None of the characters in The Great Gatsby undergo a change within themselves, that is, except Nick Carraway. He is one of the main characters and influences a lot of the plot. The Great Gatsby was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is about a man named Nick Carraway who moved from Minnesota to New York to learn the bond business. His neighbor, the wealthy Jay Gatsby, gets Nick involved with his corrupted life and the problems within it. Nick Carraway is not wealthy like his cousin, Daisy, and Gatsby, although he wishes to possess the wealth that they both withhold. He has many character traits that separate him from the other characters in the novel. Nick is dishonest, nonjudgmental, a good listener, and happens to be the only character in The Great Gatsby that changes thought the novel; consequently, if he had spoken up about the things he knew and saw, the novel could have ended very differently.
Honesty is an important quality to obtain. Nick Carraway possesses honesty in his thoughts, but does it go beyond so? Daisy’s husband, Tom, takes Nick to meet Myrtle, the woman that Tom is having an affair with. Tom says to Nick, “I want you to meet my girl” (28). Nick now knows that Tom is cheating on his cousin. He never says a word to Daisy about the situation. Tom and Daisy are not good together. They stay with each other for the money, they are not really in love. Their relationship is like a fire and fuel is added by Nick keeping quiet; soon, everything will get burned. Nick is being really dishonest by hiding the secret from Daisy. If he had told her the truth, half of the conflicts in the novel could have been prevented because Daisy would have left Tom and they could have possibly broken up. Who would want to stay with someone who cheated on them with multiple people? Nobody.
Nick is not perfect. He judges people just like everyone else in this world, however his thoughts stay his thoughts. He never reveals his personal accusations of the other characters to anyone besides the reader and he never acts upon those thoughts. For these reasons, it is safe to say that Nick is relatively nonjudgmental. When Tom and Gatsby are arguing after Tom finds out about Daisy and Gatsby’s affair, Nick keeps his thoughts to himself. Nick thinks to himself, “I was tempted to laugh whenever he [Tom] opened his mouth” (137). Nick was making fun of how stupid he thought Tom was. He judges him by telling the reader these thoughts, but Nick does not tell anyone else what he thinks. He does not let his thoughts of a person change the way he acts towards them. This makes him nonjudgmental. Maybe if he took his thoughts and applied them when he was with others, he would have spoken up about things.
Good listening skills can be really helpful. When really listening to someone, you can learn a lot about them. Nick always listens to people when they talk. He takes it all in and processes it. By the mid-point of the novel, Nick knows so much about everyone because he pays attention to them. Gatsby, like Tom, introduces Nick to many individuals. “Mr. Carraway, this is my friend Mr. Wolfshiem” (73). Whenever Nick is introduced to new people, he does little talking and a lot of listening. He would rather hear people instead of joining the conversation. It is evident that Nick can be a sneaky character. He uses his listening skills to listen to information on those that he meets. It is questionable why he never uses his knowledge to help people and situations.
Nick Carraway drives the plot by being dishonest, nonjudgmental and a good listener. He keeps things from people, uses poor judgment, and gets to know all of the characters. Nick Carraway could have changed a lot of the plot. He did not do so, which makes him an unlikeable character even while being the narrator. He had the power to do so much, but did so little which makes his character questionable and makes him unreliable.
Carraway could have changed a lot of the plot. He did not do so, which makes him an unlikeable character even while being the narrator. He had the power to do so much, but did so little which makes his character questionable and makes him unreliable.
