In “The Trouble with Nick: Reading Gatsby Closely,” Scott Donaldson uses Nick Carraway’s judgmental qualities, emotional restraints, ambiguous attitudes, and social relations to prove him as a reliable narrator in The Great Gatsby. In his analysis, Donaldson cites Nick’s interactions with different characters in order to emphasize his involvement in the story and his detachment from major conflicts. Nick’s ambiguous attitudes towards other characters, especially Gatsby, render different perspectives for the readers. Also, as a Yale graduate who lives in West Egg, Nick serves as a pivot for all connections in this book and propels the story forward with his narrative. Although Donaldson deems Nick as an effective narrator, he portrays him as a misanthrope who dodges emotional entanglement and constantly belittles others. Providing Nick’s harsh …show more content…
judgements on others, Donaldson comprehends Nick as an egoistic character who treats others unjustifiably. Out of all Donaldson’s claims, he asserts that in the story, Nick “declines to make” any emotional entanglement and connections (Donaldson 163).
In other words, always remaining neutral, Nick doesn’t possess a clear attitude towards people. I found this interesting because I thought that those qualities qualify him as a good narrator; otherwise, his narrative is biased because of his own belief and emotional involvement with others. Although Donaldson recognizes him as a successful narrator, eager to identify Gatsby’s flaws, Donaldson indicates that “Nick constantly puts others down” and disdains “mankind” (159). Basically, Donaldson criticizes this misanthropic side of him as a character because of his harsh judgements and emotional detachment from his surroundings. For example, Nick betrays Tom by facilitating Daisy and Gatsby’s affair. However, those attributes give birth to a great narrator. According to Donaldson, Nick’s “emotional distance…is why he is the right narrator for The Great Gatsby” (163). The essence of Donaldson’s argument is that Nick serves as an effective narrator yet a misanthropic
character. I am of two minds. I agree with Donaldson’s observation that Nick is an effective narrator, but I cannot agree that he despises everyone. As a narrator, he remains objective without inclining to any characters in the conflicts. All the characters share stories with him because he lacks a centralized belief that directly sides him with one group, and he doesn’t have emotional commitment with anyone, making him an unbiased narrator. However, Donaldson can’t conclude that Nick reveals his “contempt for mankind” through his narrative (Donaldson 159). Although Nick judges Gatsby’s “gorgeous pink rag of a suit” and Tom Buchanan’s “cruel body”, all his contempt relates to appearances and superficial factors (qtd. in Donaldson 161, 162). Though I concede that those comments “tend toward…the hostile levity of sarcasm,” I insist that he reveals moments of genuineness and sincerity (qtd. in Donaldson 161). For example, when Jordan takes on the narrative about Daisy and Gatsby’s past and Gatsby’s request, Nick accepts his demand and “[invites Daisy] to tea” (Fitzgerald 82). He does not set up Daisy and Gatsby’s encounter as a revenge for Tom’s immoral affairs but as a favor for a friend; thus, I cannot accept Donaldson’s overriding assumption that deems Nick as a misanthrope. With hatred, he would not help his neighbor Gatsby. His act of kindness defies the ruthless qualities that Donaldson imposes on him. To further disapprove this point, I believe that Gatsby’s funeral completely reverts Donaldson’s claim: Nick belittles everyone. Although Gatsby hosts numerous parties, only a couple people attend his funeral, including Nick. His attendance demonstrates his appreciation and admiration for his friend. Although Nick and Gatsby don’t share an intimate relationship, Nick “urges [Wolfsheim] to come” to Gatsby’s funeral because Nick views Wolfsheim as a close friend of Nick’s (165). Reserving his emotions throughout the story, Nick reveals that he possesses sentiments through Gatsby’s funeral. The funeral defies Nick’s contempt for the mankind, and Donaldson is mistaken because he completely overlooks this part of the story.
Nick wants the readers to believe that the way he was raised gives him the right to pass judgement on a immoral world. He says, that as a consequence of the way he was raised he is "inclined to reserve all judgements" about other people (page 5). His saying this makes it seem like we can trust him to give a fair unbiased account of the story that he is telling, but we later learn that he does not reserve all judgements. Nick further makes us feel that he is a non-partisan narrator by the way he tells of his past. We come to see that Nick is very partial in his way of telling the story. This is shown when he admits early in the story that he does not judge Gatsby because Gatsby had a "extraordinary gift for hope, a romanric readiness". This made Nick more loyal to Gatsby than other characters in the book.
Nick Carroway is not a very judgmental person, in fact, he himself states that he withholds judgment so that he can get the entire story out of the person to whom he is listening. To say that Nick is both approving and disapproving is not suspiring, for Nick rarely looks at things from only one perspective. Nick finds Gatsby to be ignorantly honest, in that Gatsby could not fathom the idea of saying something without really meaning it. He respects Gatsby for his determination to fit in with the East Egg crowd, though Gatsby does not realize that he does not really fit in with them. On the other hand, Nick sees Gatsby to be excessively flashy and, in the words of Holden Caulfield, 'phony.' Gatsby's whole life is a lie from the moment he left behind the name James Gatz and became Jay Gatsby. Gatsby lies about his past to try to have people perceive him as an 'old money' guy when that really is not necessary. Gatsby's valiant efforts to lure Daisy are respectable, yet they show Gatsby's failure to accept reality and give up on his long lost dream.
Though the story is told from Nick’s point of view, the reader gets many perspectives of Gatsby from different characters. One can see from characters like Jordan Baker -Nick’s girlfriend through the majority of the novel, or Tom- the husband of Nick’s cousin Daisy; that Gatsby is not as good as everyone where to think. Based on how these characters act and feel about Mr. Gatsby it is evident that they dislike him to some extent, showing a bit more of a flawed human side of him. Tom is quoted saying “I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn't far wrong.” about Gatsby depicting Tom’s harsh feelings towards him and showing the reader Tom’s negative feelings about Gatsby. Because the story is told from Nick’s point of view, Gatsby is still painted as this mysterious man because Nick is a bit curious of him and does not know Gatsby in the beginning. ‘"They're a rotten crowd," I shouted across the lawn. "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together."’ Nick says to Gatsby, showing that he thinks he is worth more than Daisy, Tom, or the other characters. With this quote one can infer that Nick holds Gatsby on a bit of a high platform than the other characters, giving the reader Nick’s indirect characterization of
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.
This immediately marks Nick as being dishonest. Nick also admits to lying about his heritage, claiming “(his) family have been prominent, well-to-do people in this Middle Western city for three generations. The Carraways are something of a clan, and we have a tradition that we’re descended from the Dukes of Buccleuch” but later admitting that his family is not noble “my grandfather’s brother… sent a substitute to the Civil War”, nor prominent “and (he) starts the wholesale hardware business that my father carries on to-day.” Nick also begins the book by trying to deceive his readers into believing “Gatsby… represented everything for which I had an unaffected scorn,” (Fitzgerald 2), when in reality he liked “the consoling proximity of millionaires” and admires their lifestyle. Although Gatsby’s parties are the very things he hates, he never fails to attend and even pursues an interest in the host of them. Nick’s inconsistencies in his opinions clearly begin to alter him as a person and the way he tells the story over
Does The Great Gatsby merit the praise that it has received for many decades? “Why I despise The Great Gatsby” is an essay by Kathryn Schulz at New York Magazine in which Schulz states that she has read it five times without obtaining any pleasure from it. Long viewed as Fitzgerald’s masterpiece and placed at or near the uppermost section of the English literary list, The Great Gatsby has been used as a teaching source in high schools and universities across the United States. The novel is narrated by Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner who moved to Long Island, next door to an elegant mansion owned by a mysterious and affluent Jay Gatsby. The story follows Gatsby and Nick’s unusual friendship and Gatsby’s pursuit of a married woman named Daisy.
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 Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about Nick Caraway, a man who moved into New York in West Egg. He soon finds out that his house borders a mansion of a wealthy man, named Jay Gatsby, who is in love with Nick’s cousin Daisy Buchannan. Nick describes his past experiences with Gatsby. He is an unreliable first person narrator, for he is extremely subjective being biased towards Gatsby and he is deceptive, with his lying and past actions. His evaluation of Gatsby is not entirely just, due to his close friendship with Gatsby.
Nick Carraway, the narrator for The Great Gatsby, has his narration structured in a diary like manner so to simulate a personal inner-voice from Nick. This structure creates a different perspective for the reader, instead of being told from an on-looker such as the author the story is read through the eyes of a character. This technique uses the first person, and is commonly from just one character’s perspective. This structure can also be seen in The Great Gatsby, where Tom’s narration is recalled in a sequence of recollections as the play is depicted from memory. However, both characters in these texts become entrapped in responsibility through their narration. Because Nick uses his narration as means to express his suppressed opinions about Gatsby, since Nick cannot bring himself to the idea of letting go Gatsby down “"They're a rotten crowd," I shouted across the lawn. "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together."” I've always been glad I said that. It was the only compliment I ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end.” Although Nick disapproves of Gatsby, he cannot help but become caught up in Gatsby’s dream. Nick feels responsible for Gatsby, he feels that he must give Gatsby support and encouragement. Because Nick and Gatsby are friends, and Nick understands that he must do all that he can to help
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, ...
At first, the only function of Nick in the novel seems to be to act as a reporter, telling us the truth by telling us his shrewd, objective perceptions. Then, as the novel progresses, it turns out that the opposite is the case, and he is siding with Gatsby to make this character stand above all others and shine. Nick Carraway could be one of the finest examples of reader manipulation in literature. But his sympathy towards Gatsby is exaggerated, not so much in actions, but in the much praised language of the novel.
From the beginning of The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway is developed as a reliable narrator. His honesty and sense of duty are established as he remarks on his own objectivity and willingness to withhold judgment. However, as the book progresses and Nick’s relationship with Jay Gatsby grows more intimate, it is revealed that Nick is not as reliable as previously thought when it comes to Gatsby. Nick perceives Gatsby as pure and blameless, although much of Gatsby's persona is false. Because of his friendship and love for Gatsby, his view of the events is fogged and he is unable to look at the situation objectively.
He becomes our eyes and ears in this world and we have to see him as reliable if we are to proceed with the story's development. In The Great Gatsby, Nick goes to some length to establish his credibility, indeed his moral integrity, in telling this story about this "great" man called Gatsby. He begins with a reflection on his own upbringing, quoting his father's words about Nick's "advantages", which we could assume were material but, he soon makes clear, were spiritual or moral advantages. Nick wants his readers to know that his upbringing gave him the moral fiber with which to withstand and pass judgment on an amoral world, such as the one he had observed the previous summer. He says, rather pompously, that as a consequence of such an upbringing, he is "inclined to reserve all judgments" about other people, but then goes on to say that such "tolerance. . .
Nick Carraway, Gatsby’s neighbor and close friend, considers Gatsby to have achieved greatness. Nick sees greatness in Gatsby that he has never seen in any other man; unfortunately, all great characters do not always have happy endings. Gatsby’s ambition from a young age, along with his desire to please others, pave the road to his prosperity, but, ultimately, his enduring heroic love for Daisy, steers him to his demise. Several individuals mark Gatsby as a man of great wealth, with a beautiful estate, and an abundance of friends.
At the onset of this book, the reader is introduced to the narrator, Nick Carraway, who relates the past happenings that construct the story of Jay Gatsby and Nick during the summer of 1922. After fighting in World War I, or the Great War as Nick called it, Nick left his prominent family in the West of America for the North where he intended to learn the bond business. Nick was originally supposed to share a house in West Egg near New York City with an associate of his, but the man backed out and so Nick lived with only a Finnish cook. Right next door, Gatsby lived in a glorious mansion with expansive gardens and a marble swimming pool, among other luxuries. Yet Nick did not even hear about Gatsby until he went to visit his distant family at East Egg next to West Egg.