Nick Carraway....a racist? prejudiced against those who are different from him? just an odd fellow? a completely cool guy? What do you think and give some evidence to support...
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Nick Carraway... prejudiced against those who are differnt than him. An odd fellow. Definately not a completely cool guy. I feel like Nick often doesn't understand the situations he gets himself into and gets in way over his head. Like with Gatsby's fabulous parties, Nick wanders into the first party completely unaware of what do to or how it is appropriate to act. He gets caught up with an 'ineresting' crowd because he doesn't want to be alone. However, besides being naive to the situation he finds himself in, Nick also has a keen, if not judgemental sense of people. With Jordan, for example, Nick can see through her lying and realizes her motives quite often. However, he has a tendency to just wave off the lying because he likes Jordan. So, like every man, Nick is driven by fundamentally human tendencies. And, though he may be an interestingly insightful judge of character and motives, this also makes him judgemental against those he can't relate to. - Victoria M
It seems that Nick is not as good of a guy as he thinks or states himself to be. One part that stands out to me was when he and Gatsby were driving into Manhattan over the bridge and saw a limo with black passengers and a white driver. Nick described it as- "a limousine passed us...in which sat three modiah Negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry" (69).
Maybe his condescention and racist descriptions are just a sign of those times, but it seems to be more than that to me.
I do not think that Nick Carroway is a racist, at least not to the degree that Tom Buchanans is. I feel that Nick observes people for fun and that he likes the challenge of determining someone's character; he does not do this to degrade people. He does, however, seem to be bias against people who are wealthy. On page 20, he states, "Their interest rather touched me and made them less remotely rich." This quote implies that rich people do not care for others' feelings, a fact which may be true about some but not to all. It might be that he feels he has to compete with those that are more wealthy than he. Therefore, Nick may be prone to jumping to conclusions, but since he does this for everyone it is not racism. Tom Buchanans, on the other hand, is very racist: "It's up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things." (13)
I don't think Nick is exactly racist... He just judges EVERYONE. He says: "I wondered if there wasn't something a little sinister about him, after all."(65) when Gatsby "hurried the phrase 'educated at Oxford'"(65). He always seems to have something to say about anyone around, and these things never need to be said. It makes the reader form opinions based on Nick's view of the people, not their own.
While Nick Carraway might not be a completely cool guy, I don't believe that he's a completely bad one either. While there are some racist undertones in some of the things he says, such as the comment he makes about the "three modish Negroes" (69) in the limosine, one has to keep in mind that this story is set in the 1920s. I'm not advocating racism in any way, but the fact is that it was a much more prevalent and commonplace prejudice back then than it is now. He is an odd man in that he is so much of an observer; the majority of his narration is describing and judging the events and people surrounding him. For example, at the first party of Gatsby's that Nick attends, while he is surrounded by people all of the time, he rarely participates in conversation, only listening to what others have to say. He creates situations, such as inviting both Daisy and Gatsby to his house at the same time, in which he doesn't have to be much of a participant. He is definitely judgemental of those around him, though he does it in a subtle way. Though his character may hold some prejudices, and may be a little bit odd, it is to no more of the degree than you or I hold prejudices, or are odd. It is human nature to be judgemental of those around oneself, and it is partly this trait that makes Nick an interesting, believable character.
I think that Nick Carraway simply has a narrow view of the world because he has never seen much of it. My hope is that Nick will develop throughout the story and will learn to stand by his values and not get caught up in the craziness of his friends and neighbors. So far Nick has not done a very good job of doing this. Nick has gotten drunk twice just because the people around him were and he allowed Gatsby to use him by acting as a middleman for him and Daisy.
As Victoria pointed out, I also think it is interesting that he waived off Jordan's lying. This is yet another example of his waivering principles. Nick has to figure out what he is about and how he is going to act.
I wouldn;t say racist as much as overanalytical. He seems to not be happy until he feels that he has probed the brain of the people he meets. The characters in this book are very complex, so i think he has trouble figuring them out. He seems a bit full of himself in the fact that he sees himself as an intellectual person who knows how to solve every problem. Though he doesn't brag, the way he acts suggests that he sees himself as smarted and more sophisticated than the others. He tries to make himself out to be a humble, down to earth, everyday kinda guy, but i dont think he is. - Cameron Duquette
I think that some people may feel that Nick Carraway is a 'cool guy' most likely because he is mellow and passive. People are less likely to have conflict with someone that is socially withdrawn. I think that Nick is socially awkward, but for some reason finds himself is dozens of odd social situations. He does say some racist things, but I think that it may just be on impulse because he generally does not participate in conversation. You never know what he will do or say... making it very interesting to read.
i agreee with this Steve Les fellow. Nick does seem to be a pretty cool guy. Everyone enjoys his company and all the new people he meets through Gatsby and Nick seem to like him. it could just be that they pretended to like him because it was polite and didn't want to offend Gatsby or Tom, depending on who he was with.
Although he did make a racist comment, for the times I do not think he was a racist. 100 years Black people were treated like trash and it was unfair. But that was the general public view of all minoirty groups. I do think that out of all of the people in this book, Nick is proably the most normal. Gatsby is madly inlove with an absolute airhead (daisy), Tom is also an idiot, Jordan is a gossip, Wolfshiem kills people, and Nick is justa struggling man and a cool guy.
13 comments:
Nick Carraway... prejudiced against those who are differnt than him. An odd fellow. Definately not a completely cool guy. I feel like Nick often doesn't understand the situations he gets himself into and gets in way over his head. Like with Gatsby's fabulous parties, Nick wanders into the first party completely unaware of what do to or how it is appropriate to act. He gets caught up with an 'ineresting' crowd because he doesn't want to be alone.
However, besides being naive to the situation he finds himself in, Nick also has a keen, if not judgemental sense of people. With Jordan, for example, Nick can see through her lying and realizes her motives quite often. However, he has a tendency to just wave off the lying because he likes Jordan. So, like every man, Nick is driven by fundamentally human tendencies. And, though he may be an interestingly insightful judge of character and motives, this also makes him judgemental against those he can't relate to.
- Victoria M
It seems that Nick is not as good of a guy as he thinks or states himself to be. One part that stands out to me was when he and Gatsby were driving into Manhattan over the bridge and saw a limo with black passengers and a white driver. Nick described it as- "a limousine passed us...in which sat three modiah Negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry" (69).
Maybe his condescention and racist descriptions are just a sign of those times, but it seems to be more than that to me.
-Ms. Coppens
I do not think that Nick Carroway is a racist, at least not to the degree that Tom Buchanans is. I feel that Nick observes people for fun and that he likes the challenge of determining someone's character; he does not do this to degrade people. He does, however, seem to be bias against people who are wealthy. On page 20, he states, "Their interest rather touched me and made them less remotely rich." This quote implies that rich people do not care for others' feelings, a fact which may be true about some but not to all. It might be that he feels he has to compete with those that are more wealthy than he. Therefore, Nick may be prone to jumping to conclusions, but since he does this for everyone it is not racism. Tom Buchanans, on the other hand, is very racist: "It's up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things." (13)
*last comment by Shannon Langella
I think Nick is a pretty cool guy. It seems like people like to have him as company,even Tom likes Nick
STeve Les
I don't think Nick is exactly racist... He just judges EVERYONE. He says: "I wondered if there wasn't something a little sinister about him, after all."(65) when Gatsby "hurried the phrase 'educated at Oxford'"(65). He always seems to have something to say about anyone around, and these things never need to be said. It makes the reader form opinions based on Nick's view of the people, not their own.
-steph
While Nick Carraway might not be a completely cool guy, I don't believe that he's a completely bad one either. While there are some racist undertones in some of the things he says, such as the comment he makes about the "three modish Negroes" (69) in the limosine, one has to keep in mind that this story is set in the 1920s. I'm not advocating racism in any way, but the fact is that it was a much more prevalent and commonplace prejudice back then than it is now. He is an odd man in that he is so much of an observer; the majority of his narration is describing and judging the events and people surrounding him. For example, at the first party of Gatsby's that Nick attends, while he is surrounded by people all of the time, he rarely participates in conversation, only listening to what others have to say. He creates situations, such as inviting both Daisy and Gatsby to his house at the same time, in which he doesn't have to be much of a participant. He is definitely judgemental of those around him, though he does it in a subtle way. Though his character may hold some prejudices, and may be a little bit odd, it is to no more of the degree than you or I hold prejudices, or are odd. It is human nature to be judgemental of those around oneself, and it is partly this trait that makes Nick an interesting, believable character.
--jillian pellegrini
I think that Nick Carraway simply has a narrow view of the world because he has never seen much of it. My hope is that Nick will develop throughout the story and will learn to stand by his values and not get caught up in the craziness of his friends and neighbors. So far Nick has not done a very good job of doing this. Nick has gotten drunk twice just because the people around him were and he allowed Gatsby to use him by acting as a middleman for him and Daisy.
As Victoria pointed out, I also think it is interesting that he waived off Jordan's lying. This is yet another example of his waivering principles. Nick has to figure out what he is about and how he is going to act.
Kelley Scholl
I wouldn;t say racist as much as overanalytical. He seems to not be happy until he feels that he has probed the brain of the people he meets. The characters in this book are very complex, so i think he has trouble figuring them out. He seems a bit full of himself in the fact that he sees himself as an intellectual person who knows how to solve every problem. Though he doesn't brag, the way he acts suggests that he sees himself as smarted and more sophisticated than the others. He tries to make himself out to be a humble, down to earth, everyday kinda guy, but i dont think he is.
- Cameron Duquette
I think that some people may feel that Nick Carraway is a 'cool guy' most likely because he is mellow and passive. People are less likely to have conflict with someone that is socially withdrawn. I think that Nick is socially awkward, but for some reason finds himself is dozens of odd social situations. He does say some racist things, but I think that it may just be on impulse because he generally does not participate in conversation. You never know what he will do or say... making it very interesting to read.
--Laura Hundley
i agreee with this Steve Les fellow. Nick does seem to be a pretty cool guy. Everyone enjoys his company and all the new people he meets through Gatsby and Nick seem to like him. it could just be that they pretended to like him because it was polite and didn't want to offend Gatsby or Tom, depending on who he was with.
-Scott Hagen
Although he did make a racist comment, for the times I do not think he was a racist. 100 years Black people were treated like trash and it was unfair. But that was the general public view of all minoirty groups. I do think that out of all of the people in this book, Nick is proably the most normal. Gatsby is madly inlove with an absolute airhead (daisy), Tom is also an idiot, Jordan is a gossip, Wolfshiem kills people, and Nick is justa struggling man and a cool guy.
Will Kearney^
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