The Great Gatsby Have you ever wondered why Gatsby decided to come back and find Daisy? In the book, The Great Gatsby, written by Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby pursues to find his ex-lover Daisy by buying a house and throwing massive parties across the bay hoping she would wander into his party sometime. Gatsby has a true love for Daisy and he is very eager to find her so he uses Nick as a way to reel her into his hands. The main character Nick is seen throughout the novel as a bystander and Gatsby’s new good friend.
He is reminded of this every time he goes outside. He compares his wealth to Gatsby by explaining the details of his house and his lawn to Gatsby's. Nicks reality is that he is just as lost as Daisy and Gatsby. He wanders from the Middle East to New York to see if he can become successful like any other man in America. He loves spending time with Gatsby because it's the only time where he can live a lavish life unlike his real life where he has a terrible job and an even worse
Nick is a more reserved character, he keeps to himself, and tries to stay out of drama as much as he can. Nick moved from the Midwest to New York because he wanted to create a new, better life for himself. Although Nick is wealthy, he does not go around flaunting his money like Jay and Tom. Nick is Gatsby’s neighbor and is more of an observer. In “The Great Gatsby” the text states, “They had forgotten about me, but Daisy glanced up and held out her hand; Gatsby didn’t know me now at all” (Fitzgerald 96).
After meeting Nick, Gatsby sees an opportunity to reconnect with Daisy through her cousin Nick. When chasing a dream the typical human will use any resources to get closer to achieving that goal: in this case, Gatsby uses Nick as his resource. As a reader you can sense the potential excitement Gatsby has after realizing he may actually have a chance now at getting Daisy back. Sometimes when chasing a dream we as people do not actually consider whether or not it is attainable, this very thing is the reason for Gatsby’s downfall and eventual death. There is a battle between whether or not we should pursue our dreams and it is a rather complicated one especially in Gatsby’s case.
In the story, “The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, portrays an idea that Nick’s personality is being changed throughout the story along with his emotional state by the rich and powerful people he is around. The progression of Nick throughout the story shows a man who wanted to live a simple life at home but then turns quickly into a person who he himself couldn't recognize. In the beginning, the story begins through the eyes of Nick. It’s describing how he lives in West Egg in a small house in New Jersey. He is surrounded by rich people in mansions with one of them being an old friend that he went to Yale with who lives across the bay.
Near the beginning of The Great Gatsby Nick assumes these ideas that he has heard about Gatsby, he puts his initial trust into the ideas of others. As the novel goes on though and Nick meets Gatsby he learns much about the true character of Gatsby and his trust in Gatsby evolves. This is exemplified in the New Great Gatsby Movie during the scene where Nick is at Gatsby’s funeral and no one shows up except him. Nick was the only one who was brave enough to actually interact with Gatsby even with all of his preconceived notions of the man. This bravery and trust allowed for these notions to be tested and that gave Nick an even more trusting relationship with Gatsby.
The next major symbols in The Great Gatsby are the East and West Egg, and the differences between them. Nick and Gatsby live in West Egg. It is not as luxurious as East Egg, Nick describes it as, “the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not little sinister contrast between them” (14). West Egg seems as though it is for the families and people who are newly wealthy, Gatsby for example, or young, as Nick has moved into a small house, with the “consoling proximity of millionaires - all for eighty dollars a month” (14). When comparing West Egg to East Egg, the reader is able to see what each island symbolizes, which helps to create depth in the novel.
Gatsby eventually thinks that he can make things right again as he continues to try new and old things to get her back. He had reached an age where death no longer. “He has the quality of ghastly surprise, and when he looked around him now for the first time and saw the height and splendor of the hall and the great rooms opening out from it into other rooms, his grief began to be mixed with an awed pride. (9.40)” this could be a reason Gatsby believes in the way he does. Nick try to give a visual description on how his dad acted which may be part of the reason Gatsby is the way he is.
Gatsby lost the women he loved, Nick got so caught up with drama with everyone he knew, he ended up as unhappy as the rest. Everyone used Nick at least once, or gave him something to doubt. People used everyone and no one noticed. “If you want anything just ask for it old sport,” (Fitzgerald 48) Gatsby was trying to create a friendship with Nick, only to later on use him as bait to get closer to Daisy, who Gatsby believed loved him. But in the end nothing really comes the way he wanted, proven when Daisy admits she loved Gatsby but not the way when they were young.
Her situation also parallels Gatsby’s, because regardless of her wealth and status, no one truly cares about her after her death. Nick’s recurring dreams about the East as well as the fact that he spends the time writing The Great Gatsby about his experience in the East two years after the fact are proof that he has never been able to fully move on and that in some sense we know his life likely still lacks the dreams and ambitions that caused him to get so attached to Gatsby in the first
At the beginning of the book we find out that Gatsby is Nick's next door neighbor and Nick wants to learn more about the mysteries of Gatsby. Gatsby lied about his past by saying it was great while he had to bring himself up. Gatsby left for the war and while he was enlisted he and Daisy sent letters of communication. Daisy made it a point to explain “I wish we could just run away. ”even
Gatsby couldn't even talk to her without Nick’s presence. He needed Nick to be there and when Gatsby wanted to back out he needed the support of Nick to keep him there. For what he worked so hard for I don't understand why he keeps trying to run away like child. Nick had no “idea what “this matter” was, but [Nick] was more annoyed than interested. [Nick] hadn’t asked Jordan to tea in order to discuss [Gatsby]... and for a moment [Nick] was sorry [he’d] ever set foot upon [Gatsby’s] overpopulated lawn.
Stuck in his reality, Gatsby thinks about all the ways he will get Daisy back, “I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before… she’ll see,” (Fitzgerald 110). Nick Validates the point that Gatsby is so far gone in his love for Daisy that he won't listen to anyone, as seen in what Nick says to Gatsby, he is trying to help him by telling him what he sees and knows is true. Nick using his wisdom to aid Gatsby proves that Gatsby is secluded from reality. Gatsby doesn't listen to Nick when he tells him that you can't have what you once had again. This complements the fact that Gatsby is too in love with Daisy, for he gave up his whole life and Gatsby thinks he is doing all these things for her and giving up everything
He doesn’t have a lot of money when he moves from the west out to the east. The house he lives in is a small house but from the moment he moves into it he is surrounded by money by having Gatsby’s mansion next door to his. The first few people Nick goes to see are very rich, thus continuing the trend of Nick meeting rich people. Later in the story Nick also meets Gatsby and gets to know him and is offered a lot of rich wonderful things like spending time with Gatsby in his hydro-plane or having lunch with Gatsby and doing many other things with the rich people in the story, yet while surrounded by all this money and wonderful things he gets more and more involved with the problems of the rich people around him. It gets to the point where Nick gets so sick of it all he ends up moving back to the west at the end of the story.
