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Nick's Symbolism In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick’s extravagant description and fascination of Gatsby shows his curiosity of Gatsby’s mysterious character. This is seen in the first actual description of Gatsby’s character on pages 48 and 49. The first detail that Nick points out about Gatsby in this passage is his smile. Nick uses a great amount of descriptive words to describe Gatsby’s smile. He starts off his lengthy description by saying that Gatsby’s smile is one of those “rare smiles” that “you may come across four or five times in life” (48). From this quote, the reader can see that Nick finds Gatsby to be a unique and once-in-a-lifetime type of person. This explains Gatsby’s uniqueness and Nick’s immense interest in Gatsby. As Nick continues describing Gatsby, he personifies his smile and mentions that it “understood you”, …show more content…

Nick’s personification of Gatsby’s smile describes Gatsby himself. This quote reinforces the fact that there is something different but mysterious about Gatsby that intrigues Nick. From Nick’s point of view, only Gatsby’s has these rare qualities. Nick takes something as simple as a smile and thoroughly describes it with such descriptive words. He does not do this with any other character, and this shows his growing interest in Gatsby’s curious character. Another example of Gatsby’s mysterious character causing Nick to become more curious about him is Nick’s questions about Gatsby. Once Gatsby excuses himself from the conversation with Nick, Nick immediately wants to find out more about him. He instantly asks Jordan “who is he?...Where is he from?...And what does he do?”(48-49). Nick demands this information from Jordan. This shows Nick’s fascination in Gatsby because he wonders more about Gatsby even though he knows that Jordan and no one else can provide anything but rumors about him. In the first chapter of the book, Nick explains that Gatsby truly interests him because of his hopeful promises of life and

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Here, Nick's descriptions of the Gatsby's smile reveals how this smile allows him to build an outsider persona and is different from his inside persona. 2. "I was able to do the commissioner a favor once, and he sends me a Christmas card every year." (p.68/3) This quotation simply explains a further understanding of Gatsby's inner life, where he has connections with people in authorities like the commissioner.

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Nick is saying the smile would understand you and reassure you. It is all about how the smile makes you feel and not about how it affects Nick because he seems to be unfazed by Gatsby’s smile. Fitzgerald uses parallelism and repetition to emphasize the point that the smile does not affect Nick himself. The

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According to www.psychologytoday.com, physical looks, charm, and wealth are features that make a man attractive. All of these components of attractiveness were possessed by Gatsby. “He smiled understandingly --- much more understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal resistance in it, that you may come across four or five times in your life” (Fitzgerald 48). This is the narrator, Nick, explaining how Gatsby’s smile is an extremely charming physical feature.

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He could see and understand what Gatsby was feeling in his life and allowed for both Gatsby and Nick to influence each other’s

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The Great Gatsby is a very peculiar book, and has a lot of questions that surround it, especially about Nick Carraway. Questions like, why Nick is narrating or his role in the book? Why first person narration? And can we trust Nick?

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In spite of him being surrounded by people, he still dwells in a constant state of isolation because the significant friend that he is searching for, can only be found in Jesus Christ. All through the book, Gatsby's dreary, solitary life becomes more and more apparent. Specifically, near the end of chapter three; Gatsby’s seclusive lifestyle becomes evident at Nick’s first party. In this bustling and busy atmosphere Nick managed to detect Gatsby's gloomy ambience. He noticed that even during a gleeful song, “no one swooned backward on Gatsby, and no French bob touched Gatsby's shoulder, and no singing quartets were formed with Gatsby’s head for one link”.

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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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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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Nick describes his smile as “...one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life…” (The Great Gatsby, 73). It all starts with Gatsby’s smile. The smile immediately draws Nick in and that’s when he first begins to wear a set of rose colored glasses. “‘They 're a rotten crowd,’”

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Nick is a little over the top as he describes his features this is first evident when he says “not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body, he seemed to fill those glistening boots until her straightened the top lacing and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulders moved under his thin coat” (7) this marks the beginning of Nick's feelings for Gatsby even if he hasn’t realized it yet he continues describing him likes this and noticing these types of unnecessary details throughout the rest of the book this is further emphasized later when he described his facial features he goes “he was a blonde spiritless man anemic and faintly handsome”(2). Nick again describes him in such a way that another man specific detail when he could have just said he was handsome or good looking These two examples, some of how Nick talks about Gatsby throughout the rest of the novel, these over the top, unnecessary, visual descriptions. Are a staple throughout the book and are just the beginning stages of Nick’s true feelings for

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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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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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In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses Gatsby’s smile as a symbol of the ambiguity and duplicity his character inspires. This Quote from Nick at the first of Gatsby’s lavish parties that he attends is one of the first bits of real characterization that we see of Gatsby. His smile encapsulates the extravagance of the party as well as the thoughtfulness that he seems to exude. Nick seems to be one of the only guests that had been hand-picked by Gatsby, leaving Nick with the feeling that there is nobody more important in the world, and Gatsby’s smile does just that. Before Nick can even bask in the smile vanishes, and he becomes just “an elegant young rough neck, a year or two over thirty.

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