Nick Carraway In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Nick Carraway is the narrator of The Great Gatsby and tells the events that occurred during the summer of 1920 through his eyes. Nick grew up in the Midwest in a wealthy family that made their money from a hardware business. Nick attended Yale and then proceeded to fight in WW1. Afterwards, Nick was tired of his life in the Midwest, so he decided to move to New York and pursue the bond business. Nick moves into a small cottage in West Egg, and is neighbor’s with Jay Gatsby. Daisy, Nick’s cousin and her husband Tom live across the bay at East Egg. Nick is connected to both Tom and Gatsby. Throughout the novel Nick narrates the major conflict between Gatsby and Tom and their fight for Daisy. Initially, Nick is a spectator in the main action, …show more content…

The major conflict in The Great Gatsby is the fight for Daisy between Gatsby and Tom. Nick becomes involved in this conflict and chooses to side with Gatsby. As a result there are several instances in the novel where Gatsby is praised and Tom is looked down upon. In Chapter 1, when Nick initially meets Tom he describes him as “a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward……..It was a body capable of enormous leverage---a cruel body” (Fitzgerald 7). Before the readers even get to know Tom, Nick already describes him as arrogant, aggressive, and cruel. As the narrator it is Nick’s job to explain the physical appearance of each of the characters; however, with Tom Nick injects his personal opinion within his description, He paints Tom as the enemy before their is even any real conflict in the novel. This is because Nick is bias against Tom and hopes to the readers share his dislike of Tom. Additionally, Nick shows his bias in the way he favors Gatsby over the other characters. After Gatsby finally revealed to Nick his shady business and the secrets he has kept from Nick, Nick still tells “they're a rotten crowd,..... You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together” (Fitzgerald 154). Gatsby has been lying to Nick the entire time about who he is and tries to steal a married man’s wife, yet Nick still feels drawn to Gatsby and continues to take his side. Nick does not view Gatsby as part of the corrupted “New York” crowd, even though Gatsby is associated with them because Nick views Gatsby as the embodiment of the American Dream. Nick is so intrigued by Gatsby’s character and his pursuit of his dream, that he becomes bias towards Gatsby and his actions. One of Nick’s major flaws is that he is a bias

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