Consider this view of Gatsby, with particular reference to his relationship with the various Long Island circles in which he moves.

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“They’re a rotten crowd… your worth the whole damn bunch put together.” I’ve always been glad I said that. It was the only complement I ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end.”

Consider this view of Gatsby, with particular reference to his relationship with the various Long Island circles in which he moves.

Nick Carraway’s tolerant manner and astute observations, combined with the pivotal position he occupies within the context of the novel, appear to make him the ideal character to mediate a shrewd and decisive portrayal of the people around him. However, this contradictory opinion of Gatsby casts doubt upon the validity of his judgement. Only when the reader compares the character of Gatsby with this “rotten crowd,” does it become apparent that Nick’s ambiguous response has a sound foundation. Although Gatsby is not without faults, Nick observes compassion, generosity and  “a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again.” He empathises with the intensity of Gatsby’s dream, which may be impure and unattainable, but never the less elevates him above the carelessness and scepticism of the “foul dust,” that trails in his wake.

        Fitzgerald’s decision to write the Great Gatsby from a first person perspective challenges the reader to place their trust in the narrator. Although this technique conveys a strong sense of reality and can arouse a more passionate response to characters, the reader is likely to lose the unbiased and unlimited information that a god-like third person perspective would provide. Fortunately for us, Fitzgerald has managed to combine these two qualities in his fastidious creation of Nick Carraway.

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        Deriving from a respectable family from the Mid-West of America, all aspects of Nick’s background provide him with the qualities to be a good judge of character. Although he has led a privileged life, he is never condescending and remains afraid that he will “forget that a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth.” This honesty is a result of his upbringing within this prominent conservative family and has been developed by his transition into a man during the periods that he spent at Yale University and on the battlefields of France. Appreciating that Nick’s morals ...

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