Tuesday, April 25, 2017

What are some of the narrator's personal characteristics?

Nick Carraway, the narrator, comes from old money and graduated from Yale (though his financial circumstances are somewhat reduced at this point in his life).  He fought in World War I, and, when he came home, he no longer felt satisfied by his home in the Midwest.  He decided to move east, to New York, to learn the bond business, and his father agreed to finance his endeavors for one year.  As he tells us...

Nick Carraway, the narrator, comes from old money and graduated from Yale (though his financial circumstances are somewhat reduced at this point in his life).  He fought in World War I, and, when he came home, he no longer felt satisfied by his home in the Midwest.  He decided to move east, to New York, to learn the bond business, and his father agreed to finance his endeavors for one year.  As he tells us in the first chapter, Nick is "inclined to reserve all judgments" when it comes to other people because he agrees with his father that not everyone has had the advantages that he's had.  He has a sense of humor, a trait we see in his first interaction with his cousin, Daisy.  Nick is obliging and patient, waiting quietly and awkwardly while Tom sleeps with his mistress in the next room when they go to New York City.  In the beginning at least, though he has seen a lot in war, Nick is still relatively innocent and naive; by the end of the novel, however, he seems a great deal less innocent and more disillusioned by what he has seen of society.

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