Gatsby’s Pursuit Kaitlin McKinnon F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is about a man, Jay Gatsby, who is pursuing the American Dream. The story is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway, a man who observes rather than lives and ends up being Gatsby’s only friend. Although Nick is one of the only people to show up at Gatsby’s funeral, he mentions that he had “unaffected scorn” (2) for everything Gatsby represents. Nick scorns Gatsby because Gatsby represents the pursuit of the American Dream, but not the achievement of it. The endless pursuit the Gatsby represents leads Nick to scorn him because he is not willing to accept that some dreams cannot be fulfilled. Gatsby represents the pursuit of the American Dream. Even before Daisy, …show more content…
Nick says that he is not a judgmental person, and yet, in order to be a narrator a person must have judgments so he can explain to his audience. Nick is certainly not lacking when it comes to describing people, he describes Tom as “a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner,” (7) a description that is very detailed and also quite judgmental. Nick also doesn’t trust people who lie. When Gatsby is telling him about Oxford, Nick narrates, “I knew why Jordan Baker had believed he was lying…I wondered if there wasn’t something a little sinister about him after all” (65). Nick doesn’t trust liars because he watches people, he likes to fade into the background and only believes what his eyes can see or deduce based on people’s behavior. “I don’t’ like mysteries,” (71) he says. Gatsby confuses and irritates him because his entire life is based on a lie. However, it is not this startling fact that makes Nick scorn what Gatsby stands …show more content…
When Nick says, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us” he is intimating a point that becomes incredibly important to him, although the green light of hope and wealth and happiness does exist, it can never be reached, because it will always be across the Sound. At one of Gatsby’s parties, Nick says something that makes him incredibly proud of himself, he says, “there are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired” (79) because the pursued eventually start pursuing, then they get busy with their pursuit, until finally they finish with nothing to show for the wasted time, tired. Gatsby spent his entire life pursuing and busy so that “his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” (180), but Nick saw the end result of all Gatsby’s work and lies and dreams. The last thing Nick writes is “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (180) signifying that because the hope is there, because the Dream can be seen, people will never stop pursuing it, even though it can never be
The Great Gatsby is a difficult book to interpret, particularly because of the style in which it is written. Not only must the reader differentiate between the separate views of Nick as the narrator and Nick as the character, but he or she must also take into consideration at what time period, relative to this story, are these views being expressed. After all, Nick the narrator is presently evaluating the manner in which his character behaved the year before, as well as allowing his character to voice his opinion, as his opinion had been during that time frame. We learn to trust Nick as a narrator, because all the pieces of information he gives to us, received through symbolism, imagery, or personal reflection, lead us to make significant decisions regarding the other characters of the novel. His character, on the other hand, cannot be looked upon in the same manner; it can be seen as dishonest and hypocritical, yet it is these negative characteristics that humanize him, allowing readers to relate to him as a person.
The Great Gatsby, a novel by Scott Fitzgerald, is about the American Dream, and the downfall of those who attempt to reach its impossible goals. The attempt to capture the American Dream is used in many novels. This dream is different for different people; but, in The Great Gatsby, for Jay, the dream is that through wealth and power, one can acquire happiness. To get this happiness Jay must reach into the past and relive an old dream; and, in order to do this, he must have wealth and power.
Even though he had some thought that the meeting would provoke harmful tensions between Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby, he went along with it anyways, further demonstrating his own innate lack of reservation. Ultimately, Nick is an unreliable narrator who overlooks Gatsby’s lies because of his biased judgment of him. Nick portrays Gatsby as a generous and charismatic figure while in reality, he is a duplicative and obsessed man entangled in illegal business who is determined on an unattainable goal. It is highly ironic that Nick judges others for their lack of morality and honesty; his own character is plagued by lies as he abets Gatsby in many of his schemes.
One of the traits of Gatsby that makes him truly great is his remarkable capacity for hope. He has faith that what he desires will come to him if he works hard enough. He does not comprehend the cruelty and danger that is the rest of the world. Gatsby, while a man of questionable morals, is as wide-eyed and innocent as a small child in his views of the world. These ideals are evident in Nick’s narration and in the words spoken by the other characters, including Gatsby himself.
The reader has barely begun the book and almost immediately Nick provides the reader with a most flattering description of the man who lends his name to the novel itself. Nick begins with warning us that Gatsby is not a righteous man, for he scorns Gatsby, but then promptly segues into telling us of his inner beauty despite his aforementioned flaws.We are then treated to a description of Jay Gatsby’s “extraordinary gift for hope, [his] romantic readiness such as [Nick] has never found in any other person and which it is unlikely [he] shall ever find again.” (2) We still have yet to meet Gatsby and here we are bombarded with praises for his “heightened sensitivity to promises of life” (2) and so on. Nick is attempting to teach the reader to condemn the “foul dust” that “floated in the wake of [Gatsby’s] dreams” (2) but still love and admire everything that he represents to Nick. Through doing so, our narrator is setting us up for developing predisposed notions about the character when Nick has just described to us how glad he is that he is “inclined to reserve all judgments” (2) until he is sure of what are that known facts. ...
The Great Gatsby is a story of the American Dream. The Great Gatsby is a view into the society of the 1920's masterfully created by Fitzgerald. In this society, the one and only Gatsby falls right into the middle. Gatsby is an exemplary example of one trying to live out the American Dream.
It is not long after attending his first party at Gatsby’s that Nick confesses that “Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known’ (Fitzgerald, 59). The level of Nick’s idealism and virtuousness begins in such an innocent place that it is inevitable that he will have a transformation throughout the story.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Indeed one of the unique features of this novel is the mystery surrounding it’s main character ‘Gatsby-the man who gives his name to this book’ This sense of inscrutability which is omnipresent with Gatsby is cleverly achieved through the narrative techniques which Fitzgerald employs. The most obvious, and also most effective of which is the narration from Nick’s perspective. Throughout this novel it is Nick’s views of Gatsby which we read, not Fitzgerald’s and not anyone else’s. Only Nick’s. And even Nick seems to be some what in the dark as to Gatsby’s character, he often switches tact throughout the novel on his impression of Gatsby. This seems to insinuate that he has been ponderous over Gatsby for some time. The reader gains the impression that Nick has made calculating decisions throughout the novel, in terms of what he allows us to know about Gatsby. He is after all writing in retrospect. The very fact that Nick still has an ambiguous attitude towards Gatsby even after his death, endorses the readers opinion of Gatsby as a character who can not be categorised. He is uniqu...
In the book “The Great Gatsby” we have the character Nick, which at first, gave the impression of a nice person, because in the book he states that keeps all judgments to himself, stated in, this quote, “ In consequence I am inclined to reserve all judgments.” This gives an idea that Nick while knowing the character of another keeps his ideas to himself, in addition, it shows that Nick is aiming to keep the judgments that his father gave him with out giving up, even though it has caused Nick a lot of trouble. That make Nick boring, nonetheless, he continued showing an ambition to keep his fathers advise, ...
In the beginning of the book Nick calls himself “One of the few honest people that I’ve ever known”. Throughout the book Nick gives examples that even though he is polite; he will tell people how it is. A few examples are when he talks about how dishonest his friend Jordan is, as well as calling Tom and Daisy careless people. Nick also says that Gatsby represents everything that makes him feel like an unaffected scorn. Nick proves throughout the story that he really isn’t as honest as he has thinks. Nick does not reveal he knows about Tom’s affair with Myrtle. He also pretends he didn't know Daisy was driving the car. Another example of his dishonesty is when Nick doesn't tell the police at the crime scene everything he knows, which would have saved Gatsby's life.
It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness. Jay Gatsby, the cryptic main character from F. Scott. Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is a man who has traveled through many rough roads throughout his life. These troubles that Gatsby had to overcome range from fighting in the war, losing the love of his life, and many shady dealings to obtain finances. Despite Gatsby’s life of controversy, many unanswered questions, and a plethora of luck, Gatsby is considered a man of many successes. Nick Carraway, Gatsby’s neighbor and close friend, considers Gatsby to have achieved greatness. Nick sees a greatness in Gatsby that he has never seen in any other man; unfortunately, all great characters do not always have happy endings. Gatsby’s
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, “The Great Gatsby”, tells a story of a world corrupted by money, greed, and pursuit of the American Dream. Even though the novel is titled after Gatsby, Nick analyzes the actions of others and presents the story so that the reader can comprehend the central theme: Despite the fact that human beings will inevitably fail, we still encompass a brilliant capacity to hope. This is the heart of the American Dream and Nick acknowledged and explained it. Without him, the story would not have been possible. Nick was like the box of a puzzle; the puzzle is impossible to put together without it.
...lf “one of the most honest people I[he] have[has] ever known”, being honest of course (59). Although this over honesty could make him a bad narrator, he is better than a narrator that lies. Most of the time nick is a reliable narrator who tells the truth, especially when it comes to Gatsby. His thoughts about Gatsby’s character are very just, because he is suspicious about the same things that regular people would be. Also Nick is from a rich family and so he has been around rich people for all of his life. Because of this fact one would think that he is very capable of judging all types of rich people. To be overly honest, as what Nick would say, Gatsby is great and is seen as great in the eyes of Nick, but his suspicions still stand. The reader knows that those suspicions and Nick’s overall ideas are true through the characteristics of Nick and his experiences.
At the beginning of the book, Nick's dependability is demonstrated as he recounts various information about himself. He is “inclined to reserve all judgments”(1), a trait that implies objectivity and therefore reliability as a narrator. However, he continues to say that this reservation of judgment has certain limits, especially recently in his life. These limits, apparently, do not apply to Gatsby, as evidenced in the next line. Nick says that only Gatsby “was exempt from [his] reaction”, even though Gatsby “represented everything for which [he has] an unaffected scorn”. He then continues to praise Gatsby's “heightened sensitivity to the promises of life”, and his “extraordinary gift of hope”(2). This beginning excerpt from the book in the first two pages sets the tone for the rest of the book and foreshadows the events that are going to happen. It is one of the most important sections of the book, as it lays out ...
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a tragic tale of love distorted by obsession. Finding himself in the city of New York, Jay Gatsby is a loyal and devoted man who is willing to cross oceans and build mansions for his one true love. His belief in realistic ideals and his perseverance greatly influence all the decisions he makes and ultimately direct the course of his life. Gatsby has made a total commitment to a dream, and he does not realize that his dream is hollow. Although his intentions are true, he sometimes has a crude way of getting his point across. When he makes his ideals heard, his actions are wasted on a thoughtless and shallow society. Jay Gatsby effectively embodies a romantic idealism that is sustained and destroyed by the intensity of his own dream. It is also Gatsby’s ideals that blind him to reality.