby and avoids uncomfortable truths” (Stocks 2). He continually struggles with the attraction of the East Coast lifestyle and its damaging immoral consequences. After witnessing Gatsby’s tragic death and inability to fulfill Gatsby’s dream, Nick comes to the conclusion that his midwestern or western upbringing is not compatible with the Eastern lifestyle. In the final chapter of The Great Gatsby, Nick shares, “I see now that this has been a story of the

The protagonist Jay Gatsby met the most tragic end. Gatsby’s risky and lavish lifestyle failed to achieve his goal of ending up with Daisy and ultimately led to his early death. According to Pidgeon, “[Gatsby] really is the American boy pursuing the American Dream, never knowing that the dream which his idealism has created is not worthy of him. He never realizes that what Nick says is true, Gatsby was “better than the whole rotten bunch” (Pidgeon 4). After Gatsby’s death and people’s reactions to it, Nick Carraway becomes disillusioned with the Eastern way of life and returns home to the morals of the Midwest. Daisy and Tom Buchanan are still together at the end of the novel. Their shallow and immoral attitudes towards life make them well suited for each other. In this novel, Fitzgerald has masterfully created a powerful portrayal of the futility of the American optimism (Daisley 2). The characters in The Great Gatsby are impacted in a variety of ways as they experience this

In the final lines of the novel, Nick Carraway says, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 115). The idea of the green light is symbolic to the novel because it represents that the past is the pathway to the future. Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby struggled as they were building their future dreams based on their past hopes. According to Claire Stocks, “Nevertheless, … [Nick] wants to believe that such a transformation as Gatsby 's is possible. For the other characters like Daisy, Tom and the guests at Gatsby 's parties, all men are certainly not created equal and there is no means by which the scales might subsequently be balanced” (Stocks 4). The author, F. Scott Fitzgerald refers to America as a society of harsh orders and the prestige (Stocks 4). Almost a century later, Americans still face the true challenges and struggles in their never-ending pursuit of the American