Gatsby: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nick Essay

Submitted By Iirain1
Words: 1042
Pages: 5
Open Document
An Aimless Life In Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway narrates the story of Jay Gatsby and their lives living in the West and East Egg. Jay Gatsby tries his best to live the “American Dream” while Nick lives a life where he is unsure what he wants. Fitzgerald’s depiction of the characters in this novel as being ignorant is portrayed through Nick’s narration, which in the end brings about a great tragedy. Through Caraway’s judgmental attitude, aimless life, and his obsession and jealousy of Gatsby, he is an ignorant person that brings about the tragic ending to Gatsby’s life.
In behalf of Nick’s judgmental attitude, he forms an opinion especially about Tom and Daisy, which reveals how ignorant and hypocritical he really is. Towards the end of the novel, Carraway called Tom and Daisy “careless people” because “they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald 181). Nick is being judgmental towards Tom and Daisy because he is mad that Daisy left Gatsby and did not even have the decency to show up to his funeral. He also realizes that it was most likely Tom that had either murdered or hired someone to murder Gatsby. It is ironic that Nick thinks Daisy and Tom are the ones creating the mess, which in reality, it was because of Nick’s carelessness. Because Nick was so careless with Daisy and how through his ignorance was not able to understand the consequences of Daisy cheating on Tom, Gatsby was murdered in the end. Also, earlier in the novel as Nick was narrating the story, he claims that “there is not confusion like the confusion of a simple mind,” this was when he was talking about Tom and evidently telling the reader that Tom is stupid (Fitzgerald 107). This is just one of the many opinions that he forms about Tom, which makes him so ignorant because he is too busy forming other opinions of others instead of realizing the mistakes he has made.
Through Nick’s purposeless, aimless life, he portrays an ignorant character who contributes to the downfall and eventual death of Jay Gatsby. Right as Nick was going to leave with Daisy home from the city, he just remembers that “’today’s my birthday’” and goes on to add that “’I was thirty’” (Fitzgerald 135). It is clear that Nick realizes his life has had no purpose to it for he has no real job, has no real dream to follow, and does not even have one to live it with. When people turn thirty, most have their lives in place with a job or even a dream to chase while Nick has none of that. Remembering his birthday halfway into the day is a clear indicator that he does not see this age in a positive light, while most men would be excited to start a new decade full of new dreams. It also means that his dreams and hopes have all slipped away from his grasp and he does not have any interest in getting them back. Nick epitomizes how we as humans just go with the flow and do not take things into ones own hands. Any attempt Nick makes at moving forward are pointless so he believes that he should let the “current” take him, which is why he ends up having no true dream in the end. An aimless life Nick lead is the reason he has nothing worth fighting for. Nick’s ignorance in this novel as shown through his fight with the past and not being able to see a future, ultimately leads to the death of Gatsby in the end.
Jay Gatsby’s death at the end of the novel is brought about by Nick’s obsession and jealousy of him. Nick’s obsession with Gatsby is revealed when Nick is leaving breakfast with him and Gatsby and he randomly remembers something that had been on
Show More

Related Documents: Gatsby: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nick Essay

What Is Daisy Buchanan's Relationship In The Great Gatsby

F Scott Fitzgerald is an author of many short stories, poems, and novels based on life experiences and eras of which he has lived. The Great Gatsby is written within The Roaring Twenties right after the winning of World War I. The Jazz Age was intertwined with this time period with Prohibition and sectionalism between social classes. Affairs, deaths, and fights among social classes is shown but not an issue to the public or media. F Scott Fitzgerald’s goal was to have the relationships between…

Words 742 - Pages 3

Gatsby Essay

The Great Gatsby , by F. Scott Fitzgerald, many archetypes, motifs, and symbols are used to portray the moral decay in society, not only in the 1920s, but also today. Characters, weather changes, and a green light are major factors in the story to illustrate the relationship between Gatsby's American Dream and today’s society depiction of their American Dream. The 1920s morals are a lot like 2015’s morals. Even though there may be some decay we always move forward. When using archetypes, F. Sc…

Words 785 - Pages 4

Theme Of Modernism In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is a Modern novel about a man, Jay Gatsby, who focuses his whole life on one girl. Sadly, in the end that grotesque focus of her is what ends his life. F. Scott Fitzgerald used much symbolism and color in this novel. The diversified colors he used have a specific reason behind them. F. Scott Fitzgerald used the contrast of colors in similar, yet different situations to reflect Modernism in the novel. To understand how F. Scott Fitzgerald used contrasted colors in his novel,…

Words 1182 - Pages 5

Gatsby Essay Outline

Calvin Noel Mrs.Sumurien English Period.1 Nov.7,2015 The Great Gatsby Final Essay There were many things that were attainable in the 1920’s but the American Dream was said to be the easiest.The 1920’s was a time of new and fresh ideas, to woman working,or the black culture booming. According to the propaganda of the 1920’s the American Dream could be obtained easily. The American Dream was attainable if it was worked hard for. Many people…

Words 576 - Pages 3

How Does Nick Carraway Present Gatsby's Life

past”, (Fitzgerald 180). In the Great Gatsby written by Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby and Fitzgerald's lives were portrayed through this quote. Both Gatsby and Fitzgerald wanted something they couldn’t have based on their pasts which eventually destroyed them. Nick Carraway the main character in The Great Gatsby, didn’t exactly portray Fitzgerald’s life, it portrayed the life he wanted. Fitzgerald portrays his own life struggles through the characters of Nick, the life he wanted, and Gatsby the life…

Words 1165 - Pages 5

Compare And Contrast Nick Carraway And Jay Gatsby

the characters in the novel The Great Gatsby are similar to people who impacted Fitzgerald’s life. He coordinates himself in two of the main characters, Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway. He also depicts his wife, Zelda, as Daisy in the novel. In this first section, I provide the similarity of Fitzgerald and Nick Carraway. The two of them both attended Ivy League Universities (Bio 1). Nick attended Yale University and Fitzgerald attended Princeton University (Scott 4) (Bio 1). While attending these universities…

Words 344 - Pages 2

Great Gatsby Point Of View Analysis

great gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald during the time after world war 1, it was the same time period in the book. "The Great Gatsby" tells a story about a man Name jay gatsby who is a famous millionaire, who was once poor that found a girl name Dasy the (love interest of the main character). F. Scott Fitzgerald Present Gatsby as a man that is irrational ,mysterious, driven, persists and embodiment of the American dream. In the book the point of view of the story is told in nick caraway…

Words 887 - Pages 4

F Scott Fitzgerald's Influence On The Great Gatsby

Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and published in 1925, The Great Gatsby has increasingly become a classic novel that many people have favored since it was first published. Fitzgerald may have believed that his work died when he did. That his creations were possibly forever forgotten, and that he did not make an impact on society. He was wrong, because at present, whether in classrooms or resting on bookshelves in libraries and homes, his words are still very much alive inside of us; everyday someone…

Words 1055 - Pages 5

Essay On Light In The Great Gatsby

Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows that how only a light can have such an effect on the whole story. So green light symbolizes Gatsby's true love for Daisy, and money . The green light symbolizes the hope for the bright future;it is Gatsby’s personal dream and the American dream of the society. "Gatsby believed in the green light," Nick said (182). Gatsby really loved Daisy and that’s why the green light meant for love to him. When Gatsby looked at the green light it gave Gatsby a feeling…

Words 534 - Pages 3

The Great Gatsby Book Report Essay

Louis Chen The Great Gatsby Book Report The book, The Great Gatsby, was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896. He received his name form the man who wrote the "The Star-Spangled Banner". Like Nick, the main character of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald had a strong romantic desire. It is as if the events of F. Scott Fitzgerald's life were put into this book. While Fitzgerald lived near Montgomery, Alabama, he met one of the many loves of his life…

Words 1082 - Pages 5