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Examples Of Nick Honesty In The Great Gatsby

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When you read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby for your class, you go, “Oh Nick is a liar, a coward, and a narcissist!” and you get an A on your paper. However, I present another argument: Nick is actually one of the few honest people in the novel. “What? There is no way!” I imagine you say. I do see the evidence is stacked against me is solid, or so it would seem. It is obvious Nick knows about Myrtle. In addition, Nick is the one who invites Daisy to meet Gatsby and get back together, even though Daisy is a married woman. There is also the argument that Nick is keeping information from the readers. There might be a strong evidence for these arguments; however, it falls apart when analyzed further. Furthermore, Nick is honest compared …show more content…

It is true Nick knows about the affair between Tom and Myrtle however, it does not mean Nick is actively involved. Since the affair is public knowledge, everyone knows that, “Tom’s got some woman in New York” (15). If everybody knows about the affair, does that mean everybody is a liar? “What about that the fact that Nick knows whom is Tom cheating with, and he won’t tell Daisy about her?” It is accurate that Nick knows about Myrtle, but he has no choice but to know about Myrtle since Tom takes Nick to meet Myrtle. Nick did not know what was happening until Tom tells Nick, “I want to meet my girl” (7). In addition, there is no reason for Nick to tell Daisy about Myrtle since Daisy already knows about the affair so even if Daisy knows about Myrtle it would not make a …show more content…

Nick has accepted from his father, "Whenever you feel like criticizing someone, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had all of the advantages you've had" (1). This advice has turned Nick into a decent person and an honest narrator. Using the advice given to him, Nick presents his information in a proper and honest manner and letting us judge the characters. Instead of questioning Tom’s morality with his affair, Nick simply states Tom is in an affair showing Nick’s use of his father’s advice. Nick also tells us everything we need to know and we get to judge based on the info. For instance, he documents all the rumors about Gatsby's past. Nick records Lucille’s comment, "Somebody told me that thought he killed a man once… It's more that he was a German spy during the war" (44). Moreover, Nick' reliability can be shown by him bringing readers to the scene where Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan fight for Daisy at the Plaza Hotel, and how Daisy's response releases how selfish and careless she

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In both cases Nick tells the truth, he does see Gatsby as a driven man of many talents, however at the the Myrtle incident shows him how far Gatsby is willing to go to protect Daisy and how

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385 Words | 2 Pages

In the book The Great Gatsby The narrator Nick Carraway says, “Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known”(Fitzgerald 59). Nick’s statement is a very broad statement but it is true, basically all of the characters in this book are very dishonest or are just a little dishonest but participate in big lies. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book The Great Gatsby is full of lies. About all of the characters in the great gatsby are untruthful and dishonest. Everybody around Nick is dishonest, like how Tom is cheating on Daisy with Myrtle, or how Jordan cheated on her first golf tournament, but most of lying is from Gatsby and Daisy.

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510 Words | 3 Pages

Nick is not going to be a good person for helping Gatsby have an affair with Tom’s wife Daisy. Tom doesn’t know that Nick is helping Gatsby so what he is doing is going unnoticed, but in general, the kind of favors Nick is doing for Gatsby does not make him a good person. Nick might think as a person he is just an innocent bystander but he is the whole reason everything happened the way it did, like the reunion of Gatsby and Daisy, the death of Gatsby, etc. Tom might not know Nick is all behind this meeting but to Tom, Nick is a reliable person an example of this is when Tom is having an affair with Myrtle, Nick is tagging along because Tom just assumes Nick is reliable proven in the quote on page 28, “There is always a halt there of at least a minute, and it was because of this that I first met Tom Buchanan’s mistress.” At this point Tom knows Nick won’t tell otherwise this wouldn’t have

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1119 Words | 5 Pages

Nick’s impression of Gatsby

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652 Words | 3 Pages

This rumor comes to fruition when Nick meets this “other woman” at Wilson’s garage. Myrtle and Tom have

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1157 Words | 5 Pages

Amanda Michleski English III CP Guadagnino Gatsby Response Journal Chapter 1 Nick introduced himself before telling the story. He seems like he is not very close to his father and that he does not talk to him very much. He says he is not judgmental, since his dad advised him not to be. Even though he listened to his father, he discovers through his life that being judgmental, at least a bit, would be beneficial in certain situations if he was. Everyone wants to confide in Nick, and tell them their problems.

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753 Words | 4 Pages

Nick knows Tom won’t ever take responsibility for his actions; he is just an uncaring person. By asserting, “I sat down and cried like a baby” (Fitzgerald 178), Tom begins to victimize himself when talking about Myrtle’s death. Tom also feels threatened that Nick might know something else, the truth. This threat appears not to be physical, but in fact metaphysical threat. It is evident that Tom still feels anger towards Gatsby and him getting away with other problems, such as his affair with Daisy.

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1315 Words | 6 Pages

We immediately learn that Nick is related to Daisy Buchanan who is currently married to Tom. Nick was invited to tag along with Tom to meet his mistress, Myrtle whose husband runs a garage. Tom and Nick go

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1201 Words | 5 Pages

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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852 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F Scott Fitzgerald, the wealthiest people want to be wealthier and achieve The American Dream. People use others to get ahead and lie to keep secrets hidden, and deceit to get what they want. The use of deceit and lying completely obliterate and corrupt the American Dream. People might use others to get ahead to fulfill their dream using deceit; which is not the proper way to fulfill the American Dream. Gatsby wants to make a positive impression on Nick, since he wants to take advantage of him to get to Daisy once again, “His smile understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you just as you would like to believe in yourself and assured you that it had precisely the impression of

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627 Words | 3 Pages

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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822 Words | 4 Pages

Nick Carraway’s passive nature leads to the many mishaps in the novel, which stresses the idea that not being evil does not necessarily make someone a good person. “I’m inclined to reserve all judgements” (1) Nick states at the beginning of the novel, which instantly sets up his passivity. His passiveness sparks complications early on, such as when Tom takes Nick to meet Myrtle in secret. Nick tags along because he “had nothing better to do” (24) and seems to have little qualms about the fact that Tom is cheating on Daisy openly. As Daisy’s cousin, it is expected that he stands against Tom’s infidelity.

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1238 Words | 5 Pages

Tom also has a big connection with Nick as confides in him to keep Myrtle a secret. With Myrtle as a lover and uses her for his pleasure and enjoyment but this soon creates drama with George Wilson. His involvement with Myrtle is a secret that Nick knows about but Daisy doesn’t know anything about Myrtle which

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978 Words | 4 Pages

These instances change nick. Nick first begins to forget his father advice when he finds out about Tom and Myrtle's affair. After Tom and Nick meet, Tom takes Nick to meet Myrtle at their apartment

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922 Words | 4 Pages

He leaves the two alone after realizing that they are so entranced with each other. Another example is when Nick kept all of his thoughts about the affair to himself. If he would have told Daisy, many of the problems would have been resolved. She would leave Tom for Gatsby. Then Tom could be with Myrtle instead of her tragically dying outside her husband’s shop.

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