Development of Nick in Great Gatsby

2. Nick s moral growth. Professor David Parker, in commenting on The Great Gatsby , raises the issue of Nick s moral growth from an inexperienced, complacent midwes terner to a much wiser, more mature man who, after his time in the East, had acq uired an understanding of the complexity of humanity (1986, pp. 35-39). Early on, we learn of Nick s traditional prescriptions for life. He recalls his fa ther s advice chat a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth. Even after returning home from the East, Nick admits to wanting the wor ld at a sort of moral attention forever. During his first visit to Tom and Daisy B uchanan, his priggish, rule-bound view of life comes to the fore when he learns that Tom is taking a call from his mistress: To a certain temperament the situation might have seemed intriguing my own instinc t was to telephone immediately for the police. Later, Nick admits to being slow-thinking and full of interior rules. As we procee d through the story, however, Nick begins to sense the complexity in others and in life generally. He comes to admire a man, Gatsby, who breaks all of the rules . He comes to look at life from a variety of viewpoints in keeping with the rema rkable array of personalities he had encountered on his sojourn East. Toward the end of the story, as he leaves Jordan behind, Nick acknowledges a new sense of perspective in his moral life. Jordan: I thought you were rather an honest, straightforward person. I thought i t was your secret pride. Nick: I m thirty, I said. I m five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor. Clearly, Nick is confused after his Gatsby experience. He wants to cling to the rules of his midwestern youth, but he senses that life provides more complexity than his rules suggested. Nick s moral floundering thus provides an apt point of e ntry for examining contemporary theories of moral development. I rely on the wor k of noted developmental psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg (1981) as well as his cr itics and admirers, but others could be used. Kohlberg built an empirically base d theory in which he identified six universal and progressively higher stages of moral development that depended in good part on age (at least up to the early t wenties) and education: Stage 1: Obey rules to avoid punishment. Accept the dictates of those in authori ty. Stage 2: Follow rules only if doing so is in one s self-interest. Cooperate with o thers in order to secure rewards for oneself. Stage 3: Peer pressure. Conform to the expectations of others. Stage 4: Rule orientation. Obey the law. Uphold the social order. Stage 5: Social contract. Laws and duty are obeyed on the grounds of rational ca lculations to serve the greatest number. Stage 6: Moral autonomy. Follow self-chosen universal principles. In the event o f conflict, principles override rules and laws. Nick s unambiguous rule orientation as he heads East stands in clear contrast with the confusion he feels as he prepares his return to the Midwest. Nick seems to be virtually the embodiment of Kohlberg s conception of moral growth as he gains i ncreased moral maturity via the intellectual dissonance that leads to moral adju stments @@@@@@@@@@@ Characters Nick Carraway is my favourite character, because he is such a good, modest and s mart person. He is the only character who changes substantially from the story s b

eginning to its end. He is an educated man who desires more out of life than the quite Midwest can deliver (although it is interesting that before living in the city any length of time he retreats to the country). What helps make Nick so re markable, however, is the way that he had aspirations without being taken in-to move with the socialites, for example, but not allowing himself to become blinde d by the glitz that characterises their lifestyle. When he realises what his soc ial superiors are really like (shallow, hollow, uncaring, and self-serving), he is disgusted and, rather than continuing to cater to them, he distances himself. In effect, motivated by his conscience, Nick commits social suicide by forceful ly pulling away from people like the Buchannans and Jordan Baker. Nick is set off as being more practical and down-to-earth than other characters. He is more modest and less egocentric than the others. Nick had what many of the other characters lack-personal integrity-and his sense of right and wrong helps to elevate him above the others. He alone is repulsed by the phoney nature of the socialites. He alone is moved by Gatsby s death. When the other characters scatter to the wind after Gatsby s death, Nick, unable to bel ieve that none of Gatsby s associates will even pay their last respects, picks up the pieces and ensures Gatsby isn t alone in his death. Through the course of The Great Gatsby Nick grows, from a man dreaming of a fortune, to a man who knows on ly too well what misery a fortune can bring. Nick Carraway, the story s narrator, has a singular place within The Great Gatsby; he is both narrator and participant. Nick rents the small house next to Gatsby s mansion in West Egg and, over the cour se of events, helps Gatsby reunite with Daisy (who happens to be Nick s cousin). N ick s midwestern sensibility finds the East an unsettling place, and he becomes di sillusioned with how wealthy socialites like the Buchannans lead their lives. Nick Carraway is a round character. He s extensive described and goes through a de velopment. Theme In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald offers up commentary on a variety of themes-justi ce, power, greed, betrayal, the American dream and so on. Of all the themes, per haps none is better developed than that of social stratification. Fitzgerald car efully sets up his novel into distinct groups but, in the end, each group has it s own problems to contend with, leaving a powerful reminder of what a precarious place the world really is. By creating distinct social classes-old money, new m oney, and no money-Fitzgerald sends strong messages about the elitism running th roughout every strata of society. The first and most obvious group Fitzgerald attacks is, of course, the rich. He presents two distinct types of wealthy people. First, there are people like the Buchannans and Jordan Baker who were born into wealth. Their families have had m oney for many generations, hence they are old money . They don t have to work and the y spend their time amusing themselves with whatever takes their fancy. For the ol d money people, the fact that Gatsby (and countless other people like him in the 1920s; the new money ) has only just recently acquired his money is reason enough t o dislike him. In many ways, the social elite are right. The new money people cannot be like them , and in many ways that works in their favour-those in society s highest echelon a re not nice people at all. They are judgmental and superficial, failing to look at the essence of the people around them (and themselves too). The people with n ewly acquired wealth, though, aren t necessarily much better. Think of Gatsby s part ygoers.

Just as he did with people of money, Fitzgerald uses the people with no money to convey a strong message. Nick, although he comes from a family with a bit of we alth, doesn t have nearly the capitol of Gatsby of Tom. In the end, though, he sho ws himself to be an honourable and principled man, which is more than Tim exhibi ts. Myrtle, though, is another story. She comes from the middle class at best. She h ad distanced herself from her moral obligations and has no difficulty cheating o n her husband when it means that she gets to lead the lifestyle she wants, if on ly for a little while. What she doesn t realise, however, is that Tom and his frie nds will never accept her into their circle. Fitzgerald had a keen eye and in The Great Gatsby presents a harsh picture of th e world he sees around him. The 1920s marked a time of great post-war economic g rowth, and Fitzgerald captures the frenzy of the society well. Although, of cour se, Fitzgerald could have no way of foreseeing the stock market crash of 1929, t he world he presents in The Great Gatsby seems clearly to be headed for disaster . They have assumed skewed worldviews, mistakenly believing their survival lies in stratification and reinforcing social boundaries. They erroneously place thei r faith in superficial external means (such as money and materialism), while neg lecting to cultivate the compassion and sensitivity that, in fact, separate huma ns from the animals. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald proudly tackles the theme of spirituality. His a ttack is stubble, making his message heard most forcefully by what is missing, r ather than what is there. The world of The Great Gatsby is one of excess, folly and pleasure, a world where people are so busy living for the moment that they h ave lost touch with any sort of morality, and end up breaking laws, cheating, an d even killing. As debauched as this may sound, however, they have not abandoned spirituality altogether. Rather, Fitzgerald s post-war parties have substituted m aterialism and instant creature comforts for philosophic principles, thus sugges ting a lack of order and structure in the worlds of East Egg, West Egg, and beyo nd. In fact every one of the seven deadly sins (pride, envy, wrath, sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust) is well represented. None of the characters, including Nick, are free, from the deadly devices, which at least in times past, have tradition ally marked the downfall of a community. It is interesting to note that although the seven deadly sins are depicted time and time again by the people in the nov el, the theological counterpart to the seven deadly sins, the seven cardinal vir tues (faith, hope, love, prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance) are nearl y invisible. Gatsby, of course, has more, hope than all the others put together, but in the end, that one thing, no matter how strong, can t save him. Fitzgerald uses act and actions of his characters to convey a sense of growing m oral decrepitude, but he compounds his message through other means as well. Firs t, there is the giant billboard, the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, which, as Ge orge Wilson reveals, represent the eyes of God, which can be interpreted in two ways. On one hand, he could be suggesting that a watchful presence overlooks soc iety all the time, and will hold the world accountable for its actions. Given th is interpretation, Fitzgerald seems to be urging readers to remember that they t hemselves are being watched, so they had better prepare to account for their act ions. On the other hand, George s statement may be taken as a testament to his ske w judgement. Has he fallen so far away from standard religion that he does, in f act, believe the enormous eyes watching over the valley of ashes are the eyes of God? Does he interpret the eyes literally, as opposed to metaphorically? If so, Fitzgerald is offering a less uplifting message, suggesting that society as fal len so far away from traditional religious teachings that people have lost all f aith and can only misread the significance of the material world around us. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald presents a world in which value systems have gon

e out of balance. He is not espousing a heavy-handed Christian message, but rath er he is encouraging readers to stop and take inventory of their lives. Although some may see Fitzgerald as implying a return to God is necessary for survival, the text supports something far more subtle: Fitzgerald is urging a reconsiderat ion of where society is and where it is going. The Great Gatsby: Gatsby is the main character of the novel. I think it s called t he great Gatsby, because for most people Gatsby is a very rich, mysterious man. After all, Gatsby is an ordinary, lonely man. So, I think the title is a bit cyn ical. Yes, there is a relation between the theme and the title: it s about stratificatio n ( Great ) and lack of morality (the cynical interpretation). @@@@@@@@@@@ Nick Carraway If Gatsby represents one part of Fitzgerald s personality, the flashy celebrity wh o pursued and glorified wealth in order to impress the woman he loved, then Nick represents another part: the quiet, reflective Midwesterner adrift in the lurid East. A young man (he turns thirty during the course of the novel) from Minneso ta, Nick travels to New York in 1922 to learn the bond business. He lives in the West Egg district of Long Island, next door to Gatsby. Nick is also Daisy s cousi n, which enables him to observe and assist the resurgent love affair between Dai sy and Gatsby. As a result of his relationship to these two characters, Nick is the perfect choice to narrate the novel, which functions as a personal memoir of his experiences with Gatsby in the summer of 1922. Nick is also well suited to narrating The Great Gatsby because of his temperamen t. As he tells the reader in Chapter 1, he is tolerant, open-minded, quiet, and a good listener, and, as a result, others tend to talk to him and tell him their secrets. Gatsby, in particular, comes to trust him and treat him as a confidant . Nick generally assumes a secondary role throughout the novel, preferring to de scribe and comment on events rather than dominate the action. Often, however, he functions as Fitzgerald s voice, as in his extended meditation on time and the Am erican dream at the end of Chapter 9. Insofar as Nick plays a role inside the narrative, he evidences a strongly mixed reaction to life on the East Coast, one that creates a powerful internal confli ct that he does not resolve until the end of the book. On the one hand, Nick is attracted to the fast-paced, fun-driven lifestyle of New York. On the other hand , he finds that lifestyle grotesque and damaging. This inner conflict is symboli zed throughout the book by Nick s romantic affair with Jordan Baker. He is attract ed to her vivacity and her sophistication just as he is repelled by her dishones ty and her lack of consideration for other people. Nick states that there is a quality of distortion to life in New York, and this li festyle makes him lose his equilibrium, especially early in the novel, as when h e gets drunk at Gatsby s party in Chapter 2. After witnessing the unraveling of Ga tsby s dream and presiding over the appalling spectacle of Gatsby s funeral, Nick re alizes that the fast life of revelry on the East Coast is a cover for the terrif ying moral emptiness that the valley of ashes symbolizes. Having gained the matu rity that this insight demonstrates, he returns to Minnesota in search of a quie ter life structured by more traditional moral values.