Sexuality In The Great Gatsby

The novel, The Great Gatsby, is an amazing book with a great story about a decently well-rounded man in the 1920s discovering the dirty secrets about the general people of the era. More specifically, mainly of the wealthy people. The story revolves around him paying particular attention on one other upper-middle class man as well. This novel contains many, many varieties of themes. Some of them are crystal clear, some not as much, and some one has to read carefully to connect small, subtle pieces to figure them out. One of those themes is sexuality. Underlying all the greed and the lying in the book lay hidden themes of pederasty, homosexual activity, and sexual exploitation. Although subtle, it is more clear in the character of Nick Carraway

Especially when he includes certain, specific words when describing his temporary partner, Jordan Baker. Although he adds more effeminate words to describe her, some of his word choices are unique. In an article written by Daniel Herman “The Great Gatsby’s Nick Carraway: His Narration and His Sexuality,” he acknowledges it, saying, “Nick’s comparison of Jordan Baker’s posture to that of a ‘young cadet’; the ‘faint mustache of perspiration’ he recalls when fantasizing about his ex-fiancee” (Herman 1). Not many heterosexual men would tend to compare an attractive women of such to a “young cadet”, usually. Whether or not the relationship between Nick and Jordan was real or internally forced, we can still assume Nick has homosexual tendencies and feelings, being bisexual at least. Of course, with his real or fake feelings for Jordan, no one could ever deny his infatuation with his ol’ sport, James Gatsby. After all,
...Carraway certainly does seem to linger over Gatsby’s ‘gorgeousness,’ and there is perhaps a hint of romance in Chapter 8: ‘It was nine o’clock when we finished breakfast and went out on the porch… I didn't want to go to the city. I wasn’t worth a decent stroke of work, but it was more than that-I didn’t want to leave Gatsby. I missed that train, and then another, before I could

We could assume that he just envies Gatsby in such a way, but such precise words and details help us read between the lines a little bit more to dive in deeper into Nick’s true feelings. One page 178 of the story, when Nick sees Tom again, Tom tells him, “That fellow had it coming to him. He threw dust into your eyes just like he did in Daisy's, but he was a tough one.” We could also assume that Tom is just talking about how Gatsby was a fake and tricked everyone, but the fact that he compares it with Daisy can give way to a comparison of both Daisy and Nick’s feelings for Gatsby. Although some people may doubt this, and his feelings for Gatsby could possibly just be envy and purely platonic. Even so, we cannot doubt Nick being homosexual or bisexual. At the end of Chapter 2 at Myrtle’s Party from page 37 to 38, when reading it observantly, we all can find out what happened, especially between the ellipsis the author purposefully placed. In Herman’s article, he summarizes it more, bringing it to light,