The Impact of Nick Carraway's Point of View in The Great Gatsby

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Recommended: Describe nicks role as the narrator in the great gatsby

Nick Carraway is the most important person in the novel and plays a major role as well. Nick is the character that knows everything about everyone. He knows Gatsby more than anyone else does. He is said to be the reader’s access to Gatsby’s life. However, he is clueless as to the lies and rumors going around about Gatsby and some of the other things that are going on (Doreski). Nick tries to stay out of other people’s business but is always finding himself caught in the middle of it anyways (Hermanson).
Nick is not considered the perfect and innocent character in this book. He is a manipulator and excellent liar (“Great”, Scott). Nick thinks that he is above every characters wrongdoing. For example, he feels he is superior to Tom’s infidelities, Jordan Baker’s lies, and Gatsby’s criminal acts. However, little does he know he takes part in some of those wrongdoings (Hays). Nick can also be confusing at times. There are moments in the book where Nick thinks Gatsby has something to hide and that Gatsby is mysterious. Then, there are other times where Nick believes that Gatsby is the only honest character (Roulston). Therefore, one can conclude that Nick is not a very stable individual. He has been proven to switch up on the reader. He acts and says one thing but then later he actions are totally opposite.
Nick is the one character that is capable of understanding life as Gatsby sees it. The other characters just live the life that Gatsby sees. This is why Nick only likes Gatsby and does not really care about the other characters in the book. In addition, Nick is intelligent enough not to put any lies past anyone (Cartwright). Even though Nick may not put lies past the rest of the characters, there are times where he is found lyi...

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"The Great Gatsby." F. Scott Fitzgerald. Kenneth E. Eble. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1977. 86-107. Twayne's United States Authors Series 36. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.
Hays, Peter L. "Oxymoron in The Great Gatsby." Papers on Language & Literature 47.3 (2011): 318+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
Hermanson, Casie E. "An overview of The Great Gatsby." Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.
Roulston, Robert, and Helen H. Roulston. "The Great Gatsby: Fitzgerald's Opulent Synthesis (1925)." The Winding Road to West Egg: The Artistic Development of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Lewisburg, Penn.: Bucknell University Press, 1995. 155-169. Rpt. in Children's Literature Review. Ed. Jelena Krstovic. Vol. 176. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.

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