Hope and the American Dream Portrayed in Fitzgeralds The...

â€Å"The Great Gatsby†, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, portrays a world filled with rich societal happenings, love affairs, and corruption. Nick Carraway is the engaged narrator of the book, a curious choice considering that he is in a different class and almost in a different world than Gatsby and the other characters. Nick relates the plot of the story to the reader as a member of Gatsby’s circle. He has ambivalent feelings towards Gatsby, despising his personality and corrupted dream but feeling drawn to Gatsby’s magnificent capacity to hope. Using Nick as a moral guide, Fitzgerald attempts to guide readers on a journey through the novel to illustrate the corruption and failure of the American Dream. To achieve this, Nick’s credentials as†¦show more content†¦His narrating is very open and he brilliantly sets up the story. But Nick’s credentials as a trustworthy narrator continue to be reinforced throughout the story, as a way of reass uring readers that Nick remains decent while the rest of the characters continue on their downfall. The meeting with Jordan Baker causes Nick to once again mention the topic of honesty. When he learned of her cheating in a golf tournament, Nick declared, â€Å"She was incurably dishonest† pg 58. This manifests a contrast between Jordan and Nick when a few lines later he says of himself â€Å"I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.† Pg 59. Nick let his honesty shine through when he admitted to himself that Jordan was a very selfish, greedy, and cynical person, but he loved her nonetheless. He did not feel the need to lie to himself and the readers in order to make Jordan sound amiable. Such an act shows that Nick remains unchanged even in the presence of a charming and rich lady. Nick also remained unchanged and declined the opportunity to earn ‘easy money’ offered to him by Gatsby through Meyer Wolfsheim. â€Å"I’ve got my hands full† pg 80 Nick answered when he realized that the money â€Å"was obviously and tactlessly fo r a service to be rendered† pg 80. The chaste Nick is shown in sharp contrast to the depraved and criminal Wolfsheim, fortifying Nick’s image as aShow MoreRelatedF. Scott Fitzgerald : The Jazz Age And The Great Gatsby1364 Words   |  6 PagesF. Scott Fitzgerald is one of the few known writers of the twenties. The American writer is given credit for the term ‘Jazz Age,’ immortalizing the glamorous world of wild parties of the upper social classes. With Fitzgerald’s work being described as poetic, it often contain underlying social or capitalistic characteristics rooted in spectacular imagery. 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