IGEngGreatGatsby - Nick as Narrator Nick as Narrator Nick Carraway A Transparent Character or an Unreliable narrator? In his classic novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a powerful story-telling technique rarely seen elsewhere - he uses Nick Carraway, a character within the novel, to serve as its narrator from the inside! This remarkable motif allows readers to personally (as it were) witness the events of the plot as if they are actually inside story. Yet this same motif also raises some questions. Can Nick be trusted to report events as they actually happened? Is he biased by his own prejudices and emotional responses to the events he narrates? Overall, is Nick a good narrator? 1. Nick as a Character2. Reliable vs. Unreliable﻿3. Arguments About Nick ﻿﻿1. Nick as a Character Carraway is a young man of about thirty, born and raised in the Middle West. Some time after returning from service in the first World War, he went out east to New York to seek his fortune in the bond selling business.

While there he gets caught up in an extramarital affair between his second cousin Daisy Buchanan and his wealthy neighbour Jay Gatsby and even enters into a romantic relationship with Jordan Baker, a woman of questionable moral character. After experiencing all the depravity in the East Coast (orgies, adultery, and murder), he discovers that the lifestyle he really wanted to live was that of Minnesota with its traditional morality. Thus Nick plays not only the role of a narrator but of a character as well, as he intera Nick's internal conflict cts with other people in the text and even changes over the course of the story. In the beginning of The Great Gatsby Nick seems to be one of the main characters in the story, but as the novel progresses and the actual main characters enter on stage, Nick is seen as having more of a secondary role instead of the primary role with which he started. Nick is split between what he really likes and what he dislikes. He likes the fast-paced movement of New York and the East Coast but he finds the life style harsh and damaging to himself along with others. This conflict is symbolized by Nick's relationship with Jordan Baker. He is attracted to her sophistication, but her lack of honesty unsettles him.

Nick enjoys New York for the most part until he sees first hand the unraveling of Jay Gatsby's dream, which leads to catastrophe and sudden death as a reward for the deceptive and adulterous sin by which he attained that dream. In the end, Nick realizes that the fast-paced life of New York is a facade for its lack of morality. ﻿2. Nick as a Narrator: ﻿How reliable a narrator is Nick Carraway?﻿﻿ Nick Carraway is not a reliable narrator because:﻿ ﻿ 1. He cannot give an accurate account of what has happened between Gatsby and Daisy before he met them. To make up for his lack of information, he turns to other sources such as Jordan Baker and even Gatsby himself. At various points in the novel, Nick's conversations with other characters serve to inform the reader about events that took place before Nick's involvement in the story. In Chapter IV, Nick listens to Jordan Baker describe the history of the romance between Jay Gatsby and Daisy. There is a disadvantage to hearing this story through Jordan's voice: she is not a very honest character. As a matter of fact, she is “incurably dishonest” (p.58) according to Nick.

Is Jordan a reliable source for this information? One can't be sure, as Nick merely states what has been told without knowing whether or not it is the truth. 2. His feelings towards Jay Gatsby change throughout the novel. He is first interested in his neighbor because of the mysterious atmosphere he receives. Then, he disapproves of Gatsby as Gatsby’s true character is revealed. By the end of the novel, Nick is fascinated with him. Nick's opinion of Gatsby may colour his narration and therefore disort the reader's view of him. Yet one cannot be sure whether this distorted view leads him or her to view Gatsby as better or as worse than he really is. 3. He is too deeply involved in events and relationships. Therefore he is biased; he is drawn to be more sympathetic towards Gatsby, and negative and sarcastic towards Tom Buchanan because of Tom’s oppressive attitude towards him. Nick’s positive attitude towards Gatsby is well illustrated by this quote: “They’re a rotten crowd...You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.” (p.154). Here, Nick compliments Gatsby and places him over the normal crowd. On the other hand, he is not very approving or understanding of Tom Buchanan.

He describes him of conveying an “impression of fractiousness” (p.7). Nick’s contrasting views towards two main characters may have influenced the way he describes the events. 4. He is not always rational and objective, since he is a human. Moreover, Nick loses his senses when he becomes drunk at Tom and Myrtle’s party. The account that he gives during this time, which is most of Chapter III, may be extremely inaccurate because of his drunkenness. 5. Nick himself is going through an internal conflict. How can he, then, give an accurate, unbiased account of what is going on in other people’s lives? We can see that he is struggling between two contrasting lifestyles—the pleasure-oriented,fast-paced life of New York and the conventional life of his home where morality is still valued—which is symbolized through his relationship with Jordan Baker. Although not expressed, it is possible that he is concerned with his own problems so that he cannot afford to think through the events and other people. 6. He does indeed judge people despite his statement that he is "inclined to reserve judgments" (p.1).

Nick is a smug, self-righteous man who says “I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known” (p.59). Many of the descriptions he gives of people and events may be based on his prejudices and judgments. Nick Carraway is a Reliable Narrator because:﻿ 1. He is in the perfect position for narrating the novel. He is the next-door neighbor of Gatsby and a second cousin to Daisy. He also met Tom Buchanan at his college. Nick is the character who links everyone in place and can offer an eyewitness account of most of the events that happen to the three main characters. Therefore, he serves well as a reliable, objective narrator. 2. The unjudgemental nature he has obtained from his father is another factor that makes him an impartial narrator. Nick is tolerant and a good listener, so the description he gives of each event and character is highly analytical and less biased than other people may be. 3. He is not the only one talking. If he were the only one talking, some might suspect the events to be made up by Nick himself. However, there are other people who tell Nick about the past and their emotions—Jordan and Gatsby.

Therefore, Nick’s comment about how Gatsby feels toward Daisy is not entirely his imagination. 4. He is usually the one who observes, not the one that takes the initiative. Nick is rather passive and follows the flow, rather than begin something. Because of this attitude, the story he tells is not self-centered and based on careful observation, without the attempt to justify himself for what he has done. 5. He tells the readers some rumors concerning Gatsby without expressing a strong opinion on them. Nick simply repeats what people say about the mysterious nouveau-riche neighbor now settled in West Egg. By doing so, he provides the readers with different views of Gatsby. He is being fairly objective. 6. This novel is a flashback from Nick's memory written at least two years after Gatsby’s death, as he clearly states at the beginning of Chapter IX. He has the privilege of hindsight at this point, and most of his emotions and bias about the characters may have died away with the time. Therefore, we can say he is writing this from a neutral viewpoint. "Structure and Narration in “The Great Gatsby”." SkyMinds. Web. 5 Dec. 2010. < >. 3.

Arguments About Nick: What do critics see in Nick Carraway? Critics are divided in their opinion of Nick Carraway Building on what was mentioned above in the first section, what are the different views on Nick? The Great Gatsby Narration style View 1: Some critics have praised Fitzgerald for the cunning narrative, and many have looked at The Great Gatsby as third person limited using first person. This means that Fitzgerald uses Nick as a character in the book to describe the events while using a first person view. Nick cannot see everything, but obtains a third person limited view through other people’s witness. Some have commented that Fitzgerald's ambition for The Great Gatsby was to "write something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple, plus, intricately patterned." Many, such as H.L. Mencken, have been impressed with Fitzgerald for writing such a sophisticated novel. -- Critics purely enjoy the style Fitzgerald used through Nick. View 2: A small number of critics have said that the narrative style of The Great Gatsby is unnecessary. The third person limited in the first person is distracting to the readers and confusing. Instead of focusing on the "main" character, readers are directed to focus on Nick and his feelings.

Also some have noted that many events in the novel are incoherent, disconnected, and plainly random. Although there are a few “good” symbols, most events are meaningless, one critic suggests. Nick Carraway | The Great Gatsby Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia [Source] Nicholas "Nick" Carraway is the main character and narrator of F. Scott Fitzgerald 's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby . He is a young man from Minnesota who, after being educated at Yale and fighting in World War I, goes to New York City to learn the bond business. After moving to West Egg, Nick quickly befriends his next-door neighbor, the mysterious Jay Gatsby . As Daisy Buchanan ’s cousin, he facilitates the rekindling of the romance between her and Gatsby. Biography Edit Nick Carraway was born in 1892 in Minnesota, Middle-West of the United States, as the son of a well situated family. His grand uncle had started the family’s hardware business in 1851. He went to elementary, middle and high school in the Middle-West. After that he was sent to Yale University by his family.

Nick was sent to France, when the United States entered the Great War in 1917, in order to fulfill his military service. After this time, in 1922, he decided to move to New York to learn the bond business, because the war had changed his perspective of the world. The rural narrow mindedness was not his world anymore. In West Egg, a district of Long Island, he rented a small house, and became a neighbor of the mysterious Jay Gatsby . Best Character Analysis: Nick Carraway – The Great Gatsby Best Character Analysis: Nick Carraway – The Great Gatsby Nick Carraway is The Great Gatsby’s narrator, but he isn’t the protagonist (main character). This makes Nick himself somewhat tricky to observe, since we see the whole novel through his eyes. How can you watch the narrator? This difficulty is compounded by the fact that Nick is an unreliable narrator – basically, a narrator that doesn’t always tell us the truth about what’s happening. In this post we will explore what we objectively know about Nick, what he does in the novel, his famous lines, common essay topics/discussion topics about Nick, and finally some FAQs about Mr. Carraway.

Quotes about and by Nick Nick as a narrator FAQ clarifying confusing points about Nick Quick Note on Our Citations Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. Nick Carraway's Background Nick grew up in the “middle West,” (what we call the Midwest), in a wealthy family that was “something of a clan” (1.5). His family made their money from a wholesale hardware business his grandfather’s brother began after sending a substitute to fight for him in the Civil War. Nick attended Yale, like his father, and then fought in WWI.

Upon his return, he found the Midwest incredibly boring and so set off for New York to become a bond salesman: “I enjoyed the counter-raid so thoroughly that I came back restless. Instead of being the warm center of the world the middle-west now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe—so I decided to go east and learn the bond business” (1.6). Of course, we later find out that Nick’s also getting away from a woman who expects that they’re getting married, but Nick downplays this fact in his narration, which is one of our clues to his dishonesty. To see how Nick's background intersects with the stories of the other characters in the novel, check out our Great Gatsby timeline . Nick's Actions in the Novel This is a summary of everything Nick does during the novel, leaving out flashbacks he hears from other characters. (For a complete summary of the plot, check out our book summary !) At the beginning of The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway takes up residence in West Egg, in a small house next to Gatsby’s enormous mansion. The year is 1922, the stock market is booming, and Nick has found work as a bond salesman.

In Chapter 1 , he is invited to his cousin Daisy Buchanan’s home to have dinner with her and her husband Tom, an old college acquaintance of his. There he meets Jordan Baker, Daisy’s friend and a professional golfer. In Chapter 2 , while hanging out with Tom he ends up being dragged first to George Wilson’s garage to meet Tom’s mistress Myrtle Wilson, and then to the apartment Tom keeps for Myrtle in Manhattan. They invite over a bunch of friends and a drunken party ensues. Nick witnesses some of Tom’s ugliest behavior, including his physical abuse of Myrtle. In Chapter 3 , Nick is invited to attend one of Jay Gatsby’s famous parties. There, he finally meets Gatsby, and also sees Jordan again. After seeing Jordan again at that party, they begin to date, and also does his best to win over her old Aunt, who controls her money. Once he starts dating Jordan he vows to stop sending weekly letters to the woman back in the Midwest. (Though, in typical Nick fashion, he never confirms that he stops sending the letters.) He also mentions a brief affair with a woman in his office that he lets fizzle out. After meeting Gatsby in Chapter 3 they begin spending time together.

In Chapter 4 they drive to Manhattan together. At first he’s pretty wary of Gatsby and his story. This wariness of Gatsby is compounded by Nick’s poor (and very anti-Semitic!) impression of Meyer Wolfsheim, one of Gatsby’s associates. Later in Chapter 4, Nick meets up with Jordan in the plaza hotel and she tells him about Daisy and Gatsby’s romantic history (which she heard all about at the previous party). Nick agrees to arrange a meeting between Daisy and Gatsby, which occurs in Chapter 5 . In Chapter 6 , Nick goes to Gatsby’s house and witnesses an awkward exchange between Gatsby, a couple named Sloane, and Tom Buchanan. The trio had stopped by Gatsby’s house and Gatsby misreads how serious they are about having dinner together. Later, Tom and Daisy attend one of Gatsby’s parties. Tom is immediately suspicious about where Gatsby gets his money while Daisy has a bad time, looking down her nose at the affair. Gatsby confides in Nick afterwards that he wants to repeat his past with Daisy. In Chapter 7 , Nick is invited along to a lunch party at Tom and Daisy Buchanan’s house, along with Gatsby and Jordan.

Gatsby is hoping Daisy will tell Tom that she never loved him and is leaving him for Gatsby, but starts to feel nervous doing that in Tom’s house. Daisy is anxious as well and suggests they all go to Manhattan. Nick rides to Manhattan with Tom and Jordan, in Gatsby’s yellow car. They stop by the Wilson’s garage, where he learns that George has discovered Myrtle’s affair, but not the man she is cheating on him with. In Manhattan, the group rents a room at the Plaza hotel. A bunch of secrets come out, including the fact that Tom knows Gatsby is a bootlegger. Daisy tries to say she never loved Tom but can’t stand by the statement, Tom, satisfied he’s won, tells Gatsby to take Daisy back home in his yellow car while he drives back with Nick and Jordan. Perhaps the least subtle car in the history of cars. On the way back, they come along Myrtle Wilson’s death scene: she has been hit by the yellow car. Later that night, Nick stays outside of the Buchanans’ house while waiting for a cab back to West Egg, too disgusted with their behavior to go inside.

He sees Gatsby waiting outside – he wants to make sure Daisy is alright. Meanwhile, Nick spots Tom and Daisy inside looking like co-conspirators. In Chapter 8 , Nick goes to work but can’t concentrate. Jordan calls him to say where she’s staying, but he’s disgusted she doesn’t seem shaken by Myrtle’s death and they fight and break up. Nick later spends time with Gatsby in his mansion and learns his whole life story. The next day, Gatsby is shot and killed by George Wilson (and George kills himself). In Chapter 9 , Nick struggles to arrange a funeral for Gatsby, which in the end is only attended by Gatsby’s father and Owl Eyes. Disgusted with the morally lawless life in the East, he decides to retreat back home to the Midwest. Nick Carraway Quotes In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. "Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." (1.1-2) The first lines establish Nick as thoughtful, thorough, privileged, and judgmental.

This line also sets the tone for the first few pages, where Nick tells us about his background and tries to encourage the reader to trust his judgment. While he comes off as thoughtful and observant, we also get the sense he is judgmental and a bit snobby. To see more analysis of why the novel begins how it does, and what Nick's father's advice means for him as a character and as a narrator, read our article on the beginning of The Great Gatsby . When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction—Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. (1.4) Another quote from the first few pages of the novel, this line sets up the novel’s big question: why does Nick become so close to Gatsby, given that Gatsby represents everything he hates?

It also hints to the reader that Nick will come to care about Gatsby deeply while everyone else will earn his “unaffected scorn.” While this doesn’t give away the plot, it does help the reader be a bit suspicious of everyone but Gatsby going into the story. 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. (3.171) This is likely the moment when you start to suspect Nick doesn’t always tell the truth – if everyone “suspects” themselves of one of the cardinal virtues (the implication being they aren’t actually virtuous), if Nick says he’s honest, perhaps he’s not? Furthermore, if someone has to claim that they are honest, that often suggests that they do things that aren’t exactly trustworthy. Suddenly I wasn't thinking of Daisy and Gatsby any more but of this clean, hard, limited person who dealt in universal skepticism and who leaned back jauntily just within the circle of my arm.

A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort of heady excitement: "There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired." (4.164) Nick’s interactions with Jordan are some of the only places where we get a sense of any vulnerability or emotion from Nick. In particular, Nick seems quite attracted to Jordan and being with her makes a phrase “beat” in his ears with “heady excitement.” If there are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired, it would appear Nick is happy to be the pursuer at this particular moment. "They're a rotten crowd," I shouted across the lawn. "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together." (8.45) This line, which comes after Myrtle’s death and Tom, Daisy, and Jordan’s cold reaction to it, establishes that Nick has firmly come down on Gatsby’s side in the conflict between the Buchanans and Gatsby. It also shows Nick’s disenchantment with the whole wealthy east coast crowd and also that, at this point, he is devoted to Gatsby and determined to protect his legacy. This hints to us that our once seemingly impartial narrator is now seeing Gatsby more generously than he sees others.

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 one fine morning—— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. (9.153-4) This is Nick’s conclusion to his story, which can be read as cynical, hopeful, or realistic, depending on how you interpret it. You can read in detail about these lines in our article about the novel’s ending . Nick Carraway Character Analysis Nick is the narrator, but he is not omniscient (he can’t see everything), and he’s also very human and flawed. In other words, he’s an unreliable narrator, sometimes because he’s not present for a certain event, other times because he presents the story out of order, and finally because he sometimes obscures the truth.

(It takes most students two reads of the novel to even catch the fact that Nick has a woman waiting for him back in the Midwest.) Because of his unreliable narrator status, the central questions many teachers try to get at with Nick is to explore his role in the story, how the story would be different without his narration, and how he compares to Gatsby. In short, you often have to analyze Nick as a character, not the narrator. This can be tricky because you have to compare Nick’s narration with his dialogue, his actions, and how he chooses to tell the story. You also have to realize that when you’re analyzing the other characters, you’re doing that based on information from Nick, which may or may not be reliable. Basically, nothing we hear in the novel can be completely accurate since it comes through the (necessarily) flawed point of view of a single person. Anyway, the best way to analyze Nick himself is to choose a few passages to close read, and use what you observe from close-reading to build a larger argument. Pay close attention tomoments, especially Nick’s encounters with Jordan, that give you a glimpse at Nick’s emotions and vulnerabilities. We will demonstrate this in action below!

Pictured: the rose-tinted glasses Nick apparently starts to see Gatsby through. Nick as Narrator Why is Nick the narrator and not Gatsby? Since Nick gives a roughly chronological account of the summer of 1922, we get to see the development of Gatsby from mysterious party-giver to love-struck dreamer to tragic figure (who rose from humble roots and became rich, all in a failed attempt to win over Daisy). If Gatsby was the narrator, it would be harder for Fitzgerald to show that progression, unless Gatsby relayed his life story way out of order, which might have been hard to accomplish from Gatsby’s POV. The novel would have also been a much more straightforward story, probably with less suspense: Gatsby was born poor in South Dakota, became friends with Dan Cody, learned how to act rich, lost Cody’s inheritance, fell in love with Daisy, fought in the war, became determined to win her back, turned to crime. In short, Fitzgerald could have told the same story, but it would have had much less suspense and mystery, plus it would have been much harder to relay the aftermath of Gatsby’s death.

Unless the point of view abruptly switched after Gatsby was shot, the reader would have no idea what exactly happened to Gatsby, what happened to George Wilson, and finally wouldn’t be able to see Gatsby’s funeral. Plus, with a narrator other than Gatsby himself, it’s easier to analyze Gatsby as a character. Nick is very observant, and he is able to notice things about Gatsby, like the way he misses social cues , subtle shifts in his mood, and even smaller details like his arresting smile. We probably wouldn’t have seen these facets of Gatsby if Gatsby himself were telling the story. Finally, since Nick is both “within and without” the New York elite, he is an excellent ticket in to the reader – he can both introduce us to certain facets of that world while also sharing in much of our shock and skepticism. Nick is just like the “new student at school” or “new employee” trope that so many movies and TV shows use as a way to introduce viewers into a new world. With Gatsby as narrator, it would be harder to observe all the details of the New York social elite. Nick Carraway: Unreliable Narrator?

In many ways, Nick is an unreliable narrator: he’s dishonest about his own shortcomings (downplaying his affairs with other women, as well as his alcohol use), and he doesn’t tell us everything he knows about the characters upfront (for example, he waits until Chapter 6 to tell us the truth about Gatsby’s origins, even though he knows the whole time he’s telling the story, and even then glosses over unflattering details like the details of Gatsby’s criminal enterprises), and he’s often harsh in his judgments (and additionally anti-Semitic, racist, and misogynistic). As a reader, you should be skeptical of Nick because of how he opens the story, namely that he spends a few pages basically trying to prove himself a reliable source (see our beginning summary for more on this), and later, how he characterizes himself as “one of the few honest people I have ever known” (3.171). After all, does an honest person really have to defend their own honesty? However, despite how judgmental he is, Nick is a very observant person, especially in regard to other people, their body language, and social situations.

For example, in Chapter 6, Nick immediately senses Gatsby isn’t really welcome at the Sloanes’ house before Tom says it outright. Nick is also able to accurately predict Daisy won’t leave Tom at the end of Chapter 1, after observing her standing in the door with Tom: “I was confused and a little disgusted as I drove away. It seemed to me that the thing for Daisy to do was to rush out of the house, child in arms—but apparently there were no such intentions in her head” (1.150). If only Jay could have seen Daisy’s intentions so clearly! We also come away with a very clear understanding of the messy climax (Myrtle’s death at the hands of Daisy in Gatsby’s car, George Wilson’s psychological decay and murder/suicide of Gatsby), since Nick tells the events from his point of view but also from Michaelis’s, who owns a coffee shop near George Wilson’s garage. In short, Nick delegates to another narrator when he knows he doesn’t have enough information, and makes sure the reader comes away with a clear understanding of the fundamental events of the tragedy.

In short, you shouldn’t believe everything Nick says, especially his snobbier asides, but you can take his larger characterizations and version of events seriously. But as you read, try to separate Nick’s judgments about people from his observations! Is Nick actually the hero of the story? A hero, or protagonist, is generally the character whose actions propel the story forward, who the story focuses on, and they are usually tested or thwarted by an antagonist. So in the most traditional sense, Gatsby is the hero – he drives the action of the story by getting Jordan and Nick to reintroduce him to Daisy (which leads to the affair, confrontation in Manhattan, the death of Myrtle, and then the murder-suicide), he goes up against an antagonist of sorts (Tom), and the story ends with his death. Gatsby’s story is thus a cynical take on the traditional rags-to-riches story. However, some people see the protagonist as also the person who changes the most in the course of a story.

In this case, you might argue that since Nick changes a lot during the novel (see below), while Gatsby during the story itself doesn’t change dramatically (his big character changes come before the chronology of the novel), that Nick is in fact the protagonist. Nick’s story is a take on the coming of age narrative – he even has an important birthday (30) in the novel! Basically, if you think the protagonist is the character who propels the action of the story, and someone who has an antagonist, it’s Gatsby. But if you think the protagonist is the person who changes the most, you could argue Nick is the hero. Nick as a Character We never get a physical description of Nick, so don't blame yourself if your mental image of him is bland and amorphous like this fellow. How does Nick change throughout the novel? Nick starts out naïve and hopeful about his summer, and his future in New York more generally, as revealed through his narration (this optimism about his own life is mixed up with his sharp, snarky characterizations of others, which remain mostly the same all through the novel).

And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees—just as things grow in fast movies—I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer. There was so much to read for one thing and so much fine health to be pulled down out of the young breath-giving air. (1.11-12) (emphasis added) As the summer goes on, he meets someone wildly more hopeful than he is – Gatsby, of course – and he begins to be more cynical in how he views his own life in comparison, realizing that there are certain memories and feelings he can no longer access. Through all he said, even through his appalling sentimentality, I was reminded of something—an elusive rhythm, a fragment of lost words, that I had heard somewhere a long time ago. For a moment a phrase tried to take shape in my mouth and my lips parted like a dumb man's, as though there was more struggling upon them than a wisp of startled air. But they made no sound and what I had almost remembered was uncommunicable forever.

(6.135) (emphasis added) Finally, after the deaths of Myrtle, Gatsby, and Wilson, as well as the passing of his thirtieth birthday, Nick is thoroughly disenchanted, cynical, regretful, even angry, as he tries to protect Gatsby’s legacy in the face of an uncaring world, as well as a renewed awareness of his own mortality. "I'm thirty," I said. "I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor." She didn't answer. Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away. (9.125-6) After Gatsby's death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes' power of correction. (9.127) On the last night, with my trunk packed and my car sold to the grocer, I went over and looked at that huge incoherent failure of a house once more. On the white steps an obscene word, scrawled by some boy with a piece of brick, stood out clearly in the moonlight and I erased it, drawing my shoe raspingly along the stone.

(9.150) In short, as much as this is a novel about Gatsby’s failed dream/love for Daisy, you could also argue it tells the story of Nick’s loss of hope and innocence as he enters his 30s. How does Nick feel about Gatsby? Why does he come to like him so much? Nick goes from initially taken with Gatsby, to skeptical, to admiring, even idealizing him, over the course of the book. When he first meets Gatsby in Chapter 3, he is drawn in by his smile and immediately senses a peer and friend, before of course Gatsby reveals himself as THE Jay Gatsby: He smiled understandingly—much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced—or seemed to face—the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.

(3.73) In Chapter 4, Nick is highly skeptical of Gatsby’s story about his past, although he is somewhat impressed by the medal from “little Montenegro” (4.32). He looked at me sideways—and I knew why Jordan Baker had believed he was lying. He hurried the phrase "educated at Oxford," or swallowed it or choked on it as though it had bothered him before. And with this doubt his whole statement fell to pieces and I wondered if there wasn't something a little sinister about him after all. (4.24) He also seems increasingly skeptical after his encounter with Meyer Wolfshiem, who Nick describes very anti-Semitically. When Wolfshiem vouches for Gatsby’s “fine breeding,” (4.99) Nick seems even more suspicious of Gatsby’s origins. In Chapter 5, as Nick observes the reunion between Gatsby and Daisy, he first sees Gatsby as much more human and flawed (especially in the first few minutes of the encounter, when Gatsby is incredibly awkward), and then sees Gatsby has transformed and “literally glowed” (5.87).

As Nick watches Gatsby blossom in Daisy’s presence, I think Nick himself is won over by Gatsby. Notice how warm Nick’s description is: But there was a change in Gatsby that was simply confounding. He literally glowed; without a word or a gesture of exultation a new well-being radiated from him and filled the little room (5.87) In Chapter 6, Nick honestly and frankly observes how Gatsby is snubbed by the Sloanes, but he seems more like he’s pitying Gatsby than making fun of him. It almost seems like he’s trying to protect Gatsby by cutting off the scene just as Gatsby comes out the door, coat in hand, after the Sloanes have coldly left him behind: Tom and I shook hands, the rest of us exchanged a cool nod and they trotted quickly down the drive, disappearing under the August foliage just as Gatsby with hat and light overcoat in hand came out the front door.

(6.59) By Chapter 7, during the confrontation in the hotel, Nick is firmly on Gatsby’s side, to the point that he is elated when Gatsby reveals that he did, in fact, attend Oxford but didn’t graduate: I wanted to get up and slap him on the back. I had one of those renewals of complete faith in him that I'd experienced before. (7.221) As the rest of the novel plays out, Nick becomes more admiring of Gatsby, even as he comes to dislike the Buchanans (and Jordan, by extension) more and more. Why exactly Nick becomes so taken with Gatsby is, I think, up to the reader. In my reading, Nick, as someone who rarely steps outside of social boundaries and rarely gets “carried away” with love or emotion (see how coldly he ends not one but three love affairs in the book!), is admiring and even somewhat jealous of Gatsby, who is so determined to build a certain life for himself that he manages to transform the poor James Gatz into the infamous, wealthy Jay Gatsby.

On the last night, with my trunk packed and my car sold to the grocer, I went over and looked at that huge incoherent failure of a house once more. On the white steps an obscene word, scrawled by some boy with a piece of brick, stood out clearly in the moonlight and I erased it, drawing my shoe raspingly along the stone. (9.150) Gatsby’s fate also becomes entangled with Nick’s own increased cynicism, both about his future and life in New York, so he clings to the memory of Gatsby and becomes determined to tell his story. Is Nick Carraway Gay? At first, this might not seem plausible – Nick dates Jordan during the book (and also admits to a few other love affairs with women) and at one point confesses to being “half in love with [Jordan].” So why do people think Nick is gay? First of all, consider the odd moment at the end of Chapter 2 that seems to suggest Nick goes home with Mr. McKee: "Come to lunch some day," he suggested, as we groaned down in the elevator.

"Where?" "Anywhere." "Keep your hands off the lever," snapped the elevator boy. "I beg your pardon," said Mr. McKee with dignity, "I didn't know I was touching it." "All right," I agreed, "I'll be glad to." . . . I was standing beside his bed and he was sitting up between the sheets, clad in his underwear, with a great portfolio in his hands. "Beauty and the Beast . . . Loneliness . . . Old Grocery Horse . . . Brook'n Bridge . . . ." Then I was lying half asleep in the cold lower level of the Pennsylvania Station, staring at the morning "Tribune" and waiting for the four o'clock train. (2.128-136) Nick’s narration is confused and sporadic as he was quite drunk after the party. However, what we do see – the elevator boy chiding him to “keep your hands off the lever” (hint hint wink wink nudge nudge), shortly followed by Nick saying “I was standing beside [Mr. McKee’s bed and he was sitting up between the sheets, clad in his underwear”—seems to pretty strongly suggest a sexual encounter.

And in a novel that is so short and carefully constructed, why add this short scene unless it’s supposed to help us understand Nick? Some people see that scene as a confirmation of Nick’s sexual preference, or at least an indication he’s attracted to men as well as women. However, since this was the 1920s, he couldn’t exactly be out and proud, which is why he would never frankly admit to being attracted to men in his sober narration. So instead, as the theory goes, his love for and attraction to for Gatsby is mirrored through a filter of intense admiration. So, using this reading, The Great Gatsby is narrated by a man suffered from unrequited love. Do you have to take this reading as fact? Not at all. But if you’re curious you can check out a fuller write-up of the “Nick as gay” reading and decide for yourself. Final Questions These are questions students often have about Nick after reading the book, but ones that don’t always come up in classroom discussions or essay topics. Read on if you still have unanswered questions about Nick! Also, be sure to let us know in the comments if you have more questions about Nick! What’s up with Nick and Jordan’s relationship?

Do they actually like each other? Nick says in his opening narration that most people in the east have earned his “unaffected scorn,” so it’s confusing to see him cozy up to Jordan in the next few chapters (1.4). However, keep in mind that scorn is earned over the course of the novel, and Nick writes the opening narration looking back at everything. So before the tragic conclusion, Nick actually is strongly attracted to Jordan and hasn’t yet realized that her attractive skepticism actually means she can be callous and uncaring. Our quote above from Chapter 4, as Nick finds himself attracted to the “hard, clean, limited” Jordan, illustrates that strong initial attraction. But post break-up, do they still feel anything for each other? Their break-up scene is really helpful to analyze to answer this question: "Nevertheless you did throw me over," said Jordan suddenly. "You threw me over on the telephone. I don't give a damn about you now but it was a new experience for me and I felt a little dizzy for a while." We shook hands.

"Oh, and do you remember—" she added, "——a conversation we had once about driving a car?" "Why—not exactly." "You said a bad driver was only safe until she met another bad driver? Well, I met another bad driver, didn't I? I mean it was careless of me to make such a wrong guess. I thought you were rather an honest, straightforward person. I thought it was your secret pride." "I'm thirty," I said. "I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor." She didn't answer. Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away. (9.130-136) Jordan, for her part, seems to admit to having genuinely liked Nick when they break up at the end and was quite hurt.

And Nick, for once, is a mess of emotions: “angry” and “half in love.” So despite Nick’s earlier proclamation that everyone from the east coast is the object of his “unaffected scorn,” it would seem his attachment to Jordan is a bit more complicated: he’s disgusted by some of her behavior and yet still feels a strong attraction to her, strong enough that he’s angry and sorry during their break-up. Of course, if you subscribe to the “Nick loves Gatsby” theory you could chalk much of this scene up to repressed desires, especially Nick’s comment about not wanting to lie to himself. Why does Nick say “you’re better than the whole damn bunch of them”? This statement officially marks Nick’s disillusionment with the East Coast, old money crowd. Remember that this line comes after the car accident, and the scene in the hotel just before that, so he’s just seen Daisy and Tom’s ugliest behavior. Nick is proud of the statement since it was one of the last things he ever got to say to Gatsby. What can be a bit harder to spot is when exactly Nick’s earlier distrust of Gatsby morphed into respect.

I argued above it begins in Chapter 5, when he watches Gatsby’s reunion with Daisy and sees Gatsby transformed and enraptured by love. What’s Next? Nick sets the stage in Chapter 1 by first explaining why he can be trusted as a narrator. Read our summary of Chapter 1 for more analysis as to why Nick’s opening makes him a bit suspicious as a narrator. Want to read more about Nick and Jordan’s relationship? Curious as to why they get together despite their differences in background? Read about love, desire, and relationships in Gatsby for more on their relationship. Did Fitzgerald see himself as more of a Carraway or a Gatsby? Read our history of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life for more on the man behind the book. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score.

Download it for free now: Nick Carraway is gay and in love with Gatsby - Salon.com Wednesday, Jan 9, 2013 6:28 PM UTC Nick Carraway is gay and in love with Gatsby I've read the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic more than any other novel -- and with each reading, I grow more convinced Topics: F. Scott Fitzgerald , literature , Modernism , The Great Gatsby , The Weeklings , Entertainment News This article originally appeared on The Weeklings . I HAVE READ The Great Gatsby more times than any other novel. With each reading, my understanding of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s greatest work deepens, and I pick up something I missed previously. My first time was in high school, when our English class discussed the symbolism of the green light and the eyes on the billboard and the silk shirts in the vast closet. In college, I was drawn to Gatsby as tragic romantic and giver of epic parties of the kind I wanted to throw. After I moved to New York, I read the book again and finally understood its geography. Subsequent readings have been slower, more careful.

I parse the words—there are not many in this masterpiece of economy—and delve into the text in a way I was not capable of as a teenager. I’m reading like a writer, in Francine Prose’s phrase. As an adjunct professor, I always include the novel on my syllabus. My Gatsby lecture was a high point of my three semesters as an adjunct. My reading of the book starts with this premise: Nick Carraway, and not the more dashing eponymous character, is the protagonist of the novel. This is not a hard case to make. It could be argued that the narrator of every first-person novel is the protagonist, even if the book is “about” someone else. Nick is the only character who “changes,” in the way they used to teach in high school, and anyway Gatsby is absent for many of the book’s scenes, including the drawn-out ending (which slow fade, incidentally, will forever doom attempts at cinematic treatment; sorry, Baz). My other premise is less obvious, but no more difficult to argue: Nick is a) gay and b) in love with Gatsby.

Here’s what we know about Nick Carraway, from what he tells us in the first few pages of the book: he was born in 1896, so is about the same age as Fitzgerald; he went to Yale, as his father did before him; he fought in the First World War; he resembles his “hard-boiled” great uncle; his aunts and uncles are worried about him; he is, at age 25-26—his birthday is the summer solstice, and occurs during the action of the book—still single. Reading between the lines, we deduce that there is something unusual about him, something that concerns his family. So far, Nick’s is exactly the profile of a (closeted) gay young man in a prominent Middle Western family in 1922. From here, we look to Nick’s impressions of the various characters—characters that, for many readers, are indelibly rendered. Daisy Buchanan is the Southern belle with whom Gatsby is so desperately in love that he joins the underworld, amasses a small fortune, and ultimately ruins his life. It is safe to assume that a man as shallow as Gatsby would not be drawn to someone unattractive.

There’s a reason Daisy has been played in the movies by fair beauties like Mia Farrow and Carey Mulligan. Yet here is how Nick, a distant enough cousin to lust for her with impunity if he had such impulses, describes her: I looked back at my cousin, who began to ask me questions in her low, thrilling voice. It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again. Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth, but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered “Listen,” a promise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour. Essentially, Daisy, this legendary beauty, this great love of Gatsby’s life…had a nice voice. A voice they later realize sounds like money. (Note that “men who had cared for her” does not imply that Nick was among them.) Next up, the golfer Jordan Baker. Nick’s take: I enjoyed looking at her.

She was a slender, small-breasted girl, with an erect carriage, which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet. Her gray sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming, disconcerted face. We can easily imagine Jordan, a prototype of the modern-day female athlete: sporty, fit, trim, and a bit flirty. Even reading this in high school I came away thinking that she was hot. But Nick doesn’t think so, any more than Humbert Humbert finds Charlotte Haze attractive, although the descriptions of Lolita’s mother suggest that in “real” life, the opposite is true. Also: other than the word small-breasted—which de-emphasizes the golfer’s feminine attributes—this could be a description of a man. Nick spends a lot of time with Jordan during the summer when the story takes place—enough so that she is under the impression that he “threw her over.” But we never hear about this. Jordan Baker does not interest him. He is dating her to try and convince himself that he is attracted to her, this boyish woman, but he is not.

Then Myrtle, who we can also assume, because a wealthy and athletic man like Tom Buchanan could probably have his pick of available women, is easy on the eyes: She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can. Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crêpe-de-chine, contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering. To Tom, Myrtle is the smouldering portrait of voluptuousness, but Nick is not taken with her at all. Granted, he might not be inclined to like his cousin’s husband’s lover, but I find it curious that he’s so sure her dress is made of crêpe-de-chine. Compare the way the women are rendered with this description of Tom Buchanan, someone Nick does not particularly care for: He had changed since his New Haven years. Now he was 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.

Not even the effeminate swank of his riding boots could hide the enormous power of that body — he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage — a cruel body. Daisy is about the voice, Jordan the erect carriage, Myrtle the crêpe-de-chine. Only Tom is given such raw carnality. If you didn’t know you were reading Fitzgerald, you might think that this decidedly erotic description was lifted from Shoshanna Evers ’Enslaved trilogy. I mean, this passage is racy. The bodice-ripping language goes into overdrive when Nick meets his wealthy neighbor Mr. Gatsby for the first time: He smiled understandingly — much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you might come across four or five times in your life. It faced — or seemed to face — the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor.

It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey. Again, if you came across that passage out of context, you would probably conclude it was from a romance novel. If that scene were a cartoon, Cupid would shoot an arrow, music would swell, and Nick’s eyes would turn into giant hearts. What’s that you say? This is all semantics, a matter of language, and you need action to prove that Nick prefers men? Fine, we’ll skip to the part where he hooks up with Mr. McKee. This would be the end of chapter two, before he meets, and falls instantly in love with, Gatsby. He is in Manhattan with Tom, who wanted Nick to meet “his girl,” Myrtle. They are at Myrtle’s apartment with her sister Catherine (“Her eyebrows had been plucked and then drawn on again at a more rakish angle,” we are told, “but the efforts of nature toward the restoration of the old alignment gave a blurred air to her face.”) and some neighbors, Mr. and Mrs.

McKee—the former being “a pale, feminine man.” They spend the afternoon together and drink into the night—it is, Nick says, one of the few times in his life he has drunk to excess. There are two couples plus Nick and Catherine, and that arrangement suggests that she is who he should wind up with, but at the end of the night, after Tom breaks Myrtle’s nose, here’s what goes down: Mr. McKee awoke from his doze and started in a daze toward the door. When he had gone halfway he turned around and stared at the scene—his wife and Catherine scolding and consoling as they stumbled here and there among the crowded furniture with articles of aid….Then Mr. McKee turned and continued on out the door. Taking my hat from the chandelier, I followed. “Come to lunch someday,” he suggested, as we groaned down in the elevator. “Where?” The Great Gatsby Narrator Point of View Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?

First Person (Peripheral Narrator) Nick Carraway is our first-person narrator, but he's not the center of the story—and that makes him a peripheral narrator, someone who's always on the outside looking in. He tells us at the beginning of the first chapter that "I'm inclined to reserve all judgements, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores" (1.3). Translate? People like to tell Nick their stories. And boy do we get stories: Gatsby's story, of course, but also Tom's story, Jordan's story, Daisy's story, and even the story of the Wilsons. Ultimately, Nick's major character trait – reserving judgment – allows him to be almost an "invisible" narrator, similar to a traditional third-person omniscient point of view. Which leaves us with a question (or three): why choose a first-person narrator at all? Why not just a third-person and be done with it? And how "invisible" and "non-judgmental" is Nick, really?

Nick Carraway in the Great Gatsby: Character Analysis | Study.com Nick Carraway in the Great Gatsby: Character Analysis Watch short & fun videos Start Your Free Trial Today Instructor: Natarielle Powell Add to Add to Add to Want to watch this again later? Log in or sign up to add this lesson to a Custom Course. Custom Courses are courses that you create from Study.com lessons. Use them just like other courses to track progress, access quizzes and exams, and share content. Teachers Organize and share selected lessons with your class. Make planning easier by creating your own custom course. Students Create a new course from any lesson page or your dashboard. From any lesson page: Click "Add to" located below the video player and follow the prompts to name your course and save your lesson. From your dashboard: Click on the "Custom Courses" tab, then click "Create course". Next, go to any lesson page and begin adding lessons. Edit your Custom Course directly from your dashboard. Personalize: Name your Custom Course and add an optional description or learning objective. Organize: Create chapters to group lesson within your course. Remove and reorder chapters and lessons at any time. Share your Custom Course or assign lessons and chapters.

Teacher Edition: Share or assign lessons and chapters by clicking the "Teacher" tab on the lesson or chapter page you want to assign. Students' quiz scores and video views will be trackable in your "Teacher" tab. Premium Edition: You can share your Custom Course by copying and pasting the course URL. Only Study.com members will be able to access the entire course. Nick Carraway, the narrator of the classic novel, ''The Great Gatsby'', plays several roles that connect all of the other characters to the title character, Jay Gatsby. Read on to find out more. Plot Overview Written and published in 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby has become a literary classic enjoyed by readers of all ages. The story is narrated by Nick Carraway, and it takes place in two different parts of New York called East Egg and West Egg. One part of town is quiet and serene while the other boasts loud parties, loose women, gambling, and other raucous behavior. Who is Nick Carraway? Nick Carraway is a college graduate from the Midwest who has moved to New York to work in the bond business.

He is a bit impressionable and naive, but his curious and observing nature helps him carefully weigh different situations. One of those situations has to do with his new neighbor, Jay Gatsby, and whether Nick should believe who Gatsby says he is or who others say he is. The novel begins with Nick thinking back on advice that his father gave him as a boy. His father encouraged him to be careful about criticizing others and reminded him that he has had some advantages that others have not had. It may be that this advantage has something to do with social class and wealth, but this is never clearly addressed. However, the advice that Nick has pondered for years makes him study people, and we learn of the other characters and their behavior through his thoughtful observations. Nick interacts with each of the characters in a different way. He is the connector, the cousin, the confidant, and the friend. The Connector Nick Carraway is the character that connects all of the other characters together. There are four main characters in this novel: Nick Carraway, Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby. Nick and Tom knew each other in college, and Tom marries Daisy, who is Nick's cousin, twice removed.

Jay Gatsby met and fell in love with Daisy when he was in the army, and he is the next-door neighbor to Nick. These four characters are also connected by a lie about who really killed Myrtle Wilson (a woman that Tom Buchannan is having an affair with). Nick becomes involved when he begins to search for the truth about the incident. The Cousin Nick is the second cousin twice removed of Daisy Buchanan. Twice removed means that there are two generations between them. However, Daisy and Nick do not seem to be very far apart in age. The Confidant Many of the main characters confide in Nick - most notably Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Tom is married to Daisy, and Gatsby is having an affair with Daisy. Both men are at odds with each other, and they find comfort and perhaps justification of their behavior in Nick's confidence. Tom Buchanan introduces Nick to his mistress, Myrtle Wilson, a sassy vixen who is the total opposite of Daisy. He even takes Nick to his private apartment in the city where he throws wild parties.

We see the events of the party through Nick's eyes, and although he says his father taught him not to be critical, we do get the feeling that the behavior of Tom and the party participants (Myrtle, her sister and her husband, and another couple) is a bit much for the conservative Nick Carraway. × Narrator | Novelguide Novelguide Narrator The Great Gatsby The Role Of Nick Carraway as Narrator The novel "The Great Gatsby" can be best described as a narration of a series of events as viewed through the eyes of an important central figure (Nick Carraway) around which a story takes form. A general lack of importance associated with the part a narrator holds, is a generalized notion deduced from the analysis of most novels. However, a reevaluation of the narrative process played by Nick Carraway is required when it comes to the novel, "The Great Gatsby" as such a concept holds little truth within the domains of this work of literature. The process of portraying virtually all physical and emotional actions and the inferred establishment of a moral norm are two of the main perspectives achieved through the author's usage of narration. Nick's vital role is to enhance the flow of the novel.

Physical and emotional actions/reactions of characters within a story reflect their individual personality and help the author create an image of a certain person or group of people within the mind of the reader. Nick who is endowed with a keen sense of observation is able to reveal the nature of each character. Through Nick, the reader is able to sense the shallowness of Tom Buchanan's emotions as well as his harsh attitude. The brutality of Tom towards his mistress, Myrtle Wilson, as described by Nick (page 37, line 5 - below) is a vivid example of this. In contrast, we see Gatsby, as being a physically and emotionally reserved person (but not when it comes to Daisy). His general hospitality and mysteriousness as described by Nick creates an air of splendor and establishes him as a source of profound curiosity in the minds of others. It should be noted that unlike most other narrative description of events, Nick's role in "The Great Gatsby" extends even further as he also describes the characters personalities. Nick 's first person viewpoint allows the reader to see how the novel is being constructed as well as participate in his sense of discovery as the separate strands of the narrative take on meaning.

He also has a very trustworthy personality and his physical proximity to the main characters serve him ideally to know details of the story from many points of view and observe much of the action first hand. It is through such an analysis that the true importance of the narrator in the novel is realized. Through physical and emotional observations by Nick, we are allowed a general feel for each character. A greater depth is also added to each personality as the reader distinguishes between the moral standard Nick holds and the morality of those around him. The duality of Nick's role in the novel is thus a clear indication of the importance he holds in the progress of the story. SparkNotes: The Great Gatsby: Character List The Great Gatsby Plot Overview Analysis of Major Characters Nick Carraway - The novel’s narrator, Nick is a young man from Minnesota who, after being educated at Yale and fighting in World War I, goes to New York City to learn the bond business. Honest, tolerant, and inclined to reserve judgment, Nick often serves as a confidant for those with troubling secrets. After moving to West Egg, a fictional area of Long Island that is home to the newly rich, Nick quickly befriends his next-door neighbor, the mysterious Jay Gatsby.

As Daisy Buchanan’s cousin, he facilitates the rekindling of the romance between her and Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is told entirely through Nick’s eyes; his thoughts and perceptions shape and color the story. Read an in-depth analysis of Nick Carraway. Jay Gatsby - The title character and protagonist of the novel, Gatsby is a fabulously wealthy young man living in a Gothic mansion in West Egg. He is famous for the lavish parties he throws every Saturday night, but no one knows where he comes from, what he does, or how he made his fortune. As the novel progresses, Nick learns that Gatsby was born James Gatz on a farm in North Dakota; working for a millionaire made him dedicate his life to the achievement of wealth. When he met Daisy while training to be an officer in Louisville, he fell in love with her. Nick also learns that Gatsby made his fortune through criminal activity, as he was willing to do anything to gain the social position he thought necessary to win Daisy. Nick views Gatsby as a deeply flawed man, dishonest and vulgar, whose extraordinary optimism and power to transform his dreams into reality make him “great” nonetheless. Read an in-depth analysis of Jay Gatsby.

Daisy Buchanan - Nick’s cousin, and the woman Gatsby loves. As a young woman in Louisville before the war, Daisy was courted by a number of officers, including Gatsby. She fell in love with Gatsby and promised to wait for him. However, Daisy harbors a deep need to be loved, and when a wealthy, powerful young man named Tom Buchanan asked her to marry him, Daisy decided not to wait for Gatsby after all. Now a beautiful socialite, Daisy lives with Tom across from Gatsby in the fashionable East Egg district of Long Island. She is sardonic and somewhat cynical, and behaves superficially to mask her pain at her husband’s constant infidelity. Read an in-depth analysis of Daisy Buchanan. Tom Buchanan - Daisy’s immensely wealthy husband, once a member of Nick’s social club at Yale. Powerfully built and hailing from a socially solid old family, Tom is an arrogant, hypocritical bully. His social attitudes are laced with racism and sexism, and he never even considers trying to live up to the moral standard he demands from those around him.

He has no moral qualms about his own extramarital affair with Myrtle, but when he begins to suspect Daisy and Gatsby of having an affair, he becomes outraged and forces a confrontation. Jordan Baker - Daisy’s friend, a woman with whom Nick becomes romantically involved during the course of the novel. A competitive golfer, Jordan represents one of the “new women” of the 1920s—cynical, boyish, and self-centered. Jordan is beautiful, but also dishonest: she cheated in order to win her first golf tournament and continually bends the truth. Myrtle Wilson - Tom’s lover, whose lifeless husband George owns a run-down garage in the valley of ashes. Myrtle herself possesses a fierce vitality and desperately looks for a way to improve her situation. Unfortunately for her, she chooses Tom, who treats her as a mere object of his desire. George Wilson - Myrtle’s husband, the lifeless, exhausted owner of a run-down auto shop at the edge of the valley of ashes. George loves and idealizes Myrtle, and is devastated by her affair with Tom. George is consumed with grief when Myrtle is killed.

George is comparable to Gatsby in that both are dreamers and both are ruined by their unrequited love for women who love Tom. Owl Eyes - The eccentric, bespectacled drunk whom Nick meets at the first party he attends at Gatsby’s mansion. Nick finds Owl Eyes looking through Gatsby’s library, astonished that the books are real. Klipspringer - The shallow freeloader who seems almost to live at Gatsby’s mansion, taking advantage of his host’s money. As soon as Gatsby dies, Klipspringer disappears—he does not attend the funeral, but he does call Nick about a pair of tennis shoes that he left at Gatsby’s mansion. Meyer Wolfsheim - Gatsby’s friend, a prominent figure in organized crime. Before the events of the novel take place, Wolfsheim helped Gatsby to make his fortune bootlegging illegal liquor. His continued acquaintance with Gatsby suggests that Gatsby is still involved in illegal business.

Question: In which novel is 'Nick Carroway' the narrator?
Answer: 'THE GREAT GATSBY'