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Examples Of Morally Ambiguous Characters In The Great Gatsby

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In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is a morally ambiguous character. The novel takes place in the 1920s and involves Nick Carraway as the narrator. A morally ambiguous character is a character whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely good or purely corrupt. Gatsby is a morally ambiguous character because of his relationship with Meyer Wolfsheim, his attitude towards Nick Carraway, and his desperation for Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby is portrayed as a morally ambiguous character because of his relationship with Meyer Wolfsheim. Wolfsheim has made an impact in both Gatsby’s life and success. He says he “‘raised [Gatsby] up out of nothing, right out of the gutter’” (171). This quote shows that …show more content…

Nick starts off by judging Gatsby and does not truly like him. Gatsby is shown as naive and does not realize how Nick feels toward him. He continues to be friendly around Nick even though Nick thinks of Gatsby as an awkward person. An example is, “At a lull in the entertainment [Gatsby] looked at [Nick] and smiled” (47). This quote explains Nick and Gatsby’s first encounter. At this time Nick does not know who Gatsby is, but Gatsby knows Nick. Gatsby actions toward Nick comes off in an amicable way. Gatsby seems like a welcoming person because he smiles occasionally and wants to associate with a random stranger, Nick. Another quote is, “‘Want to go with me, old sport? Just near the shore along the Sound’” (47). This quote shows that Gatsby invites Nick to hang out during their first meeting together. Gatsby is already fond of Nick because he is not inviting just any stranger to hang out with him. Out of everyone at his party, Gatsby chooses Nick. This proves that Gatsby can be defined as purely good because he likes to approach people and does not seem to have any bad intentions. He can be defined as purely corrupt because he uses Nick to achieve his goal. This shows Gatsby as being selfish and will do whatever he can to achieve his goal in pursuing

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917 Words | 4 Pages

It is a given that every piece of work that people read will contain all sorts of characters. Those characters can range from villains, victims, or venerables. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, he very thoroughly presents each of those types of characters to his readers. Mr. Wilson matches the definition of a victim in this novel by the way people deceived him and lied to him the entire time, Nick Carraway presents himself as a venerable, otherwise known as an honorable character, due to his outstanding loyalty, and Daisy Buchanan, although not seen by most, is a villain because of her actions that cause detrimental issues.

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687 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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2312 Words | 10 Pages

Fitzgerald attempts to make Gatsby appear as a compassionate and humble man who cares for everyone but fails at doing so by showing his many flaws and actions that go against the very idea of him being a compassionate man. At first, Gatsby appears to be perhaps the only compassionate man in the book and maybe even comparable to Christ. You see him opening his home to everyone, and taking people in and being kind hearted to everyone he encounters but later the reader begins to discover that everything Gatsby does, has an ulterior motive. For example, his kindness to Nick first appears to be just him being kind to his neighbour, however the reader later realises that the only purpose in Gatsby’s kindness towards Nick was to get him to assist him come in to contact with Daisy and be reintroduced to her. “I’m going to make a big request of you to-day” (Fitzgerald 52).

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569 Words | 3 Pages

The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates a morally ambiguous character that can’t be defined as strictly good or evil. Moral ambiguity is the driving force towards Gatsby’s actions. The character Gatsby demonstrates morally ambiguous qualities that initiate plot throughout the whole novel. Morally ambiguous choices can be viewed towards Gatsby’s character throughout the novel. The first glimpse of Gatsby is introduced in the first chapter while Nick is “exempting him from his reaction” of a “uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever” already placing Gatsby in a position of moral ambiguity (Fitzgerald 2).

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826 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby is an American novel written by Scott Fitzgerald. On the surface, the book revolves around the concept of romance, the love between two individuals. However, the novel incorporates less of a romantic scope and rather focuses on the theme of the American Dream in the 1920s. Fitzgerald depicts the 1920’s as an era of decline in moral values. The strong desire for luxurious pleasure and money ultimately corrupts the American dream which was originally about individualism.

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564 Words | 3 Pages

It is made clear to the reader that Nick gains quite an interest in Gatsby. He actually begins to become obsessed with him. The book states, “Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him… It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again.”

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479 Words | 2 Pages

Nick first sees Gatsby after having an awkward dinner with Daisy, Tom and Jordan. He's standing outside of his house, which is next to Gatsby's. He sees him off in the distance and describes him as " I was not alone--fifty feet away a figure had emerged from the shadow of my neighbor's mansion and was standing with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars. Something in his leisurely movements and the

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336 Words | 2 Pages

He likes to be secluded and rarely has any friends. When He Talked To Gatsby, gatsby invites nick to his party. Now nick is Gatsby’s neighbor which Gatsby invited nick over politeness. Nick started to brag about being invited by gatsby face to face, he took so much pride into that invite as said in (pg.). No matter who it was, Nick brought up being invited no matter the topic.

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1014 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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1016 Words | 5 Pages

If one is honest, they are to be free of deceit and untruthfulness; sincere. The quality of being honest is honesty. Although characters in The Great Gatsby are quite sincere, they fall short in the possession of honesty. The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which depicts how American life was during the Roaring Twenties.

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712 Words | 3 Pages

Character Ambiguity in “The Great Gatsby” Throughout a large majority of fictional literature, the characters are constructed to act and react upon however the author fabricates them to be. Within the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Daisy Buchanan’s character can be interpreted in a variety of connotations; her attitudes and behaviors reflect on her morality. Throughout the narrative, Fitzgerald displays Daisy as a controversial character with examples of her ambiguous personality qualities and actions.

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637 Words | 3 Pages

In the third chapter Nick had met Gatsby for the first time at one of the large parties thrown at Gatsby 's mansion. Nick hadn 't realized he had met Gatsby until Nick said something about not meeting the host of the party. Gatsby had then stated whom he was and then said "I thought you knew, old sport. I 'm afraid I 'm not a very good host.". Nick had then stated, "He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly.

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1062 Words | 5 Pages

Nick is the only one who begins to experience true love towards Gatsby. As their bond grew so did his respect and admiration. He was intrigued by his journey from his poor past to his current extravagant lifestyle. As a whole, the majority of the characters in the book do not know or understand the true meaning of

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808 Words | 4 Pages

Gatsby is a wealthy man who lives in West Egg. He tells Nick that he is “the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West” (Fitzgerald, 65). He later states, “I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition” (Fitzgerald, 65). This is what Gatsby wants Nick to believe but, in reality, Nick tells the reader that Gatsby was a man by the name of James Gatz and he was the son of unsuccessful farmers.

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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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