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The Great Gatsby: Nick Carraway And His Development

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Kayla Dohrman
Mrs. Zugelter
Honors English 11
August 16, 2017
Nick Carraway and his development Nick Carraway, the narrator who is unobtrusive and midwesterner that moved to West Egg, New York for the bond business and lives next to the perplexing Jay Gatsby, alters himself greatly throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby. Nick at first was a very farouche, naive and observant man that is alienated, however when he meets Jay Gatsby his demeanor swiftly changes. Instead of being farouche and alienated Nick instantly becomes more assured and gregarious and develops a strong bond with Gatsby, but his demeanor quickly changes again once he realizes how his carefree lifestyle was having a negative effect on him as a person. Nick’s …show more content…
Even though Nicks observant nature is fluent through the novel his introverted, pure and alienated nature swiftly changes upon meeting Jay Gatsby. When Nick first meets Gatsby he is intrigued by Gatsby's mysterious aura and wants to know who he really is which leads to Nick having a strong bond with Gatsby and becoming involved with the lavish lifestyle of the upper class that leads him to losing the pure, introverted part of him most notably when he is at one of Gatsby's parties, “I had taken two finger-bowls of champagne, and the scene had changed before my eyes into something significant, elemental and profound” (Fitzgerald 47). Although Nick becomes involved with the lavish upper class lifestyle his demeanor quickly changes back into his old introverted pure …show more content…
At first Nick’s dream was to be wealthy through the bond business as he “supposed it could support one more single man” (Fitzgerald 3). As Nick's dream still existed while involved with Gatsby's upper class lifestyle, his belief of his dream started to change as he saw how illusory Gatsby's dream really was of being with Daisy again by becoming rich, especially after Gatsby's funeral “his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him…” (Fitzgerald 180). Nicks development adds to the work as a whole by showing how illusory the American dream is and how

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