Gatsby - nick carroway essays

Gatsby - nick carroway essays Nick Carraways character is both part of the story and at the same time the medium through which we perceive it. One must assume that because he is an independent character he is not a completely objective source of information. As everything in the novel passes through him there is no other un-biased source of information, so one must interpret his thoughts and opinions carefully. There is also another important factor about Nick Carraways narration that should be considered; he is a fictional character created by Fitzgerald and used by him as a tool for narration so anything that Carraway relates to the reader is simply Fitzgerald communicating to the reader by proxy. There fore he is telling the reader what Fitzgerald wants us to know, so his narration is at least reliable in that sense, although perhaps not always completely clear and objective he is nevertheless fundamentally reliable. Whether or not Nick Carraway is a likeable character or not is very central to the novel. One must ask whether Fitzgerald wants us to like him or not. This will govern the way that the reader interprets the opinions and descriptions that he relates to us. Crucially, the judgements that Nick sometimes passes on people will carry much more weight if the reader actually finds Nick an amenable character. Nicks opinions of him self are interesting...he tries to be as impartial as possible...he sees himself as an extremely tolerant person, willing to hear people out....says he does this from the advice of his dad...he likes people to be well behaved....he is perhaps slightly hyporitcal when he says that everything Gatsby represents he regards with unlimited scorn but then goes on to speak of his admiration for the man. Nicks opinions of himself can be very revealing, the first two pages of the novel are very interesting as he reflects upon his own character. His opinions of himself are quite high, he even admits to being so ...