In addition to this the narrative could be questionable as Nick tends to fantasises about things to compensate for his boring life, this could lead to the assumption that Gatsby is a made up character created by Nick to make his life more exciting, which would further the reliability that this quote is true ‘who invents a “gorgeous” figure’. This ‘figure’ (Gatsby) that may have bin created by Nick, could be a reflection of what Nick longs to be like, a gorgeous, rich man, who has a love affair with Daisy, in which as the beginning of this novel Nick describes Daisy as having “bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth, but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found it difficult to forget”. Nick describes Daisy as these things the first time we meet her as a character and he continues to describe her in this adoring manor for the rest of this chapter.
Although another angle to look at this quote of Nick’s character being a ‘miserable failure of a bachelor’ could possibly be a reflection of Fitzgerald being this. Fitzgerald was an alcoholic since he left collage this gives me an indication that he was most probably miserable for some time to even start drinking. Although he wasn’t a bachelor as he was married to Zelda Sayre, who died in 1948 in a fire in a mental hospital, as she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. It would therefore have bin Zelda who was widowed, as Fitzgerald died of tuberculosis in 1940 which means he was never a bachelor. Therefore making my suspicion of Nick being a refection of Fitzgerald flawed, and untrue.
Further more the part of the quote ‘dismal mid-west’ is in my opinion very true, Nick and Gatsby both lived there, in the ‘west egg’ which was the less fashionable side of long island, and where all the “old money” people lived, such as the Wilson’s. Although in this novel Nick exaggerates this and says ‘I was a guide, a pathfinder, an original settler.’ This is further proof that Nick always exaggerates stories which can therefore make us question the sincerity of what he is saying, as nick only shows us, as the reader, what he wants to show us making this story bias as it is from one perspective, and therefore to some certain degree untrue.
In addition to this the quote says that Nick ‘retreated’ this means that he escaped, ‘formed a ladder and mounted to a secret place above the trees’, this is yet again another parallel to Gatsby, as Gatsby also did this whilst he was going around the world whilst collecting rubies, hinting of Nicks fantasy to be different from his ‘miserable’ boring character, and to be more like Gatsby.
Although I will have to remember and take into consideration that this quote is someone else’s opinion, and as it is only an opinion this does not make it true. This is why it is debatable to weather this quote is true or not, but overall, in my opinion, I think that this quote is true.