English: The Great Gatsby and Gatsby Essay

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Nick Carraway
Nick Carraway is the narrator of the story, the protagonist of his own plot, and the moral judge of the events that surround him. He is a practical and conservative young man who turns thirty during the course of the story. Raised in a small town in the Midwest, he believes his hometown to be lame and decides to move to the East Coast to learn the bond business. He hopes to find a sense of identity and freedom in New York. He rents a small bungalow out from the city on an island known as West Egg. His next door neighbor is Jay Gatsby, and his distant cousin, Daisy Buchanan, lives across the bay with her husband, Tom, on the more fashionable and wealthy island of East Egg. Nick plays an important role in the main plot of the novel, for he is responsible for reuniting Gatsby and Daisy Nick becomes totally disillusioned with the lifestyle of the wealthy on the East Coast. For most of the book, he is disgusted by Gatsby, with his wild parties, ostentatious dress and manners, and his shady business dealings. He is horrified when he meets Meyer Wolfsheim, a racketeer and business associates of Gatsby, who wears human molars as cuff links and who fixed the World Series. He feels shame for Jordan Baker for her incurable lying and cheating, both on and off the golf course. He is shocked that Tom has a mistress to whom he wants to introduce Nick and is even more shocked that Tom knows that Daisy is Nick’s cousin but Tom seems not to care. His greatest disillusionment, however, comes with Daisy. He sees her shallowness and carelessness and thinks as if she does not care about Gatsby. When Gatsby is killed, he is shocked that Daisy does not even bother to telephone or send flowers to the funeral. It is not surprising that in the end he judges Gatsby to be worth more than the whole bunch of the Buchanan’s and their wealthy friends. Nick Carraway does indeed find his identity on the East Coast. At first he is doesn’t take a stand or judge those with whom he comes into contact; however, as I continued to read the book, he begins to find everything about New York disgusting. He realizes that he has no desire to marry Jordan Baker, or live the careless, purposeless lifestyle of the Buchanan’s. As a result, on his thirtieth birthday, Nick realizes that his place in the world is in the Midwest. At the end of the book, I came to realize Nick was indeed a kindhearted person and just wanted the best for everybody.
Gatsby
Jay Gatsby is my favorite character in this book. His sentences are rich in words and his personality is so strong but is broken down by a lady whom he is in love with. Born as James Gatz to poor farmers in North Dakota, he decided at an early age that he wanted more out of life than North Dakota could offer. He leaves home to find excitement and wealth. While lounging on the beach one day, he sees a yacht docked off the coast. He borrows a boat and rows out to introduce himself to the owner of the yacht. Dan Cody is an extremely wealthy and wildly extravagant man. He takes a liking to young James Gatz and offers him a job. When the boy boards the boat to become Cody’s assistant and protector, he leaves behind the identity of James Gatz forever; the rest of his life he will be known as Jay Gatsby, and which i like to describe him, the Romeo of the 1900's.
After Cody dies, Gatsby joins the army and is stationed in Louisville, Kentucky, where he meets and falls in love with Daisy Fay, the most popular and wealthy young lady in town. She is also attracted to him and even thinks about marrying him and running away, but her parents stop her plans. When Gatsby is sent to Europe to fight the war, Daisy is faithful to him for a short while. She soon, however, tires of waiting for Gatsby and marries Tom Buchanan. When Gatsby receives her final letter, explaining her plans, he is crushed; he vows he will dedicate the rest of his life to winning Daisy back for himself which I greatly frown upon. Gatsby comes to the East
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