Should We Care-Away or Care-For Nick Carraway?
Kiri Carlson
Mrs. Ackerman
Honors Literature
13 February 2014
Should We Care-Away or Care-For Nick Carraway?
When pursuing relationships in The Great Gatsby, we are introduced to the characters with a sort of step-by-step process. Unfortunately, as our knowledge about the characters expands, our feelings of enchantment soon transform to that of disenchantment. Initially overlooking their flaws or putting them off to the side, it is only later that we realize the peril of each of their imperfections. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the journey from delight to disappointment may be seen in the narrator, Nick Carraway. In Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby the narrator is revealed to be Nick Carraway, a wealthy man from Minnesota. Nick moved to New York to get a job in the bond business, renting a house in the West Egg. However, the East Egg is where he belongs for those people born into wealth without having to earn anything on their own. The readers learn of his wealth extending over three generations, way back to the start of the civil war. Though Nick is just the narrator, he plays the important role in recalling the events of Mr. Jay Gatsby’s life, and how his part outside the story of the frame plays into the plot within the frame. The quote that best describes Nick Carraway is, “The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality…in college I was unjustly accused of being a politician, because I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men”(1). The good qualities of Nick are he is open-minded, a good listener, and tolerant of most things. He has high morals and was brought up into the wealth of society, in riches and mannerism. His bad qualities are that he was affected by the fast life of New York, an example being when he got drunk just because the other people he was with were drunk. Fitzgerald developed this character because as the narrator he can tell the readers what is happening. As a
Mrs. Ackerman
Honors Literature
13 February 2014
Should We Care-Away or Care-For Nick Carraway?
When pursuing relationships in The Great Gatsby, we are introduced to the characters with a sort of step-by-step process. Unfortunately, as our knowledge about the characters expands, our feelings of enchantment soon transform to that of disenchantment. Initially overlooking their flaws or putting them off to the side, it is only later that we realize the peril of each of their imperfections. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the journey from delight to disappointment may be seen in the narrator, Nick Carraway. In Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby the narrator is revealed to be Nick Carraway, a wealthy man from Minnesota. Nick moved to New York to get a job in the bond business, renting a house in the West Egg. However, the East Egg is where he belongs for those people born into wealth without having to earn anything on their own. The readers learn of his wealth extending over three generations, way back to the start of the civil war. Though Nick is just the narrator, he plays the important role in recalling the events of Mr. Jay Gatsby’s life, and how his part outside the story of the frame plays into the plot within the frame. The quote that best describes Nick Carraway is, “The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality…in college I was unjustly accused of being a politician, because I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men”(1). The good qualities of Nick are he is open-minded, a good listener, and tolerant of most things. He has high morals and was brought up into the wealth of society, in riches and mannerism. His bad qualities are that he was affected by the fast life of New York, an example being when he got drunk just because the other people he was with were drunk. Fitzgerald developed this character because as the narrator he can tell the readers what is happening. As a