Moral Compass In The Great Gatsby Essay

In every novel, each character has their own unique attributes that are essential to the storyline and the message of a novel. When reviewing characters in relation to the story, literary critics often face the question of morality in each character or rather which character is the moral compass of a novel? By definition the term moral compass is used to describe someone who has a great ability to judge what is right and wrong and act accordingly. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald the narrator, Nick Carraway, is often one who could be named the moral compass because he is a honorable and virtuous man and often shows his good character in the novel. Through his thoughts and interactions with his friends, Nick Carraway proves that he …show more content…
He sees how they cower in their money and only care about themselves and this is not appealing to Nick. He wants real, honest friends who will make him a better person and he is not finding that with Gatsby, Daisy, Tom and Jordan. He also does not want to waste his life away partying and drinking to the point where he cannot remember parts of his life. On the day that they all went to New York City together Nick realizes that it is his birthday. He had forgotten about it and as they were about to leave, he states nonchalantly “‘No...I just remembered that today’s my birthday.’ I was thirty. Before me stretched the portentous, menacing road of a new decade,” (Fitzgerald 135). The fact that none of his friend or even Daisy, his own family, forgot his birthday shows how self-absorbed these people are. In this statement Nick makes the realization that he is wasting his life away with these people and that he is not achieving what he had hoped to achieve by this point in his life. His goal was to be successful and possibly to be married, but as of right now he is out partying too much. After his realization, Nick begins to slowly cut off ties with Gatsby, Daisy, Tom and Jordan. It begins later that evening when they arrive back at the Buchanan’s house and he chooses not to go in and he thinks to himself “I’d be damned if I’d go in; I’d had enough of all of them for one day, and suddenly that included Jordan too,” (Fitzgerald 142). He stopped hanging out with all them so much and rarely called them because he was so fed up with them. Nick decided it was time to move on with his life and eventually moved back west because he did not belong in New York on the east coast. He realized that his friends were not true friends and were toxic to his personal goals. This shows Nick’s ability to judge a situation on whether it is