Why Is Nick Carraway Important In The Great Gatsby

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
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
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