Nick Carraway And The Buchanan example essay topic
351 words
Analysis: Fitzgerald establishes Nick Carraway as an impartial but not passive narrator. He does reserve judgment on others, yet as he states, he is not entirely forgiving. From the opening paragraphs, there is already a tension. For the narrator, Gatsby represents all that is contemptible, but Gatsby is the one person exempt from this scorn. The first paragraphs of the book foreshadow the main actions of The Great Gatsby: Carraway says that living without privilege can excuse some behavior, yet not all. The main theme of the novel is what behavior the less privileged can and cannot use to gain the advantages of the elite. A major concern in the book is class and privilege. Nick Carraway and the Buchanan are all from privileged, elite backgrounds, yet use this status in different ways. Tom Buchanan uses his status in a reprehensible and vulgar manner. In physical stature he is powerful and dominant. As his wife says, he is a 'big, hulking physical specimen. ' He has a trace of 'paternal contempt' that inspires hatred.
His choice of reading, 'The Rise of the Colored Empires,' suggests that he is concerned with maintaining his own dominance. There is some anxiety surrounding Tom Buchanan, as if he foretells his eventual decline. Daisy Buchanan is a stark contrast to her husband. She is frail and diminutive, flighty and insubstantial. She laughs at practically every opportunity. Additionally, Daisy is gossipy and transparent, affecting an air of worldliness and cynicism.
She strikes a similar posture as her husband, claiming that everything is in decline, but does not appear to have the hard temperament or the concrete knowledge to back up that opinion. Daisy seems to represent some sense of purity and an innocence that borders on na " ivet'e. She and Jordan are dressed in white when Nick arrives, and she mentions their 'white girl-hood' together. But this ostensible purity of Daisy and Jordan is an ironic contrast to their actual decadence and corruption, as lat.
