Nick Carraway In 'The Great Gatsby'

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Throughout the film, The Great Gatsby, directed by Baz Luhrmann, and the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway feels both “within and without” due to his varying involvement in various scenes such as the window scene at Tom and Myrtle’s, the tea at Nick’s and Gatsby’s, and the room at the Plaza in addition to the scenes before and after the death of Gatsby. In the novel and the movie, Nick increasingly becomes involved in other people’s drama, such as Tom and Myrtle’s affair or Daisy and Gatsby’s affair. In each situation, Nick serves partially as an observer while he also is directly involved in the drama. As an observer, Nick has made commentary and has had a mixture of reactions to the events and characters of the story. Therefore, Nick Carraway has the feeling of being “within and without” throughout the novel and movie as a result of his participation with the secrets of others in addition to his tendency to be a bystander. …show more content…

In both the movie and novel, when Nick is at Tom and Myrtle’s apartment, he takes a moment to contemplate. “Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I was him too, looking up and wondering. I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life” (35). This quote explains how Nick concurrently identifies as one who is involved and one who is a mere spectator. In addition to this, it describes how he is at once both repulsed and fascinated by what he sees and participates in. Thus, the window scene coherently illustrates how Nick seems “within and

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