Nick Carraway's Judgments In 'The Great Gatsby'

Essay

Tamoni Jennings

Mrs. Heath

English 3

Fill in the blanks with your title.

People look to make judgments, so they will not critique themselves. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the narrator and main character, Nick Carraway, makes moral judgments on the people around him to appear morally superior. This exposes him to a sense of hypocrisy because, even though Nick looks down on people for the choices they make, he too has made questionable decisions and judgments. The people from West Egg to the Valley of Ashes all become subjects to Nick's scrutiny as he both praises and criticizes them, using his observations to make himself look good while at the same time seeing past their superficiality. In Nick's

Scott Fitzgerald is judgmental. In Chapter One, Nick has already formed an opinion of Tom Buchanan and Daisy Buchanan because he assumes they get married for their money and social rank rather than for love. For example, when Nick leaves the Buchanans' home, he notices the facade they maintain to hide their deteriorating marriage, and he wonders why Daisy will not leave Tom. "I was confused and a little disgusted as I drove away. It seemed to me that the thing for Daisy to do was to rush out of the house, child in arms—but apparently, there were no such intentions in her head" (Fitzgerald 1). Nick's assumption that Daisy should have left Tom and taken her child with her instead of staying with him is illustrated by this. Nick thought Daisy should have known that the best thing to do was to leave Tom and take her child with her. Numerous incidents in this chapter imply that Nick is presumptuous because he thinks Daisy should have left Tom and taken her child with her instead of sticking with him and preserving her reputation. While Nick's view of the situation can be seen as justified, he may have been too quick to judge Daisy's decision to stay with Tom and overlook the complications that may have come from her making such a drastic change in her life. The judgment that Nick placed on Daisy may be seen as unfair due to the lack of understanding he has towards the consequences of her leaving, for both herself and her

Throughout the chapter, he encounters members of the working class, and he begins to share his opinions about wealth and the differences between the classes. For instance, when Tom introduces Nick to his mechanic, George Wilson, Nick describes George Wilson’s shop with a bit of disgust. Nick states, "The interior was unprosperous and bare; the only car visible was the dust-covered wreck of a Ford, which crouched in a dim corner. It had occurred to me that this shadow of a garage must be a blind, and that sumptuous and romantic apartments were concealed overhead, when the proprietor himself appeared in the door of an office, wiping his hands on a piece of waste. He was a blond, spiritless man, anemic, and faintly handsome. When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes" (Fitzgerald 5). Nick’s opinion of the shop is full of assumptions about the working class. He applies his own disappointment about the "unprosperous" and "bare" shop by insisting that it must be a front for something better, calling the shop a "blind." Nick seems to imagine that there must be "sumptuous" and "romantic" apartments upstairs, but he is let down when he sees George. Nick’s description of George further cements his disgust with the working class. By describing George as "spiritless" and "anemic," Nick suggests that George is unhappy with his life. While there may be some truth to this, Nick’s