Narrator=Nick Carraway
- “non-judgmental”
- Accused of being a “politician” because he befriends everyone and everyone feels they can confide in him
- When he came back from the East last fall he didn’t want to be bothered with people
o The only person exempt from his scorn (hatred) is Gatsby.
o He says Gatsby was okay, but it was what preyed on Gatsby (what destroyed him) that made the narrator so cynical.
Nick:
- Comes from old wealth
- Midwestern family
- went to Yale
- went to world war I
- came back from war “restless”
- Decided to go “East” to learn the bond business (stocks)
- Daddy will support him
- he lives in a small house (yet has a maid)
Structure
-Nick starts telling the story (autumn) (reflects on what happened the previous summer) and why he is so cynical or “done with” people ( takes place in the summer 1922
-Gatsby
Long Island:
West Egg:
-Nick lives on West Egg (pays $80 a month)
- “less fashionable”
- There are mansions but he describes them as “colossal” “imitation”
- Gatsby is Nick’s neighbor
East Egg:
- “glittered”
- Tom and Daisy Buchanan live in East Egg (Daisy is Nick’s cousin and Nick went to college with Tom)
o Their house is huge, old fashioned, yet very sophisticated
Tom Buchanan:
- Football player at Yale
- Extremely wealthy
- From Chicago
- Always threw away money like it was nothing to him
- Peaked at age 21 everything else was anti-climatic
• 30 yrs old
• Thinks he’s superior
• Arrogant
• Very physical
• Condescending
Chapter One Plot Summary:
• Nick Carraway, the novel’s narrator begins by retelling a bit of advice his father taught him: Don’t criticize others because most people have not had the advantages he has had. Nick says that he has become a tolerant person reserving quick judgments. He says that even though he scorns everything Gatsby stood for, he views Gatsby as a victim who fell prey to the “foul dust” that corrupted his dreams.
• Summer of 1922—Nick, a Yale graduate, moves from the west where his family has lived for three generations to NY to work in the bond business. He recently returned from war and found himself restless in the Midwest.
• Nick rents a house in West Egg, a Long Island suburb across from East Egg. He observes that the two communities look the same geographically, however they differ since the “new rich” live in West Egg and the “old money” families live in East Egg.
• Nick and Gatsby’s homes are in West Egg. Gatsby’s house is an imitation of a French hotel, surrounded by lush gardens. Nick’s small rental is an “eye-sore” in comparison.
• Nick goes to East Egg to visit the Buchanans. Daisy is Nick’s cousin and Tom is also a Yale graduate.
• When Nick arrives, Tom is dressed in riding clothes. Tom is condescending to Nick. Nick remembers that plenty of people hated Tom at Yale because he was so arrogant.
• At dinner Nick meets Jordan Baker, a snobby woman who seems bored by her surroundings.
• At dinner Tom complains about the downfall of civilization as described in a book The Rise of the Colored Empires. Tom feels threatened by the rise of other “inferior” races. Daisy tries to make light of his conversation topic.
• Tom gets a phone call during dinner. Daisy leaves the room to follow after him. Jordan tells Nick that the call is from the “other woman” and tells Nick to keep quiet so she can eavesdrop. The rest of dinner is awkward.
• When Nick gets home he sees Gatsby standing on his lawn gazing out across the water. Gatsby extends his arms out toward the other side of the water and sees only a tiny green light blinking at the edge of the dock.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
1. How does Nick describe himself at the beginning of the book? Why do you think Fitzgerald chose him to be the narrator?…
- 5320 Words
- 22 Pages
Good Essays -
In the book "The Great Gatsby" the character Nick Carraway is a young man who comes from money which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on ones character. People with great financial freedom who lived in the 1920's seemed to have such a lavish life style. F. Scott Fitzgerald's tells of the differences in his novel by showing the varying virtues that come with this type of lifestyle. As Nick Carraway makes his way to New York City he does not loose his sense of self.…
- 1106 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
The Great Gatsby, a classic written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, exposes the frailty of humanity. Fitzgerald’s narrator, Nick Carraway, tells a gritty story in which he learns about the corruption of money. Though Nicks strives for perfection, he is a failure because he fails to become the savior he aspires to be, cope with city life, and realize that people are humans and not perfect.…
- 307 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
himself that he is great. Gatsby is not truly great. He earned all his money from bootlegging and…
- 1316 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
In the opening chapter, Nick describes some qualities that he possesses which make him a reliable narrator. He describes himself as someone whose story we are likely to believe. It seems often that his values are pretty close to those of a politician. “I was unjustly accused of being a politician because I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men.” This illustrates trust at the highest level. Politicians in the 20th century were much respected and were known to have high morals – they were people that everyone could believe and trust. People…
- 487 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
In the classic novel, The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a young man discovers concealed secrets from his neighbor, relatives, and close friends. At one point in the book, located on page fifty-five, Nick, the main character who is on a journey of mysteries, shows a fond interest in the peculiar acts of his neighbor Gatsby. Questions arise in Nick's mind. Why was such a popular man such a loner all at the same time? On this particular page, Nick questions these ideas. The passage reveals to the reader a sad sympathetic story behind the so-called "Great Gatsby" using tone, imagery, and diction giving the reader a more obsolete and clearer vision of Gatsby.…
- 783 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the main character, Gatsby, has many different sides of his character, which are shown in different parts throughout the novel. The reader understands him to be a very versatile man who feels emotion deeply, but doesn’t show it on the outside nearly as much as he should. Gatsby meets a man named Nick who moves in next to him and becomes the narrator of Gatsby’s great story. Nick helps the reader understand what is happening and conveys the judgmental tone and social stratified theme through his detailed descriptions of Gatsby’s character using diction, detail and syntax.…
- 726 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
- Nick Carraway reserves judgments about other people, because if he holds them up to his own moral standards, he will misunderstand them.…
- 934 Words
- 4 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Nick meets many members of the upper class and learns about the corrupting power of great wealth. When Nick moves to the West Egg, he always sees the big parties with many wealthy people attending. He thinks that the parties and the people must be amazing. However, when he gets to know those people, Nick learns that the upper class society is full of lies and the abuse of power. People with great wealth have more power than people who do not. They lie and they can get away with all their faults. When Nick meets Jordan Baker, he is attracted to her and thinks that she is a good person. Later, he finds out Jordan's true personality and realizes that he is not in love with her.…
- 1456 Words
- 4 Pages
Better Essays -
* East Egg- the wealthy side of Long Island. Tom, Daisy, and Jordan are the characters that live here. This setting is significant because Gatsby is constantly staring at Daisy’s dock light across on her East Egg home. It is the sign of his desires to finally have Daisy once and for all.…
- 2327 Words
- 10 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Daisy and Tom Buchannan represent the East Egg, those who have generations of wealth and respectability. Jay Gatsby however represents the West Egg and the new wealth of American society. Gatsby is essentially a social newcomer whom has made his money through commerce, bootlegging. West Eggers lack the sense of entitlement found among the East Eggers, and they are not "refined" or "polished" in their manners. West Eggers are portrayed in the novel as being over-enthusiastic with his money spending it carelessly on all extravagancies, almost to the point of being gaudy, like all of Gatsby's parties and his pink suit in Chapter 7. It is as if they don’t know what to do with their newly grossed riches and therefore try to copy what they perceive to be the possessions and manners of the pronounced rich of the East Egg. West Eggers envy the respectability of the East Eggers, and the wanted the same for themselves. Gatsby has always wanted to be a part of the wealthy society, and is enticed by East Egg and their luxuriousness. Everything Gatsby has ever wanted was part of the East Egg, including his long dreamed of love,…
- 1153 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
on his friend Rolando's social interactions and approval of him. He often sits to the side, ready to converse with him. He also covers his mouth/lower face with his hand by resting his head on his hand in various ways when facing the class as if he were cradling him self or hiding. I do not observe this behavior when he is talking to Rolando. This leads me to assume he suffers from some degree of insecurity. And I have yet to observe him to speak with anyone but Rolando until he asked me what he could write about me (what a coincidence).…
- 354 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald illustrates the despair felt by Gatsby when he loses Daisy to Tom through the use of negative imagery. This is demonstrated by Nick when he comments on how Gatsby must have perceived the world in his last moments before he died, the leaves are described as ‘frightening’ and a single rose as ‘grotesque.’ The adjectives symbolise his troubled state of mind and Gatsby’s loss of purpose and disenchantment with beauty once he could not win the love of Daisy, clearly presenting the destructive nature of love and desire. Fitzgerald foreshadows a story of destruction and tragedy told by the narrator, Nick Carraway, about Gatsby. The tragedy is foreshadowed when Nick says in Chapter One, ‘it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams’ evoking images of tortured thoughts. The ‘foul dust’ indicates impurity which predetermines the corruption in the novel, such as the deceit of Daisy meeting up with Gatsby without her husband knowing, the affair between Myrtle and Tom, and Gatsby’s bootlegging, which is how he amassed his fortune. The theme of deceit runs throughout the novella and the hope of fulfilled desires are present in many of the characters. ‘Right through to the end’ Gatsby had desired the love of Daisy, therefore the novel centres on…
- 3144 Words
- 13 Pages
Powerful Essays -
The contrast between Gatsby’s mansion and Nick’s cottage is significant because it allows the reader to see that even though they are next door to one another, they live in completely different worlds. This relationship is similar to West Egg, East Egg, and the Valley of Ashes. Although they border each other, each town is seemingly a different realm with different characters. This and the homes of the two men symbolize the conflicting values of the rich and poor. The rich are concerned with keeping up appearances and impressing people, for Gatsby, one person. His outstanding mansion had “a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden.” (Fitzgerald 7)…
- 272 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Analyse F. Scott Fitzgerald’s presentation of his first person narrator, Nick Carraway, in Chapter 1.…
- 1460 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays