Nature Vs. Nurture In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Often times, debates in the topic of nature verses nurture will reach a stalemate. The same cannot be said to the character of Nick Carraway. In Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, the main protagonist Nick Carraway narrates the entirely of the plot through his point of view. His sense of identity, which the reader perceives through his actions, his choices, and his outlook toward society at that given point of his life, is an indication of the class differences within society and the social and economic privileges of those in the East Egg. The people whom Nick associates with during his time in the East as well Nick’s pursuit of success and happiness and its consequences gives insight into the manipulation of the seemingly achievable

American Dream on the people outside of the aristocracy. By using Nick’s story as a medium for revelation, Fitzgerald uncovers the amoralities of the American Dream.
To examine Nick as a person, it is important to look at his reasons for moving to the East in the larger societal context. The Roaring Twenties, a span of time after World War I, was marked by great prosperity, and New York in particular was a place of economic success. In the novel, Nick’s major decision to move from the West to the East is affected by his desire for success and a new lifestyle: “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” (3). His reasoning for his move is the promises of prosperity, wealth, status, and many more qualities all defined within the “American Dream”. Through this we can see that Nick is largely influenced by the economic prosperity associated with the bond business. This also shows that Nick is attracted to the spotlight, as he was unsatisfied that the Middle West was no longer the “center of the universe”, and saw the East as having a much greater impact in his life and career, and makes the decision to move there. Living in an individualistic society and culture such as American in the 1920s, Nick was persuaded by the authority of money, and what it could achieve. As a result, he makes the conscious decision of moving to the East to pursue his desire for success.
His decision to move to the East is not only a result of attraction of success but also a result of conformity, the tendency to act or think like members of a group and adopting their behavior.

This is exemplified in Nick’s description of his reason for choosing the bond business: “Everybody I knew was in the bond business, so I supposed it could support one more single man” (7). This shows a significant aspect of Nick’s identity. He is a follower, and is influenced heavily by exterior sources such as others’ actions and beliefs. Nick sees others pursue success, and follows in their paths. Nick’s attraction to the bond business by conformity can be compared to how people, most likely middle to upper middle class at that time, pursues the American Dream. This reveals much about the institutional power that influences Nick. As corporations and institutions grow, these classes of people work hard for them to try to gain a step in the social and economic ladder as promised by the American Dream. In reality, they are chasing a futile dream, because the true benefactors are the corporations and institutions which aggregate even more wealth and power. Nick is oblivious to this truth at the beginning, but by the end of the novel, he realizes: “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 – to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther” (180). Fitzgerald uses the diction carefully. The green light is a metaphor for the American Dream, as green referred to money, and light is a word with connotations of hope, and brightness. The word “elude” in this context means to fail to understand or realize, or fail to achieve something. In the entirely of the sentence, it means that the American Dream is an illusion, as people “fail to understand or realize” the reality behind it, who it actually benefits, and will consequently fail to achieve it. Fitzgerald uses this quote to

comment on the pigheadedness of the people, those who “run faster, stretch [their] arms farther” – failing to realize their American Dream yet continues to pursue it aimlessly, which benefits only the very exclusive few near the top of the social and economic privilege pyramid.
Differences in class, categorized by social and economic status, are prevalent in Nick’s life. Nick’s choice of residence, the West Egg, and the city opposite to it, not only in name, but also in terms of the social and economic characteristics of its residents, are two groupings with clear distinctions of this difference in class. The East and West Eggs are geographical locations that separate people based on their social and economic privilege. By living in either the East or West Egg, one categorizes themselves into a set social class. Nick’s choice of residents within the West Egg is a distinction that reveals the difference in status and privilege of two different types of people living in the two Eggs. His account of the physical description of the East Egg shows this difference: “Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water” (5). His account shows that the East Egg is the superior of the two. The use of word “palace” is particularly important in describing the difference. Palace not only refers to a very rich and large estate, but also refers to one that is official, prestigious, and old. Furthermore, it is a term that has the connotation of a building with a deep history – an important piece of architecture that has remained polished for centuries since it was built. From Nick’s portrayal of the East Egg in contrast to his own West Egg, we can see the difference in privileges between these two places of residence, as well as Nick’s realization that he does not fit the traits of a person qualified for living in the East Egg.
Within the East Egg is the pristine and prestigious class of aristocrats, and although the people in the West Egg have achieved the same amount of wealth and class, they will never have the same social privileges as those in the East Egg because they do not have old money, a lineage with a history of wealth and privilege. People in the East Egg, such as Tom and Daisy, had their wealth, property, and connections passed down onto them by their predecessors’ inheritances and their family names. Similarly, those residing in the West Egg are also wealthy and upper class, but there is a clear distinction between those in the East and the West Eggs. The people in the West Egg, such as Gatsby and Nick, were not born privileged. Their wealth was often earned through hard work and sacrifice. As a result, people in the West Egg will never elevate their statuses to the same as those in the East Egg, becoming the truly exclusive few of the aristocracy, and realize their American Dreams. Nick, at the end of the novel, realizes that this faulty pursuit is an illusion that can never be achieved by someone of the West Egg like Gatsby. This parallels the greater societal context at play within the American Dream illusion mentioned previously. After Nick is able to see through this deception, he clearly chooses to disassociate himself from the East Eggers, as he realizes their true pompous and self-centered nature: They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (174). From Nick’s choice, we are able to see his attitude towards the power of the aristocracy and the privileges they have. They are corrupt, careless, and exclusive, and irresponsible; any mistakes they make can be solved by money or pushed onto others.
In Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick is a character whom we see the greater societal context of the aristocracy and the illusions of the American Dream through his choices to move to the East, his pursuit for success, and his description of the differences between the East and West Eggs. Through Nick, we get to see the social and economic privileges of the aristocracy – those residing in the East Egg- and the influence of institutional power in American society in that time period. By using Nick’s story with The Great Gatsby and Nick’s epiphany near the end of the story which allows him to see through the illusions of the East Egg, Fitzgerald shows the corruption within the American Dream that no matter how hard one works, the privileges they were born into will cause them to never make it to the exclusive class of those on top of the social and economic ladder.