Nick’s Attitude Towards Eastern Society

In "The Great Gatsby" the feelings of the main characters are often difficult to work out, and this ambiguity continues with the character of Nick. However, I believe that the feeling of "fascination" could be taken in two different ways - positive and negative. It could mean that Nick is enthralled and entranced wholly by what he sees, or fascinated in that he is amazed by how fake or shallow the people can be on the East Coast.

Throughout the novel, Nick's thoughts and feelings change frequently, depending on the situation he is in and the people that he is with, and this is why it is difficult to try and establish what his main feeling is as it varies so much. I will look at the main points in the book where the East Coast society is clearly shown, and try to establish Nick's main attitude and how Fitzgerald presents his thoughts and feelings to us. One of the primary places where Fitzgerald displays the society to us is when Nick meets Tom and Daisy.

When describing Daisy's voice, Nick words phrases such as "low, thrilling", and calls it an "exhilarating ripple". I believe that this type of description, which occurs frequently whenever Nick talks about Daisy, show his fascination in a positive way with the East Coast world. The words "thrilling" and "exhilarating" imply that Nick is almost mesmerised by her as they are so emotive, something which I believe holds true for the society as a whole - it appears as if Nick is put in something of a trance by the glamour of it.

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I believe Fitzgerald chose Nick to have this reaction to Daisy because it goes some way to showing his feelings towards the East Coast. This is because Fitzgerald leads the reader to believe that Daisy is supposed to represent the people and the society on the east coast as a whole - by making her pretty, somewhat nai??ve and somewhat false, Fitzgerald is able to show Nick's feelings about the situation as a whole through one character. I believe that this aspect of the novel shows mainly the fascination on Nick's part.

Although the reader gets the impression that Nick is mesmerised by this world, Fitzgerald makes us doubt this due to the way that he has written some of Nick's narration. For example, when describing Daisy and her mannerisms, Nick narrates "That was a way she had. " This quote implies that Nick realises that Daisy is not how she presents herself to be, and almost knows that she's fairly manipulative in the way she acts. There are numerous examples of this throughout; Nick explains that Daisy has "an absurd, charming little laugh", and the word "absurd" again implies that he finds it too charming to be real.

I believe that Fitzgerald wanted Nick's feelings to be ambiguous - these comments contribute to the impression that if the reader takes away the surface attraction, Nick is actually fascinated by the falseness of the society around him rather than fascinated in wonder. In this way, I would say that Nick's main feeling here would also be fascination - but not in the same way as the fascination with Daisy and her appearance as I believe that to be more of a surface fascination.

Whilst I believe these negative comments to be a sign of Nick's absorption in this world, it is easy to understand why some readers could take them as signs of out and out contempt. Contributing to this view would be the way that Fitzgerald makes Nick sound mocking and sometimes sarcastic towards Daisy. An example of this is when he says "That's why I came over tonight" in response to Daisy's question about the story of the butler's nose. The sarcasm is clearly evident in that reply, and it has an air of mockery to it also as the reader realises that Daisy is perhaps not the brightest of people.

Fitzgerald has ensured that the reader knows that Nick has realised this also, and because of this, it would be easy to feel that he is mocking Daisy as he knows she won't understand the sarcasm in his response. This would create the impression that Nick holds Daisy and the lifestyle in general in contempt and would therefore go against the statement that Nick is mainly fascinated by this world. However, I believe that many of Nick's sarcastic comments are actually him trying to be funny, as I don't believe that he would be capable of being nasty to Daisy as he is so mesmerised by her.

I also believe that this fits with Nick's perception of the whole society, due to the fact that I think Fitzgerald meant Daisy to represent the East Coast as a whole. Another main situation in the novel where we see what Nick thinks about the society is up to and during Gatsby's parties. In a similar fashion to his description of Daisy, at the beginning of Chapter 3 Nick provides us with a very long description of everything about the parties.

The description is very detailed, for example the "spiced baked hams, crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold". The detail in the description means that Fitzgerald has created the impression that Nick is relishing describing what he sees, and again that he is drawn in by the extravagance and beauty of what he can see. This adds to this impression that Nick's main attitude. In addition to this, Fitzgerald uses lots words that make things sound magical in the description, for example "bewitched", "gold" and "floating".

These words create the feeling in the readers' minds that Nick is enchanted by what he is seeing - as if he is placed in some sort of trance by the glamour of it all. Again, I believe that this can be linked to how he feels about Daisy - Nick is put in almost a trance by her looks and her voice, and it's almost as if only the odd negative thought is able to slip through that. Again, Fitzgerald makes Nick's true feelings difficult to ascertain, as he puts in words into the description that are very ambiguous in their meaning.

They make the reader unsure of Nick's truth in his words, as the way they are taken entirely depends on the individual reader's point of view. An example of this is the phrase "A bar with a real brass rail was set up". Here, the word "real" is what makes the reader unsure, as it could just be taken in the same way as everything else - Nick is describing everything in sight with detail and relish. However, it could also be taken as mocking, because "real" sounds as if Nick could be making fun of those people who care about and are truly fascinated by the authenticity of the brass rail.

The first point of view, that this is genuine wonder from Nick, would contribute to the first interpretation of fascination, as it would demonstrate a real interest in the extravagance of the society that they would be able to afford and expect something like that. However I believe that the second point of view, the mockery, would also contribute to an attitude of fascination - but the second interpretation of the word; the meaning that involves Nick being fascinated by the shallowness and materialism of the people and the society in general.

This is because the society in the East is a lot more concerned with possessions and appearances than Nick would have been used to in the Midwest, where family would have been much more important. In conclusion, in creating such intense description, I believe Fitzgerald makes the reader feel that Nick's main feeling here is fascination, but leaves us undecided as to what think. Another aspect of the parties that creates a similar dilemma is how Fitzgerald creates dialogue and conversation during the parties.

When Nick is talking to the two girls, the way that the narration during the dialogue between speech is put makes Nick sound potentially mocking - the repetition, for example "It was for Lucille, too" sounds very mocking and as if Nick feels that the conversation he is surrounded by is very artificial and that nobody there is very individual. This would clearly be a reflection on society there as a whole and would go against the statement in the title.

Another possibility is that Fitzgerald wants the reader to feel that Nick feels superior to the people around him, and so is repeating names and sayings in order to create humour - to be mocking in a more light-hearted way. This interpretation would not particularly support the view that Nick is fascinated by society either. However, another interpretation would be that Fitzgerald wants us to feel that Nick is so caught up in the conversation that he is simply writing down everything because he feels it is all really interesting, or that he is too engrossed to filter what is being said.

This third view of the narration by Fitzgerald would obviously support the statement that Nick is fascinated by the society. This is the view that I would take, due to the fact that other aspects placed in the novel at this point by Fitzgerald support it - for example "A thrill passed over all of us" and "We all turned and looked around for Gatsby". These sentences show that Fitzgerald wants us to see that Nick feels included in this conversation and is intrigued by it, and so adds to the view that Nick's main attitude is fascination.

A similar effect is achieved by the way in which Fitzgerald structures the narration here - when Nick is describing what he sees, he writes lists of the things. Fitzgerald has structured these not in a fluent, literary way but by putting a heavy repetition of the word "and" in-between each new addition to the list. This makes Nick seem almost overwhelmed by what he sees - as if he is too mesmerised by it all to try and structure anything coherently.

It also gives the reader the impression that the objects are never-ending, and makes us feel that Nick believes all the enthralling things he sees will go on forever. It creates the feeling of wonder that I would link strongly with fascination, and as a result I believe it supports the title statement. It could be pure fascination at the glamour and appearance of all these things, but it could also be fascination at just how much there is - Nick could be in wonder at the overly extravagant natures of the parties.

Again, I believe Fitzgerald has constructed this ambiguity intentionally to show how Nick has conflicting emotions about the society he is now involved in. A separate place in the novel where we see Nick immersed in the East coast world is during his visit to New York, which we are briefly told about. I believe Fitzgerald placed this description of New York in the novel to show Nick's reactions to the East Coast outside of East and West Egg.

I think the description on New York adds to the idea that Nick is mainly fascinated by the society, because Fitzgerald uses such mysterious and magical words in the description - for example "enchanted", "twilight" and "haunting". These words create the feeling for the reader that Nick believes he is in some sort of magical world, and displays his obvious liking for the city. I think that Fitzgerald intended this to link with Nick's overall feelings about East and West Egg, as I believe that if he wished us to believe that Nick was repulsed by the nature of the area he would not be so complimentary about New York.

The description creates an appealing vision of the city, not one that is meant to deter the reader. As a result, I believe that this description adds to the impression that Nick's main view is fascination. The way that Fitzgerald presents Nick also affects what we think his opinion is about East Coast society, because his personality affects how we take his reactions. Fitzgerald has presented Nick as a character who always looks for glamour in situations, and prefers to see the better side of things.

This can be seen in the New York description, when he imagines that he is involved in the lives of the glamorous people around him. As a result of this personality we are given for Nick by Fitzgerald, personally I am more inclined to go with the interpretations that he is simply fascinated by what he sees of the culture in the East. In addition to this, we are told that Nick is very reserved with judgements, and this personality trait makes me think that Nick would therefore not be mocking and sarcastic so early on in the book - i. . during the bits I have written about - which also makes me believe that most of his fascination is genuine. Overall, I would agree fairly strongly with the statement that Nick is mainly fascinated by East Coast society; however I think the type of fascination that he feels varies depending on the situation. I believe that he is fascinated in terms of the glamour of that world and also, at times, fascinated by how materialistic and shallow it appears to be.

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