![]() ![]() We do not know where he will go ("West" is pretty vague), or what he will do, only that he is leaving the house he's resided in for the course of the book. It seems his character dilemma is never fully resolved. ![]() So what happens to our narrator? At the end, Nick has come to realize that he’s changed and will never be the same. The deeper he is drawn into these relationships, the less honest he becomes – until at the end, Jordan rebukes him for being just as dishonest and careless as the rest of them. During the course of the novel, Nick gradually gets sucked into the world he’s observing, both through his friendships (if you can call them that) with Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby, and through his romantic relationship with Jordan. Nick still seems to see himself as a good Midwestern boy with high standards for everyone he meets, including himself, and prides himself on maintaining his standards, even in the corrupt, fast-moving world of East coast high society.īecause Nick is tangentially a part of Daisy and Gatsby’s intersecting worlds of wealth and fabulousness, but not entirely immersed in them, he makes a perfect narrator – not quite outside, not quite inside. Nick may be polite and easy to get along with on the outside, but he’s not afraid to tell it like it is. He’s skilled in the art of getting along with everyone in public and rather sassily analyzing them in private (that is, to us, his readers). While Nick is fundamentally a pretty honest guy when first we meet him, it doesn’t mean that he’s always a very nice one. ![]() His perch on the outside of these lofty social circles gives him a good view of what goes on inside he has a particularly sharp and sometimes quite judgmental eye for character, and isn’t afraid to use it. Unlike the people who surround him, Nick Carraway isn't drowning in wealth. He’s connected to wealthy and important people, like his cousin Daisy and Tom, a college acquaintance, but he is by no means one of them. The facts he chooses to present are few: he grew up in a respectable Chicago family and went to Yale, he likes literature and considers himself one of those "limited" specialists known as a "well-rounded man," and he works in the bond business (that is to say, in finances) in New York City. Nick changes profoundly over the course of the novel, and his transformation is just as intriguing as Gatsby’s dramatic story. On the other hand, Nick – seemingly plain, straightforward, “honest” Nick – ends up being the ultimate mystery at the end. Gatsby himself is, after all, almost shockingly simple once you can put his character together from the various pieces picked up along the way. While the title The Great Gatsby might suggest that the central puzzle of this novel is “The Great Gatsby,” we disagree. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |