The Great Gatsby

9 Pages 2165 Words

he story must be examined. Nick Carraway, a character originally hailing from the Midwest moves to a very prestigious neighborhood in New York. The title comes from his neighbor, Jay Gatsby who owns the mansion across the street in which wild parties are thrown every weekend. Nick begins to attend the parties thrown by Gatsby and becomes one of his very good friends. It is after this friendship that Gatsby reveals his deep rooted love for Nick’s cousin Daisy. Daisy is married, but this doesn’t stop her from having a love affair with Gatsby. Daisy’s husband becomes suspicious and the story ultimately ends in Gatsby’s death. The underlying theme in all of this is that Gatsby uses money to form personal relationships. “Fitzgerald never explains how he acquired his money, however corruption is suggested.” (Berman) How he got his money however, is less important than the consequence of him becoming obsessed by it and allowing money to control the events in his life. It almost seems that if Gatsby has enough money, he thinks that he can seduce Daisy into loving him and forgetting about the marriage that she is currently in. This is symbolized in Nick’s attempts to convince Gatsby that not even extraordinary wealth can stop time. This is realized too late when Gatsby is killed, symbolizing that wealth is a major cause of decay and corruption.
Nick is used as a dynamic character in the story as he goes from being a “thoughtful and moral human being” to being a witness to what money, greed and power can do to a person. He tells about how his father gave him the advice not to judge people, or to “reserve all judgments.” Early in the novel the reader is made aware that Nick is the moral center of t...