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Joe blogs
November 2014
Judgement, Opinions, Changes
When The Great Gatsby is first introduced, the narrator, Nick, describes how his dad once told him, "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all people in this world haven't had the advantages you've had” (Fitzgerald). He then goes on to say as a consequence, he's "inclined to reserve all judgments” (Fitzgerald). This is rather ironic due to the entire novel consisting of many opinionated views and comments from the viewpoint of Nick, toward others, especially toward Jay Gatsby. Throughout the novel Nick has positive and negative thoughts toward Gatsby and seems unsure of his overall opinion of him. His is continuously indecisive and contradictive. Eventually however, his mind is set, that Gatsby is actually a down to earth, fine young man, seeking for his righteousness to be seen.
Nick sets the scene by telling the story of how he had moved to New York "in the spring of twenty-two” (Fitzgerald), and had accepted an offer to share a house with a man in the office. He describes how he decided to "go east and learn the bond business” (Fitzgerald), and how his father had agreed to finance him for a year. Nick’s pretentious West Egg house is next door to Gatsby’s eyesore mansion. Nick is clearly unlike his West Egg neighbors, Gatsby included, where they lack many social connections; Nick is from Yale and has many. When Nick first describes the 'hero of the story,’ Gatsby, he makes his opinion of Gatsby very clear. Gatsby states how he wanted "no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart" (Fitzgerald), and that Gatsby "represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn for" (Fitzgerald), was an exception. He also compliments Gatsby saying that there "was something gorgeous about him" (Fitzgerald). He explains how New York is split into two, the