Nick Carraway is the most important character in the novel. Discuss the character and role, showing any grounds of agreement in this statement.

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The Great Gatsby - Nick Carraway

"Nick Carraway is the most important character in the novel."

Discuss the character and role, showing any grounds of agreement in this statement.

Nick Carraway comes off as a listener and honest man, which seems to give everyone in the novel an incentive to trust him - and these "intimate revelations" are essentially what catalyses the initiation of the plot and subsequently the termination of it. Nick's lack of saying anything of importance at all causes everything else to be said.

Perhaps one of the most obvious reasons why Nick would be an important character is because he's the narrator and well deservedly so. Throughout the entire novel, he is almost exclusively a spectator to the events that occur and doesn't really take an active role in any of the events that take place. Even in his relationship with Jordan Baker, he seems far less active and passionate, than any of the other characters do in theirs, and seems reluctant to meet her (page 99), even though he's "half in love with her". But despite his lack of having an active role, he still manages to spectate on such a huge variety of events, which is mainly because he is persuaded or forced along by the other characters, perhaps most obviously with Tom's physical insistence that "turned" him around, and with Gatsby's very ungentlemanly and presumptuous manners:

"Good-morning, old sport. You're having lunch with me today

and I thought we'd ride up together."

And all simply because Gatsby wants it so. It is not until Gatsby's funeral, that Nick takes an active role and even at that point, he purely takes on the task because "no one else was interested". In that sense, you could well argue that not only is Nick a spectator, he is it to the extent that he's apathetic to everything that happens, even to the point of neglecting the murder of Myrtle, when he knew that Daisy was the driver. This neglect subsequently leads to Gatsby's death (albeit with help from Tom) and shocks Nick into action, which is rather morbid considering that someone had to die with no one to take care of him, before Nick steps up.
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Nick's character is essentially revealed on the very first page of the book. When young and malleable, Nick's father gives him advice that essentially explains all of Nick's subsequent behaviour:

"All the people in this world haven't had the advantages you've had".

This, like Nick himself admits, has led to people assuming he's trustworthy, because in his attempt to reserve judgment, he simply doesn't say anything at all. This is evident in the gradual accumulation of secrets that he is told throughout the novel, ranging from the secret behind Tom's butler's nose (something apparently ...

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