Marielle Hartmann Lit. AP Per. 10 Gatsby essay F. Scott Fitzgerald held a mirror up to his readers in his highly symbolic novel on 1920s America, The Great Gatsby. He portrayed the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. On the surface, The Great Gatsby was a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman, that of Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. Nick Carraway recounted his memoirs during the summer he spent with Gatsby and served as the narrator of the novel.
Despite the title’s bearing of Gatsby’s name, Nick was ultimately the most significant character within the narrative. The character of Nick Carraway was more important than the character of Jay Gatsby because he was the connection between the main characters, expressed Fitzgerald’s view on the American dream, and served as a stark contrast to the other characters. Honest, tolerant, and inclined to reserve judgment, Nick often served as a confidant for those with troubling secrets.
After moving to West Egg, Nick quickly befriended his next-door neighbor, the mysterious Jay Gatsby, who in particular came to trust Nick. Since Nick was the cousin of Daisy Buchanan, he became the link between Gatsby and Daisy and facilitated the rekindling of the romance between them. Nick was also a friend of Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, when he attended Yale. Since Nick and Tom were friends, the reader was given an inside look to Tom and his personality through their conversations. In addition, since Nick was Daisy’s cousin, he met Jordan whom he became romantically involved with.
Most of all, Nick was the tie between Gatsby and Daisy, and as a result the chaotic and saddening events of that summer came to pass. Nick Carraway recounted in his memoirs of that summer all of his observations of Gatsby, his eccentric lifestyle, and the rich social class. Nick was the voice of Fitzgerald throughout the novel and conveyed his thoughts on the American dream. The reckless jubilance that led to the decadent parties, like the ones Gatsby threw every Saturday night, resulted ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, as the unrestrained desire for money and pleasure exceeded more noble goals.
On the last night, Nick wandered over to Gatsby’s for one last visit. Strolling down to the water he recalled the way Gatsby’s house used to be, filled with people and lavish parties. He considered Gatsby’s wonder at picking out Daisy’s dock in the darkness, how far Gatsby had traveled in his life, and how he always had hope in the future. Alone among all of Gatsby’s “friends” to pay a final tribute tohim, Nick saw Gatsby as a symbol of the American Dream gone sour, an “innocent” destroyed by a corrupt world.
Nick’s moral sense helped to set him apart from all the other characters. From the first time he interacted with others (Daisy, Tom, and Jordan in Chapter 1), he clearly wasn’t like them. He was set off as being more practical and down-to-earth
than other characters. This essence was again brought to life when he didn’t quite know how to respond to being introduced into Tom and Myrtle’s secret world. However, being brought into their world, he didn’t feel the need to tell anyone about his adventures.
Again Nick came off as less mercenary than everyone else in the book as he waited for an invitation to attend one of Gatsby’s parties, and then when he did, he took the time to seek out his host. From these instances it became clear that Nick, in many ways, was an outsider. In addition, Nick had what many of the other characters lacked, personal integrity, and his sense of right and wrong helped to elevate him above the others. He alone was repulsed by the phony nature of the socialites. He alone was moved by Gatsby’s death.
When the other characters scattered to the wind after Gatsby’s death, Nick, unable to believe that none of Gatsby’s associates would even pay their last respects, picked up the pieces and ensured Gatsby wasn’t alone in his death. Nick Carraway had a singular place within The Great Gatsby. First, he was both narrator and participant. Part of Fitzgerald’s skill in The Great Gatsby shined through the way he cleverly made Nick a focal point of the action, while simultaneously allowing him to remain sufficiently in the background.
In addition, Nick had the distinct honor of being the only character who changed substantially from the story’s beginning to its end. From the Midwest, the beauty, the wealth, and the sophistication of Gatsby’s lifestyle attracted Nick. Nick was drawn to the fast-paced, fun-driven lifestyle of New York, yet he found that lifestyle grotesque and damaging. After witnessing the unraveling of Gatsby’s dream and presiding over the appalling spectacle of Gatsby’s funeral, Nick realized that the fast life of revelry on the East Coast was a cover for the terrifying moral emptiness that the valley of ashes symbolizes.
Having gained the maturity that this insight demonstrates, he returned to Minnesota in search of a quieter life structured by more traditional moral values. He came to understand the essential emptiness, the gaudy display of “nothingness” which characterized the life on the East Coast. Through the course of The Great Gatsby Nick grew, from a man dreaming of a fortune, to a man who knew only too well what misery a fortune could bring.