More handpicked essays just for you.
Examples of character analysis, 123 essays
Examples of character analysis, 123 essays
Examples of character analysis, 123 essays
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby in the point of view of Nick Carraway. Nick was a middle class man from the Midwest whose inherited family wealth was in decline. Nick’s voicing of the narrative affected the meaning readers derived from the story in various ways. His social status and ideal image of Gatsby influenced his voice and how he relayed information to the readers throughout the novel. His family were “prominent, well-to-do people…for three generations.” (Fitzgerald. 3) His wealthy upbringing affected his voice and bias throughout the entirety of the novel. Despite his family’s past wealth, his financial status was in decline which affected his voice. Nick set up an image of Gatsby from the beginning of the novel, which he …show more content…
had to maintain until the end. He had to ensure readers would also believe Gatsby was great. As a result, Nick had to retell the story in a certain way to secure this image of Gatsby.
Ultimately, the purpose of the novel is determined by how a reader interprets Nick’s voice. In the opening page of the novel, Nick shared advice his father had given him, which was, “ whenever you feel like criticizing anyone...just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” (Fitzgerald.1). His father wanted Nick to understand that he had been given opportunities and advantages that most other people would not receive. Nick said that as a result of this advice he was “inclined to reserve all judgements.” (Fitzgerald.1) Nick was telling his audience that he was noncritical and implied that no bias towards anyone would be present throughout the novel. He attempted to establish trust with his audience by claiming to be non-judgemental of other people. However, his statement was completely false. Nick does judge people and creates certain biases towards different characters in the novel. A crucial aspect of the novel was Nick’s use of color to describe things. He used color as a way to subconsciously represent the discriminations he had towards people. Color represented different things. The two most significant colors were white and …show more content…
off-white (cream).
White represented purity and old money while off-white represented impurity and new money. Color was a vital aspect of the narrative because it embodied Nick’s bias towards Gatsby’s new money and his ability to rise socially. Everything related to Daisy was described with the adjective white. When Nick first met Daisy and Jordan, “they were both in white.” (Fitzgerald. 8). Nick also described the view from his house as “across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered.” (Fitzgerald. 5). Nick used white to describe everything associated with East Egg (new money). Fitzgerald also used Tom Buchanan’s voice to demonstrate the importance of color more clearly to readers. Tom said that “ the idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be… utterly submerged.” (Fitzgerald. 13). He was stating that anything non-white was a threat to his all white lifestyle. Later Gatsby was associated with off-white colors. His car and his
suits were always cream or another shade of off-white. Barbara Will examined the idea that the color represented more than just new vs old money. Everything off-white about Gatsby “signals the vanishing of whiteness into indeterminacy, and thus threatens the whole economic, discursive, and institutional structure of power supporting the social distinctions and hierarchies at work.”(Will.5). Will suggested Gatsby represented the new “face of alien expansion” (Will.5). This new face of alien expansion being African-Americans and other non-caucasian races. Although the idea Gatsby represented the non-white races in modern America is extreme, it is still a possibility.. Despite Nick's claim to be non judgemental, he was the opposite. He used color to represent his bias against new money. Fitzgerald purposely used color to demonstrate the social discriminations in modern American society. The white people with old money rejected the new upper elite growing in society. Everything that was not old money was seen as impure.
Nick overlooks the wrongness of Gatsby's bootlegging, his known associations with speakeasies, and with the character Meyer Wolfsheim, a man rumored to have fixed the World Series in 1919. Yet he is disapproving of Jordan Baker for cheating ina golf game. He also says that he is prepared to forgive this sort of behavior in a woman, "It made no difference to me. Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you cannot blame too deeply, I was causualy sorry, and then I forgot" it seems like he can't accept her for being "incurably dishonest" and then he says that his one "cardinal virtue" is that he is "one of the few honest people" he has ever known.
The Great Gatsby is a difficult book to interpret, particularly because of the style in which it is written. Not only must the reader differentiate between the separate views of Nick as the narrator and Nick as the character, but he or she must also take into consideration at what time period, relative to this story, are these views being expressed. After all, Nick the narrator is presently evaluating the manner in which his character behaved the year before, as well as allowing his character to voice his opinion, as his opinion had been during that time frame. We learn to trust Nick as a narrator, because all the pieces of information he gives to us, received through symbolism, imagery, or personal reflection, lead us to make significant decisions regarding the other characters of the novel. His character, on the other hand, cannot be looked upon in the same manner; it can be seen as dishonest and hypocritical, yet it is these negative characteristics that humanize him, allowing readers to relate to him as a person.
The classic novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is one that opens reader’s eyes to the clouded hallow hopes and dreams that came with the famous idea of an American Dream. The hopes that one day a person could make their own wealth and be successful quickly became dead to many around this time and it is played out by characters and conflicts within The Great Gatsby. Nick Carraway is the very first character we meet in this story. A young man who came to West Egg, Long Island the summer of 1922 for work unknowingly walked into a summer that would haunt him forever. The character of Nick Carraway is one who is characterized as someone who is extremely observant as well as the mediator between many of the characters. He is always involved
"White" can also be related to Tom, who is the perfect example of a racist man. He believes that black people should disappear, and is very concerned about a book he has recently read called The Rise of the Coloured Empire. He believes that white is the superior race. So, black and white are used to show how racism affected people from the high classes at that time. While riding in Gatsby´s car, Nick sees a limousine driven by a white chauffeur and ridden by black passengers, members of the high society. This shows how strongly black people fought to conquer or fulfil their so-called "American Dream", which at that time was even more difficult for black people (former slaves) than for white ones.
Carraway employs his initial meetings and mentions of Gatsby to establish the non-money related values of Gatsby. For instance, when Nick says Gatsby’s name for the first time in the novel, he narrates, “I wanted the world to be…at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction” (2). Recalling the story from the future, Nick says he wants “moral attention forever,” signifying that he longs for further virtue than was exerted during his stay in the east. With the use of “privileged,” he brings attention to the advantage of wealth and how it connects to the “riotous excursions.” However, Gatsby is “exempt.” Nick does not group him with the others, so Nick must perceive Gatsby as more virtuous than the rest. Similarly, after describing their first meeting, while Nick exalts Gatsby’s smile, he all the sudden says, “precisely at that point it vanished — and I was looking at an elegant young rough-neck, a year or two over thirty, whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd.” (45). Noticing that Gatsby isn’t really the prosperous image he projects to the residents of the Eggs, Nick can see through Gatsby’s façade. At this point, he is still “elegant” and refined, but now Nick understands that his “elaborate…speech” is more an act than reality. Gatsby continues to appear wealth-obsessed, but at least Nick can recognize that Gatsby’s knows this is not his real
As the narrator, readers expect certain qualities in the character to provide an unbiased, non-judgmental, straightforward, and confident point of view of the story. The issues noted above can take away from the story and his narrative abilities. By following the self-improvement plan and advices, Nick Carraway can present himself as an upstanding character as all readers wish to see him to
F. Scott Fitzgerald is well known for being an excellent writer, for expertly describing the Jazz Age, and for having a drinking problem. However, he is not so well known for creating deep and intriguing characters. In The Great Gatsby, the majority of the characters remain one-dimensional and unchanging throughout the novel. They are simply known from the viewpoint of Nick Carraway, the participating narrator. Some insight is given into characters in the form of their dialogue with Nick, however, they never really become deep characters that are 'known' and can be identified with. While all of the participants in the novel aren't completely flat, most of the main characters are simply stereotypes of 1920's people from the southern, western, and eastern parts of America.
Throughout The Great Gatsby one of the most prominent techniques Fitzgerald used was symbolism. This symbolism was as prevalent in his characters as it was in his use of color, especially in the narrator, Nick. It’s established in the first chapters of the novel that Carraway has high standards for not only
Nick attempts to deceive the reader at the beginning of the novel by describing himself as a man who is inclined to reserve all judgments (3). But Nick actually evaluates everyone based off his own bias judgments. He describes Jordan Baker as an incurably dishonest (57) and careless person (58). Tom and Daisy are careless people who “smash-up things and creatures and then retreat back into their money or vast carelessness” (179), according to Nick’s description. He describes Mr. McKee as feminine (30). Nick also describes George Wilson as a spiritless man (25). He is effectively not reserving his judgments. This deception and lying from Nick is another reason why he is an unreliable narrator, which goes against how Nick generally describes himself as an honest man who reserves all judgments, showing his non-objective stance.
So Nick may be unreliable in terms of events, but he also brings a sense of truth in terms of the changing and evolving society’s ways around money over morality.
People all around the world, in literature and even in everyday life see white as these meanings. In The Great Gatsby, it represents innocence, a new beginning, and purity. When Nick Carraway first enters Daisy and Tom’s house, he’s seeing them for the first time. All of their affairs are yet to come and Nick still sees them as regular, innocent people. Everything is described as white. He noticed that, “The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside” (Fitzgerald 8). To Nick, everyone is innocent. The white composition of everything symbolizes their façade of innocence. He is unaware of all of their scandals. Everything is new and pure. Even Gatsby was portrayed in white. “In literature, the color white typically symbolizes innocence and purity” (Brozak). He’s starting over so everything is still white, fresh, and pure. White shows more than just innocence and a new start, “White is also vital to the novel as it has been used for portraying beauty, cleanliness, wealth, innocence, and virginity” (Olson). Because Fitzgerald uses white to describe Daisy and Jordan, it can be inferred that they possess these qualities. They are new people in Nick’s life who hide their private life from the public very well. Fitzgerald wrote that, “sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once… that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses” (Fitzgerald 12). Again, by referring to their
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.
Before considering the "gap" between author and narrator, we should remember how, as readers, we respond to the narrator's perspective, especially when that voice belongs to a character who, like Nick, is an active participant in the story. When we read any work of fiction, no matter how realistic or fabulous, as readers, we undergo a "suspension of disbelief". The fictional world creates a new set of boundaries, making possible or credible events and reactions that might not commonly occur in the "real world", but which have a logic or a plausibility to them in that fictional world. In order for this to be convincing, we trust the narrator. We take his perspective, if not totally, then substantially.
Fitzgerald also refers to the steps to Gatsby’s house as being white. Even the windows at Daisy’s house are white. “The windows were ajar and gleaming white.” (Pg.13) this tells us that Daisy and Gatsby look innocent from the outside but not from the inside, instead they are corrupted people. This thought is also expressed when Gatsby takes Nick for a ride in his car. When he is stopped by a policeman, Gatsby shows the officer a white card, which symbolizes corruption. When the commissioner sees this, he lets Gatsby go. Nick thought it was a Christmas card sent to him by the officer, but later on we learn that Gatsby had bribed the police officer.
“The Great Gatsby”, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, portrays a world filled with rich societal happenings, love affairs, and corruption. Nick Carraway is the engaged narrator of the book, a curious choice considering that he is in a different class and almost in a different world than Gatsby and the other characters. Nick relates the plot of the story to the reader as a member of Gatsby’s circle. He has ambivalent feelings towards Gatsby, despising his personality and corrupted dream but feeling drawn to Gatsby’s magnificent capacity to hope. Using Nick as a moral guide, Fitzgerald attempts to guide readers on a journey through the novel to illustrate the corruption and failure of the American Dream. To achieve this, Nick’s credentials as a reliable narrator are carefully established and reinforced throughout the story.