Nick Carraway Essay

What kind of a person is Nick Carraway? How might Nick’s narration color the way readers view other characters? Provide examples. Is Nick a reliable character? Provide examples from the novel to support your responses. Nick Carraway narrates The Great Gatsby. He values knowledge and is very observant making him a good narrator. In The Great Gatsby, all the characters tend to like him and trust him with their secrets. In the beginning, Daisy talks to Nick in private and tells him of when she had her baby girl. She said, â€Å"I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool-that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool† (17). Daisy thinks that the best way to easily get through life as a girl is to be stupid and pretty so she can marry a rich man and not have a worry in the world, which is what Daisy is doing. However, when Tom asks Nick if Daisy told him something, she lies and says they talked about horses. She was open to Nick to tell him her thoughts, but wanted it to be a secret from Tom. Nick understands the eastern way of living; with the partying, alcohol, and money. He shows the good sides of characters and the bad sides. He is a reliable character because although he adds in his biased opinions, he also tells the readers of the characters true personality and their actions. A. Through Nick, how does Fitzgerald describe each of your characters? What is Fitzgerald saying about each of your characters? Through Nick, Fitzgerald describes Tom Buchanan as a â€Å"sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner† (7). Through Fitzgerald’s diction, you can tell that Tom is arrogant and aggressive. Physically, he is described as big with muscles, a â€Å"cruel body† (7). To add to his big, arrogant figure, his voice is a â€Å"gruff husky tenor added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed† (7). He has a personality and look that strikes fear in people and he moves around with aggressiveness. Myers Wolfsheim is described as â€Å"a small, falt-nosed Jew† (69) with a large head. He is cautious and conservative; possibly suspicious and paranoid because of the business he deals with. In The Great Gatsby, his nose is repeatedly addressed. B. Do your characters change—do they change or remain the same throughout chapters 1-5? If the character changes, how so? Do your characters mature? Grow? Regress? Please explain Myers Wolfsheim does not change much in chapters 1-5. He is not mentioned very often. Tom Buchanan does change and show more of his personality to Nick from the beginning towards chapter 3. You are really allowed to see Tom when he takes Nick to meet his mistress, Myrtle. In the hotel room, he portrays his aggression when he hit Myrtle in the face, causing her to bleed. His character does not mature, but however regresses from the first 5 chapters. In the beginning, he seems sophisticated when he was talking about books and long words. Then he regressed when he went to the apartment building with Myrtle, Nick, and the rest of the party. He drank himself silly and cheated on his wife. C. What do these characters teach Nick about himself? What do these characters say about Nick? These characters teach Nick that he is different from the urban, fast-paced life of the East. Compared to Tom and Myers, Nick seems like a boring bond man coming fresh out of the West into this new world of liquor, parties, and money. D. What do we learn about Gatsby through the characters? In chapter 4, Myer’s tells Nick about Gatsby’s â€Å"life†. He tells him about Gatsby’s time at Oxford and builds Gatsby up to be a really good, perfect man, ‘†the kind of man you’d like to take home and introduce to your mother and sister†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (72). You are unable to learn much about Gatsby through Tom. Tom doesn’t know Gatsby that well and has never been to one of his parties until Nick takes them.