Who Is Nick Carraway The Protagonist In The Great Gatsby

788 Words4 Pages

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway is the main narrator of this classic story from the 1920s. It is Nick who we follow along with, listening to his own thoughts and opinions about the situations he had found himself in, and of the people he has met. It is through Nick we meet all these characters, most of which are disliked (especially Tom Buchanan). Nick is shown to be a quiet man. He keeps to himself, and he doesn’t often share his own opinions. Though he judges others, he does not really act upon those judgements, nor does he hardly express any of them, opting to stay silent even in the worst of scenarios. Nick is someone I relate to closely, since he and I share many similar personality traits. Though, where he keeps …show more content…

Tom drags him along to George Wilson’s car repair shop, and Nick is made to awkwardly stand there as Tom sets up a meeting with Myrtle. Afterwards, the gang meets back up and off they go to Myrtle’s apartment. During that ride, Nick says that he’ll leave the couple here, but is stopped by Tom, who basically verbally forces him back into his seat. Nick could have easily insisted that he should leave (most would do just that in his situation), but he doesn’t, so now he has to put up with one of the most awkward events in the book: Tom and Myrtle’s little gathering of friends, where he simply sits there, gives small replies, sees Tom slap Myrtle, and...sleeps with Mr. Mckee after the …show more content…

It allows for a little one-on-one between Nick and Gatsby, which I kind of enjoy. Here, Nick notices that the facade that Gatsby keeps up sort of vanishes here and there. His accent changes, and there are notable errors in what he says to Nick. Gatsby also shows off his war medals, and repeats again that he’s an “Oxford man”. Nick knows what Gatsby is doing. Gatsby is trying to emphasize the fact that he is a very rich, smart Oxford man who’s been through The Great War, yet, he doesn’t seem to call him out on anything. He allows Gatsby to continue giving half-truths and lies. Gatsby even says that he’s from the Middle West. When Nick asks him from where in the Middle West he’s from, Gatsby replies, “San Francisco”. I don’t know if Nick knows where San Francisco is, but it is NOT in the Mid West. Nick could have easily brought that up. Nick could have shown Gatsby that he saw through everything. Instead he remains silent. He refuses to break that metaphorical cracked mask that Gatsby

Open Document