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

misunderstanding them. The story also opens with Nick meeting with his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom, who are extremely wealthy with “old money”. The situations Nick encounters with them are often awkward or uncomforting, such as when Tom received a suspicious call from his mistress. However, even in the worst of times, Nick keeps his opinion away from the reader’s knowledge. This allows the reader to fully understand Daisy, Tom, and Jordan without his bias opinion, especially on their social class, which was very important during this 1920s era.

Shortly after Daisy and Tom are introduced, Nick meets his neighbor Jay Gatsby. Nick’s ambiguity becomes very important when he finally meets this wonderful Gatsby, since he is a very peculiar character. From the start, It is obvious to Nick and the reader that Gatsby is extremely wealthy as well, but with “new money”. Gatsby has an enormous home, exponentially larger than Nick’s, and is known for throwing full, extravagant parties. Many of the people who attend these parties do not personally know Gatsby, they only know of his wealth. Nick, however, becomes his close friend and is taken along on rides and dinners. Although Nick is being extremely exposed to Gatsby’s wealth, he keeps his true judgement to himself.

Along with being his close friend, Gatsby asks Nick to do an important favor for him regarding his cousin Daisy.

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

morals.

With all of Nick Carraway’s odd relations and experiences, he continues to stay true to his initial mindset of staying ambiguous; not judging anyone he meets to prevent misunderstanding. Furthermore, he is not strictly perceived as a good or bad character, since he never offers his opinion for the reader to analyze. The readers, however, are able to judge the other characters such as Daisy and Gatsby based on their wealth or actions because they are explicitly explained by Nick without an opinionated twist. Similarly, Nick does not change his perception of the other characters based on their social class. The central message of The Great Gatsby, which is that wealth will not make you a better person, can better be understood with an ambiguous narrator, such as Nick Carraway.