Fitzgerald and Nick Carraway

 

         It is well-known that Fitzgerald created Gatsby’s character in his own image but it is lesser acknowledged that Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, was also modeled after Fitzgerald.

   

 

There are a few things that
both men share such as:
 

1.      Both were from Mid-Western towns and were of modest wealth

2.      Both attended Ivy League schools (Fitzgerald attended Princeton and Nick attended Yale)

3.      Both are writers (though Nick gave up on this dream)

4.      Both moved to NYC to make money in business and both quit

 

However, the most telling and major characteristic that Nick and Fitzgerald share is their ability to be objective commentators of the 1920s

  Though Fitzgerald chronicles his pursuit of the American Dream and his lifestyle through Gatsby, he uses Nick’s character to express his true views of the values and life of people of all classes in the 20s

   Fitzgerald, like Nick, was very observant and had a profound understanding of human nature. Also, both Fitz and Nick had the gift of double vision, participating fully in their lives and  but both able to provide criticism of themselves and others

   Fitzgerald experienced the full spectrum of social classes which provided him with a priceless understanding of the psyche and values of new money, old money, and no money people. He comments on his perceived vices of the people of these classes through Nick when he meets people of each social class at the various parties throughout the novel
 
   Fitzgerald used Nick to dictate the corrupt nature of his time and, specifically the pursuit of the American Dream

Ø  Fitzgerald, recognized the problems associated with the American Dream, specifically the overspending, rivalry between old and new money, racism/prejudice, crime, and the lack of morals and proper values, and excessive drinking and partying. Though he was guilty of some of these things, Fitzgerald was able to see these qualities in himself and used Nick to address and critic these issues

This quote mostly likely illustrates how Fitzgerald felt when engaging in the various parties he threw. Like Nick at the beginning of the novel, the opulent parties probably fascinated Fitzgerald. However, he began to see even his own parties threw new eyes, thinking about the fact that it was a poor attempt to show off one’s wealth and status.

Another thing that made Nick so important to the telling of Fitzgerald’s story is that Nick provided the audience with Fitzgerald's criticisms, not just about the American Dream in general, but about his life and his wife

Ø  Without Nick, the audience would see Daisy as the innocent, beautiful, neglected wife with a cruel husband instead of as the proud, selfish and manipulative woman that Nick discovers her to be. And since Daisy is a reflection of Zelda, Fitzgerald used Nick to show, through an objective perspective, how he perceives his wife.

Ø  Likewise, without Nick the audience would end up perceiving Gatsby as a criminal, a murderer, and just an overall uneducated man with an obsession with money. Whereas in reality Gatsby was intelligent, kind, and only guilty of being naïve and in love with the wrong person.

Gatsby just wanted to make something of himself and this is important because the public did not take Fitzgerald seriously because of his lifestyle, but through Nick, Fitzgerald presents Gatsby (essentially himself) in a better light; that of a tragic hero. This is Nick’s objective view of Gatsby and through it we understand that this is also Fitzgerald’s objective view of himself

Nick completely lost faith in the American Dream and was disgusted with what he saw as the consequences of wealth. As was Fitzgerald.

 

 “Nick is comfortable, confident and content in his status as an ordinary man of ordinary means, in a way that Fitzgerald yearned to be, but never really was.” (Roberts)