Throughout his novel, "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Nick Carraway's descriptions of Jay Gatsby to reveal Gatsby as a one man who has become corrupted in his pursuit of the "American Dream." .
But who exactly is Nick Carraway? We don't know very much about Nick in the beginning. He doesn't present many facts about himself other than: he grew up in a respectable family and went to Yale, he likes literature and considers himself one of those "limited" specialists known as a "well-rounded man," and he works in the bond business in New York City.(Fitzgerald 4) He's connected to wealthy and important people, like his cousin Daisy and Tom, his college acquaintance, but he is definitely not one of them. Unlike everyone around him, Nick Carraway is not a wealthy man. He sits on the outside of these wealthy social groups and it gives him a good view of what happens inside them. He has a good eye for character and isn't afraid to use it. .
Nick is a pretty honest guy at the beginning, but he's not always nice. He's very pleasant and capable of getting along with others in public, but behind closed doors he's kind of a jerk. Actually, he's just not afraid to tell it like it is. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. He has high standards for everyone he meets, especially himself. He's definitely not like Daisy and Tom because Nick actually seems to have morals. He also has some personal integrity and this knowledge of right and wrong helps to put him above the others, at least at the beginning. .
As we read further into the book though, things, such as Nick's morality, start to come into question. With people he believes to be less than him, he is still less charitable. He meets Myrtle Wilson, Tom's mistress and thought to himself, "there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smoldering." (Fitzgerald 25) .
