The Role of Nick Carraway as Narrator of The Great Gatsby
In The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald presents a specific portrait of American society during the roaring twenties and tells the story of a man who rises from the gutter to great riches. This man, Jay Gatsby, does not realize that his new wealth cannot give him the privileges of class and status. Nick Carraway who is from a prominent mid-western family tells the story. Nick presents himself as a reliable narrator, when actually several events in the novel prove he is an unreliable narrator. Although Nick Carraway may be an unreliable narrator, he is the best narrator for the novel because he creates the correct effect.
Nick Carraway wants the reader to think his upbringing gave him the moral character to observe others and not pass judgment on them. If this were true he would be a reliable narrator. A hint to Nick's true moral character is given on the first page of the novel when he misunderstands his father's advice. His father said, "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages you've had." Clearly his father was telling him of the importance of not criticizing others, but Nick interprets this as a judgment on others (Donaldson 131). This shows how Nick's upbringing has actually made him a judgmental snob toward others. He is not partial; he judges and condemns nearly every character in the novel. He says Tom Buchanan has "Straw hair, a hard mouth, a supercilious manner, and a cruel body with which he pushes people around." Daisy Buchanan is described as insincere and snobbishly thinks she "has been everywhere, and seen everything and done everything." Myrtle Wilson is sai...
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...ich distorts everything. Nick is partial to Jay Gatsby because Gatsby has the guts to chase after his dreams. Gatsby represents the American dream; he rose up from the gutter to fabulous wealth and gets the chance to pursue the girl he loves. He will never be able to have her though because he does not have the same class or status as Daisy.
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Donaldson, Scott. "Fresh Approaches." Critical Essays on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. New York: G.K. Hall and Co. 1984. 131-32.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992. 34.
Taylor, Douglas. " Using a Dramatic Narrator to Present a Bifocal View." Readings on The Great Gatsby. Ed. Katie de Koster. San Diego: The Greenhaven Press, 1998. 147 - 51.
Roy Hobbs is also a natural in the sense that he is a kind of idiot. In the pre-game Roy shows lots of this characteristic. It started right way in the book on page four where he isn’t able to put both feet in separate pant legs. He had a hard time of doing some simple stuff like shavi...
The narrator, Nick Carraway, is Gatsby's neighbor in West Egg. Nick is a young man from a prominent Midwestern family. Educated at Yale, he has come to New York to enter the bond business. In some sense, the novel is Nick's memoir, his unique view of the events of the summer of 1922; as such, his impressions and observations necessarily color the narrative as a whole. For the most part, he plays only a peripheral role in the events of the novel; he prefers to remain a passive observer.
Trilling, Lionel. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Critical Essays on Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby." Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: Hall, 1984. 13-20.
Cohen, Adam. "Jay Gatsby is a man for our times" The Literary Cavalcade New York: Sep 2002. Vol.55, Iss.1; Pg.1-3
Jay Gatsby is an enormously rich man, and in the flashy years of the jazz age, wealth defined importance. Gatsby has endless wealth, power and influence but never uses material objects selfishly. Everything he owns exists only to attain his vision. Nick feels "inclined to reserve all judgements" (1), but despite his disapproval of Gatsby's vulgarity, Nick respects him for the strength and unselfishness of his idealism. Gatsby is a romantic dreamer who wishes to fulfill his ideal by gaining wealth in hopes of impressing and eventually winning the heart of the materialistic, superficial Daisy. She is, however, completely undeserving of his worship. "Then it had been merely the stars to which he had aspired on that June night. He came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor" (79). Nick realizes Gatsby's estate, parties, shirts and other seemingly "purposeless" possessions are not purposeless. Everything Gatsby does, every move he makes and every decision he conceives is for a reason. He wants to achieve his ideal, Daisy. Gatsby's "purposeless splendor" is all for the woman he loves and wishes to represent his ideal. Furthermore, Gatsby believes he can win his woman with riches, and that his woman can achieve the ideal she sta...
New Essays on The Great Gatsby. Ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli.
Sutton, Brian. "Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby." Explicator 59.1 (Fall 2000): 37-39. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski. Vol. 157. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Feb. 2011.
The rest of the story takes place in the city, where the reader starts to see Holden's bad habits. Holden needs a place to stay because he can't go home, yet. The reason for this is because his parents have not yet found out about their son's expulsion. So Holden decides to stay in a low-class hotel. While in the hotel, Holden decides to go down to the bar. He meets three older women and 'chews the fat'; with them for a while. They soon leave and Holden is now very lonely. On his way back up to his room, Holden meets a pimp and then buys a prostitute. Once the prostitute is in his room, Holden gets an odd feeling. The more he looks at the prostitute, the more depressed he becomes. So he tells her to leave. Soon, there is a knock on his door. It is the pimp and the prostitute. She said that Holden did not pay her enough money. Holden refuses to pay the money that the prostitute says he owes her, so the pimp roughs up Holden. It is now evident that Holden is suffering extreme depression.
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.
In Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the tale of a man and his discovery of evil. Hawthorne’s primary concern is with evil and how it affects Young Goodman Brown. Through the use of tone and setting, Hawthorne portrays the nature of evil and the psychological effects it can have on man. He shows how discovering the existence of evil brings Brown to view the world in a cynical way. Brown learns the nature of evil and, therefore, feels surrounded by its presence constantly.
Trilling, Lionel. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Critical Essays on Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby." Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: Hall, 1984. 13-20.
Trilling, Lionel. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Critical Essays on Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby." Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: Hall, 1984. 13-20.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, God is “a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship; specifically: one controlling a particular aspect or part of reality.” (“God”). For a philosopher, however, this concept has proven to be more than a little difficult to solve. According to O’Brien in his book An Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge, “The philosophy of religion is (in part) concerned with whether such a belief is justified.” (177). The belief that O’Brien mentions as being problematic is the belief that the God worshiped by the monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam is the “supernatural” being who is responsible for creating the universe and can control reality in some way (177). This God is intelligent and has the ability to interfere with human affairs if s/he sees fit, and is “omnipotent (able to do anything), omniscient (knows everything), perfectly good, and eternal.” (177). Many philosophers throughout the ages have tried to prove/disprove the existence of God—men such as René Descartes, George Berkeley, David Hume, Thomas Reid, Bertrand Russell, and Immanuel Kant. Each of these philosophers had a different take on the issue of God, some of them believed that they had proved his/her existence, some believed that they had disproved his/her existence, and the others came to the conclusion that we either can’t know that s/he exists or his/her existence essentially doesn’t effect our lives. Overall, the proposition of “God” creates many epistemological problems that are not easily solved, but there is an a priori argument and two empirical arguments that make valiant attempts.
Throughout life we question whether God is immanent or transcendent. Immanent theology believes that God is in everything on earth. Immanence is similar to being omnipresence in that God is present in everything at the same time. As human beings we believe that God is always around but still look up to God as being the superior one. Transcendent theology believes that God is above the earth and that God is separate from and independent of nature and humanity. God is not attached or involved in his creation. As humans living on earth we do not know who God is because God lives outside space and time. There are various arguments and examples to support immanent and transcendent theology through theologians that makes you contemplate if God is immanent or transcendent. Thomas Berry and Rudolf Bultmann are two specific examples of immanent and transcendent theologians.
The nature of God differs in every religion. Some religions have one, many, or even no God that they worship. However, no matter who or what they worship, there is always a spiritual aspect to their belief system. These spirits play a key role in influencing their actions in their everyday life.