Views on the role of Nick as a narrator in the Great Gatsby have

2441 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Explain Nick's complex attitude toward Gatsby

Views on the role of Nick as a narrator in the Great Gatsby have

varied greatly. How do the views of Arthur Mizener and Gary J.

Scrimgeour relate to your own view of Nick's function in the novel?

Published in 1925, and written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 'The Great

Gatsby' is a brilliant and scathing illustration of life among the new

rich during the 1920s; people who had recently amassed a great deal of

wealth but had no corresponding social connections, or a sense of

morality. Nick Carraway is the narrator of the novel; he rents a house

on Long Island next door to Jay Gatsby, the title character. Gatsby is

in love with Nick's cousin Daisy, who is married to an obnoxious man

she does not really love, and he has no strong feelings towards her

either. Her and his extramarital affairs are set against the

background of the extravagant parties that Gatsby is famous for

throwing, while Nick struggles to reconcile his attraction to a lavish

lifestyle with his feeling that a moral grounding is missing. The

writing style throughout 'The Great Gatsby' is terse and the book at

times is depressing, with an overall message of hope and the American

dream, discouraging.

The story is told through the eyes of an active, biased, participant.

Nick Carraway has a special place in this novel and has many

functions. He is not just one character among several, it is through

his eyes and ears that we form our opinions of the other characters.

Nick is both within, yet outside the occurrence of events as he is

friends with Gatsby and related to Daisy, but is still not involved

fully in all that occurs, even though somebody else often tells him

about it. Often, readers of this novel confuse Nick's stance towards

those characters a...

... middle of paper ...

...atsby is Nick's opinion. Gatsby's dream and the purity of

his vision is the 'great' part, rather than the wealth. In one sense,

the title of the novel is ironic; the title character is neither

"great" nor named Gatsby. He is a criminal whose real name is James

Gatz, and the life he has created for himself is an illusion. By the

same token, the title of the novel refers to the theatrical skill with

which Gatsby makes this illusion seem real.

Fitzgerald has created a most interesting character in Nick because he

is very much a fallible storyteller. When an author unsettles an

accepted convention in the art of storytelling by creating a narrator

like Nick, it draws attention to the story as fiction. Ironically, in

doing this, he has created in Nick a figure that more closely

resembles an average human being and thus has heightened the realism

of the novel.

Show More
Related

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Essays: Boo and Tom Misunderstood

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the story progresses, Boo becomes more of a symbol of kindness and bravery than that of the "town freak" which he is made out to be. Boo leaves presents for the children in the hollow trunk of an old tree, as well as covers Scout with a blanket during Miss Maudie's fire. However, it is not until he saves Jem and Scout's life from the hands of the deranged Mr. Ewell, that Boo shows his true heroic character. Even though Boo is a physically weaker man, he shows no fear when it comes to protecting Jem and Scout's life.

    Read More

  • Nick's Power In The Great Gatsby

    645 Words  | 2 Pages

    In chapter 2 of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald illustrates the change of Nick’s emotions. During the early 1920s a new dawn buds out with Nick, and Tom traveling to New York. On their way they stop to visit Tom’s lover Myrtle Wilson at the Valley of Ashes. Myrtle Wilson invites Tom, Nick, the Mckee family, and her sister Catherine to her apartment for a party in New York. During the end of the party Nick expresses a variety of emotions, as he is “enchanted” and “repelled” by the arguments, and the careless gibberish of the drunken souls . Nick is enchanted by the amount of secrecy humans can disclose to a “casual watcher” when they are careless. He is “repelled” by the arguments and the derogatory comments Myrtle, and Tom makes about other people as they start to drink more.

    Read More

  • Who Is Fitzgerald Present Nick's Judgment In The Great Gatsby

    606 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is first person and uses the vantage point of Nick Caraway. The story is told through the eyes of Nick and all character development is through Nick’s mind. Nick’s values, attitudes, and judgments are the way they are because of Nick’s past. The way Nick was raised reflects his values judgments and Nick is the narrator behind the story, vocalizing how he perceives things that take place in the story. Nick’s judgments of main characters Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby are shaped because of his judgments and values.

    Read More

  • Challenging Stereotypes in To Kill A Mocking Bird

    1349 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is a dark and beautiful night in downtown New York City. A young couple are strolling around town minding their own business. Suddenly, they feel tiny drops of water drizzling from the sky. It starts to rain. They make their way to an alley since it would be a much faster route. They come to a halt as they see three homeless black males sitting against the brick walls- right in their path. Their faces show anger and despair. The couple hesitate- not knowing what to do. Should they go back? Or should they go through? It’s as if their fear is instinctive as they stumble a bit, then freeze… Everyday, in the world, there are many times where situations like the one above occur. They affect all people and is a social part of life- stereotypes. In the situation above, it brings up controversial ideas that are very real in our society. They deal with racism, prejudice, discrimination, and with the most relevant being stereotypes. According to Merriam-Webster, stereotypes are “...conforming to a fixed pattern...an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgement” (Merriam-Webster, Stereotype). They make people hold in mixed feelings when interacting with specific types of people since it all depends on the person. This causes people to have narrow minds, have negative attitudes, and hurt others. Why do we have these mindsets? Will they change? No one really knows. What we do know is that times have certainly changed than say the 1930s. In the book, “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, the topic of racism and stereotypes is greatly explored through the eyes of young Scout Finch, the protagonist, who is oblivious to the cruel world she lives in. Throughout the book, we can see that stereotypes are destructive to s...

    Read More

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

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    The line of attack we use in order to identify individuals around us is an intriguing thing. Our perception is forever shifting, forever building, and affected not only by the person’s actions, but by the actions of those around them. In Scott F. Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby Nick Caraway’s perception of Jay Gatsby is always changing. All the way through the novel, Nick’s perception of Gatsby changes from him perceived as a rich chap, to a man that lives in the past, to a man trying to achieve his aspirations but has failed.

    Read More

  • TKAM

    1788 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...the future generation of the community and serving as an example of what kind of attitude a resident of a more advanced society may possess. Overall, Miss Maudie had a wonderful way of making people feel accepted and cared for. Although the Maycomb community of that time could not appreciate Miss Maudie’s intellectual precociousness from the perspective of that era, we can learn from it today. By using people like Miss Maudie as an example, perhaps someday in the future, all of the people of Maycomb can have the same good qualities of Miss Maudie and all contribute positive assets to our society to improve it for the future generations. By acting as a positive influence on the youth and the reader by radiating receptiveness, Miss Maudie provided the structure needed to prevent less conflict in the future, and thus created more harmony between Maycomb’s members.

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

    842 Words  | 2 Pages

    People in Maycomb generally stick to their daily routines and stay away from anyone who seems suspicious or out of place. Because of this ideology, Boo Radley a mysterious, seemingly sinister figure that never comes out of hiding becomes the subject of the town’s never-ending streams of gossip, accusations and fallacies. For the children, Boo was a fascinating figure that seems to be the center of all their ghost stories, which they share like ones around a campfire. Boo is said to be a man who, “dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch…” This is a vicious, bloody image that is painted in the reader’s mind. Boo is described so vividly through the eyes of a variety of characters that this portrayal of him almost becomes the reality. For the children, fear is a sign of weakness and Boo is the source of their fear. As the time passes on, the children’s plans to force Boo out of hiding become more and more elaborate. Jem, Scout and Dill decide to role-play what Boo’s might be like. In a way, this helps the children cope with their fear. The more they think they know about Boo, the less fearful they become.

    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

  • Nick Carraway - Biased Narrator of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

    465 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is a novel that tells the story of different peoples lives and how they are intertwined with each other. The story is told from the viewpoint of the character Nick Carraway. It is through his eyes and ears that the reader forms their opinions of the other characters. In the novel the characters trust Nick and confide in him quite a bit. He thinks of himself as an open minded non-judgemental, non-partial person. I think that it is almost impossible to live your life and not judge others and also not be partial and judge different individuals with different standards.

    Read More

  • Why I Despise The Great Gatsby

    1701 Words  | 4 Pages

    Does The Great Gatsby merit the praise that it has received for many decades? “Why I despise The Great Gatsby” is an essay by Kathryn Schulz at New York Magazine in which Schulz states that she has read it five times without obtaining any pleasure from it. Long viewed as Fitzgerald’s masterpiece and placed at or near the uppermost section of the English literary list, The Great Gatsby has been used as a teaching source in high schools and universities across the United States. The novel is narrated by Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner who moved to Long Island, next door to an elegant mansion owned by a mysterious and affluent Jay Gatsby. The story follows Gatsby and Nick’s unusual friendship and Gatsby’s pursuit of a married woman named Daisy.

    Read More

  • Perspective on Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird

    1379 Words  | 3 Pages

    Boo Radley, also known as Arthur Radley, is the scary, evil creature that lives in the creepy old house down the street from Jem and Scout, and is misjudged at first. Jem and Scout, two main characters, first see Boo as some sort of scary monster. Jem described him in the first chapter as “...six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks...” and said “...he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained- if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off...” Jem also mentioned Boo had a “...long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” Scout and Jem also call Boo a “...malevolent phantom...” As if that isn't bad enough, the kids hear and tell horrible stories about Boo. One is of how he stabbed his dad with a pair of scissors; another tells how he was locked up in the courthouse basement. Even with such a grisly initial perception at the beginning of...

    Read More

  • Racism in To Kill A Mockingbird

    549 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tom Robinson’s trial, and in fact his entire life, was badly affected by racism. It is truly a testament to the corruption of society when a person who has earned a bad reputation is held in higher esteem than a person who was born with it, as is the case with Bob Ewell and Tom Robinson. Even though Tom was obviously honest in his testament, the jury sided with Bob Ewell because he was white. They made this decision despite the fact that the Ewell family was widely known to be a worthless part of society. Jem, not being racially prejudiced, could not understand this mentality. As Atticus pointed out, “If you (Jem) had been on the jury, son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom would be a free man.”

    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

  • Perspective of Nick Carraway, Narrator of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

    1535 Words  | 4 Pages

    Before considering the "gap" between author and narrator, we should remember how, as readers, we respond to the narrator's perspective, especially when that voice belongs to a character who, like Nick, is an active participant in the story. When we read any work of fiction, no matter how realistic or fabulous, as readers, we undergo a "suspension of disbelief". The fictional world creates a new set of boundaries, making possible or credible events and reactions that might not commonly occur in the "real world", but which have a logic or a plausibility to them in that fictional world. In order for this to be convincing, we trust the narrator. We take his perspective, if not totally, then substantially.

    Read More

  • The Portrayal of Women in American Literature

    2124 Words  | 5 Pages

    “Guided only by Nick’s limited view of her, readers often judge Daisy solely on the basis of her superficial qualities” (Fryer 43). What the reader sees through the eyes of Nick only appears as a woman whose impatience and desire for wealth and luxury cost her the love of her life, Gatsby. Nick’s narrow perception does not allow one to see that “. [Daisy’s] silly manner conceals a woman of feeling or that her final ‘irresponsibility’ towards Gatsby stems from an acute sense of responsibility towards herself” and that Nick “.clearly does not understand what motivates her” (Fryer 43).

    Read More

More about Views on the role of Nick as a narrator in the Great Gatsby have

Open Document