Is the Great Gatsby the work of a miserable failure of a bachelor, who invents a gorgeous figure to compensate for the dismal mid-west to which he has retreated? How far do you agree with this view?

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Is the Great Gatsby the work of ‘a miserable failure of a bachelor, who invents a “gorgeous” figure to compensate for the dismal mid-west to which he has retreated?’ How far do you agree with this view?

        As far as this view goes in m opinion this is correct, as Nick wrote the Grate Gatsby two years after everything had happened. This can lead to certain aspects of the story being exaggerated, changed, and adapted to mislead the reader into believing that these events happened exactly as Nick narrated them. There could be many reasons why Fitzgerald choose to use the character of Nick to narrate this dismal story, and the assumption that Nick is a ‘miserable failure of a bachelor’ may have some degree of truth in it. As if Nick was happy and not a bachelor he would be writing this story about someone else’s life, he would be writing it about his own experiences and adventures. Bachelors are typically single, and bring several girls back home over a period of time, to say that Nick was a failure as a bachelor would be true in this case as throughout this novel he only had a brief affair with Jordan Baker, hence why he is a ‘miserable failure of a bachelor’. Also further point to why Nick is a ‘failure as a bachelor’ is due to the fact that his world revolves around one woman, whereas in usual cases for a bachelor it would be several.

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        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 ...

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