Nick's Ambiguity In The Great Gatsby

An ambiguous character is a character that cannot be identified as good or bad. These characters tend to be reliable and mysterious, while helping the reader understand all sides of a story. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author tells the story from the perspective of Nick Carraway. The central message of this story is that money cannot buy you happiness nor love, and Nick contributes to this by not only being a poor himself, but not judging others based on how wealthy they are. Nick’s ambiguity plays a large role from the very beginning of the story, in both his own life, the other characters’ lives, and the reader’s point of view.

In the beginning of the novel, Fitzgerald introduces Nick by explaining his morals and how he never judges people. He tells the reader about his father and how he was raised to avoid judging others, since holding people up to his personal standards will lead him to

Gatsby reveals that his parties and success were all created to catch Daisy’s attention, hoping that she would notice and fall in love with him. This strongly supports the overall theme that Fitzgerald gives, since Gatsby is relying on his wealth and popularity to make him look desirable, mostly for someone specific. Nick complies with his request and brings the two together. He now blatantly knows that Gatsby’s wealth is all fake, yet once again he does not change his perspective of him. Later in the story, he also discovers that Gatsby was falsely taking the blame for a murder that Daisy had done. This is shocking to both the reader and Nick. However, by the end of the novel, Nick tells of how great Gatsby was and how he is the only person who has seen the true side of him. After experiencing Gatsby, from his false wealth to his pitiful death, Nick still believes he is a good man, which greatly represents his