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Decisive Elements In The Great Gatsby

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The German author, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, “ I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. My personal approach creates the climate. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether or not a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or dehumanized”. While this quote originated around one hundred years before The Great Gatsby was written, it can be spoken by Nick Carraway and maintain its validity. The quote aligns with Nick’s role as the epistemic narrator, as well as his characterization throughout the novel. Due to Nick Carraway’s role as the epistemic narrator of The Great Gatsby, he suits Goethe’s quote perfectly. Nick expresses his understanding of the quale “that he is the decisive element” by stating “reading over what I have written so far, I see I have given the impression that the events of three nights several weeks apart were all that absorbed me” (Ch 3, Pg 24). In this statement, Nick pauses the storyline of the novel and ensures the reader that he controls what information is relayed and how it is interpreted without directly stating his title as the “decisive element”. Because every story possesses a level of bias, …show more content…

Thus, when a conflict arises, Nick possesses the ability to humanize or dehumanize another character. During his separation discussion with Jordan, he dehumanizes (makes her less humane or civilized) her to the reader. Nick recalls her stating “I don’t give a damn about you now” (Ch 9, Pg 87). Essentially, Jordan was humane before the break up, but afterwards Nick allows the reader to know her harsh, inhumane statement. Nick’s response to her statement was that he was “angry”, which confirms that her actions were inhumane (Ch 9, Pg 87). Thus, because of the reader only receiving the storyline from Nick, Jordan Baker was dehumanized after their separation

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Crystal Castaldi Professor Douglas Brown Fyw 20 April 2018 Two Warring Worlds: An Analysis of Holden Caulfield and Nick Carraway The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a tragedy that, despite it taking place in the 1920s, describes many themes that still apply today. The character of Nick Carraway in Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby can be likened to Holden Caulfield from J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.

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Fitzgerald utilizes many rhetorical strategies throughout his novel. Specific to the excerpt the rhetorical strategies metaphor and personification are found to be used to strengthen Fitzgerald’s key themes of dreams and reality. Ultimately though, the rhetorical strategies and themes contribute to creating the effect that Gatsby is truly above the average man and that Gatsby, at least to Nick, is some amazing creature that grew from his dreams. The first instance of personification to be used in the passage is in the line, “I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever: I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart” This use of personification has the effect of

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The story starts off with the reader learning about how Nick’s lifestyle has been shaped. We learn that his father has taught him to not judge other people. His moral standards are different from other people so his father thinks he would misunderstand them. We learn about his moral values when he goes with Tom to attend a social gathering. Nick has only gotten drunk other than one time prior to this party.

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I believe NIck Carraway is a very dynamic character in the Great Gatsby because he went from being outside the plot to being right in the middle of it, he also changed his lifestyle throughout the novel, his opinions of the other characters also changed. t t t t t t t t t t t t t t

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Recounting heartbreak, betrayal, and deception, F. Scott Fitzgerald paints a bleak picture in the 1920’s novel The Great Gatsby. Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, witnesses the many lies others weave in order to achieve their dreams. However, the greatest deception he encounters is the one he lives. Not having a true dream, Nick instead finds purpose by living vicariously through others, and he loses that purpose when they are erased from his life.

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Regarding the same championship, Nick accuses Jordan of participating in dishonest behavior without evidence. He assumes from her personality and how she presents herself that she is getting herself into trouble. Nick says that “At her first big golf tournament there was a row that nearly reached the newspapers -- a suggestion that she

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Colorful Characters: An Excerpt that Reflects upon the Characters in Scott Fitzgerald’s Novel The Great Gatsby Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, a true modern American classic, has various thematic considerations, ranging from the American Dream to life in the Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald takes several approaches towards establishing these themes, whether it be by creating a specific setting or using extensive figurative language. Moreover, while many of the scenes in the novel may, at first read, seem insignificant, upon closer examination of the passages’ elements, one can see that they all tie together to the big picture of the novel in one way or another. In a Chapter 3 passage in which the narrator, Nick Carraway, is at his

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Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway are two of the most important characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Throughout the novel many comparisons and contrasts can be made, however, this may be arguably the most important due to the magnitude of importance of these two characters and the roles they play in progressing the story. Jay Gatsby, a fabulously wealthy young man living in a Gothic Mansion in West Egg and the protagonist, throws constant parties every Saturday night, but nobody has much insight about him. Nick Carraway, a young man from Minnesota who lives in New York City to learn the bond business, is typically an honest and tolerant man. Although they do share some similarities, they also share a plethora of differences in their

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Nick Carraway is the narrator in the novel “The Great Gatsby “by F. Scott Fitzgerald. He is also the protagonist in the story. Nick is responsible for letting readers know what was happening in the story and his and other characters reaction toward it. He has explained how Gatsby love for Daisy and his disliking Tom. In the “The Great Gatsby” there are many thoughts nick has hidden from Gatsby such as Tom’s affair.

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However, Nick doesn’t question the situation and even goes on to get as debauched as everyone else at the party. Nick’s “bystander complex” is further cemented when he sneaks out of the party amongst the chaos and spends the rest of it with McKee. Socially, Nick wasn’t in any position that would hinder him from offering to help Myrtle or even to stop Tom from abusing her. He was after all closest to Tom in

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This decision has consequences as well. Nick has information that could be useful to police as well as protect Jay, but he prefers to lie. Jordan Baker suspects Nick to be a liar as well. When Nick and Jordan talk a while after the car accident, she tells Nick she believed he was an honest person, but after most of his behavior, she has changed her mind. “‘... I thought you were rather an honest, straightforward person.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway are among the most prominent exponents of literature of the twentieth century. Forming part of the Lost Generation, these authors not only develop similar themes throughout their works, but heavily influenced each other. The Great Gatsby being Fitzgerald’s magnum opus, serves as a prime illustration of the staples of contemporary literature. In the novel The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, the author depicts himself through a character, Nick Carraway, conforming to other self depiction common in the Lost Generation, such as Hemingway in the Nick Adams stories. Nick Carraway and Nick Adams represent Fitzgerald and Hemingway, both serving as apertures into Fitzgerald’s and Hemingway’s view of the world.

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1208 Words | 5 Pages

The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and narrated by a man named Nick Carraway. This novel was written with the intent of showing the readers how morally corrupt the 1920s were. Throughout the novel, characters abandon their moral values for a materialistic lifestyle. The novel depicts a great picture of the roles men and women played in the 1920s. Even with the changing roles of men and women, they continued to rely heavily on whom they were married to and what social class they belonged to.

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1659 Words | 7 Pages

" Under the circumstances Nick hardly expects any section of Gatsby's fabulous story to be true..." (Donaldson 161). Gatsby manipulates Nick throughout the novel, causing

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922 Words | 4 Pages

"Life is more successfully looked at from a single window after, all" (9). This quote describes how Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tells the story. The story is told as if the reader is looking through a single window looking in upon the characters. The audience only sees the thoughts and emotions of Nick. They see what he experiences, which suggests that the whole novel is told in the first person.

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