Character Analysis Of Nick Carraway In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Each character in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald has a distinct place in New York City’s elite society. Although they possess unique personalities, each different from the rest, they can all be placed into one of two categories: insider or outsider. Nowadays, almost a century after the novel takes place, social classes are arguably still relevant. In this novel F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the timeless tale of the social hierarchy and humanity’s strive for the American Dream. Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby, is often described as the outsider in this novel, where almost everyone’s goal is to be on the inside. Throughout the summer Nick spends time with the Buchanans’ social circle and Gatsby, attending the finest parties …show more content…
After getting in touch with his distant relative, Daisy, he is taken in by her group of socialites. Nick’s tendency to observe the lives of these elite individuals from a distance rather than become one of them is what makes his character so fascinating. Although Nick attends the parties and get togethers with these upper class characters, he does not long for the glamorous lifestyle they live. His personal integrity and prudence make him the perfect dramatic foil from that of the Buchanans or Jordan. As much as the people around him try to usher him further into their world, like when Gatsby tries to give Nick a job, he kindly refuses. When Tom and Myrtle bring Nick to their Manhattan apartment for their little party, Nick acknowledges his position as an …show more content…
Coming from a lower class than Tom Buchanan, Myrtle sees him as her one-way ticket into East Egg. The relationship between Myrtle and Tom would never amount to the life he has with Daisy. After all, that is why he lies to Myrtle and tells her he can’t divorce Daisy saying that she is a Catholic. Tom knows that he and Daisy have built the dream life together and Myrtle could never match that. Myrtle is oblivious to this, of course. She is so consumed by her desperation that Myrtle sees the make believe life she has with Tom as her reality. At her apartment in Manhattan, Nick notices that when Myrtle changes into her dress, she changes who she is. “Her laughter, her gestures, her assertions became more violently affected moment by moment…” (Fitzgerald 30). Myrtle’s personality has changed as she puts on ‘her costume,’ as Nick describes it. At one point she even addresses the room servant as lower class when she herself lives in the valley of ashes. Myrtle, like many of the other characters, believe the less money you have, the more irrelevant and useless you are. Myrtle does not want to be irrelevant, she wants to have the life of someone like Daisy. Her denial of reality makes her seem like a fool to