Compare And Contrast Nick Carraway And Jay Gatsby

Nick is quiet, shy, and a good friend towards others. However, he is judgmental, brutally honest, and a hypocrite. Nick is a realistic and practical person that wanted to make more out his life. Nick wanted to be as wealthy as the people that he lived by, but he later learned that being rich was not in his best interest. One of the mansions he lived by was owned by a man named Jay Gatsby. Nick comes to one of Gatsby’s parties and meets him. After that night, Gatsby looks at Nick as a friend and confidant. Nick had some trouble trusting Gatsby in the beginning of the story. However, Nick observes the people around him and finds that the only person he truly trusts, by the end of the story, is Gatsby. Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby, both dynamic

Nick is the opposite to Gatsby in a lot of ways. Nick is a shy, quiet character, while Gatsby is not quiet nor shy. Nick has only been drunk twice in his life and the second time had been at the party where he met Tom’s mistress (Fitzgerald 29). He is uncomfortable around situations and people that he is not used to. Gatsby, on the other hand, is comfortable around strangers. He has had parties at his house with a large number of strangers. At one of Gatsby’s parties, Nick saw that he wasn’t like the other guests and almost got “roaring drunk from sheer embarrassment” (Fitzgerald 42). He was shy and self-conscious around people he didn’t know. He didn’t engage with anyone at the party until he saw Jordan Baker. Nick is also more observant and more judgmental than Jay Gatsby and this showed in their relationship throughout the story. Nick went back and forth in trusting Gatsby. Nick had heard so many rumors and he was confused and curious

One thing that Nick and Gatsby had in common was that they kept secrets. Unlike Gatsby who kept his own secrets, Nick kept the secrets of others. For example, Nick found out that Jordan cheated in a golf tournament, Wolfsheim had fixed the world series, and Tom was having an affair with Wilson’s wife. There are many other secrets that Nick had kept from others. The reason he knew so many secrets was because so many people trusted him enough to confide in him. Gatsby wasn’t very trusted because he had kept many secrets about himself. This made Nick have trouble trusting him. When Nick questioned the inheritance of his money, Gatsby had told him that it wasn’t his “affair” (Fitzgerald 90). Even though Gatsby was open with Nick at the time, there were still things that he wouldn’t share. Another thing Nick and Gatsby have in common was that they are both scared of rejection. Nick would sometimes walk around New York and pick out women to imagine “in a few minutes [he] was going to enter into their lives, and no one would ever disapprove” (Fitzgerald 56). He was lonely sometimes and looking for love, but he was scared of rejection from either her or other people. Gatsby is the same way; however, he isn’t looking for love. He already loves Daisy. When he had met up with Daisy, this being the first time they had seen each other in five years, he was “acting