(Why Don? You know I'll only rant!)
From the first few pages of the novel, already I am taking a deep disliking to Nick.
It is not because he has money, or can go to an Ivy League college, or because he seems like an intelligent man.
It's because he is already starting to grate on me in that he seems obsessed about class and status and exactly what he did over the last few years of his life.
I'll be honest, I already read the rest of the novel, and the feeling I get from the first chapter in that he is basically just a messenger is only excacerbated by the fact that really, he seems to be lacking in any kind of personality.
All I can get from these few pages is that he has money, and he does banking, and he's practically in love with this man Gatsby.
Bankers. Ugh. So very boring. And completely and entirely inconsequential.
I would be fascinated by this character if something interesting had happened to him. He was in the Great War, so why are we not told of some enormous achievement from during his time in France?
He moved across the country, so surely something more interesting than meeting a fellow who asked him directions happened to him? Please?
Honestly, he is just a blank canvas to me at the moment. Dull, and barely there.
And really, if the most exciting encounter he had with another human being was "Do you know the way to the West Egg?" then he has clearly not travelled far enough, and should try Mexico or something. Maybe Canada.
I honestly think very little than general dislike for him.
"Yes, I went to New Haven, but people are bores". CLEARLY you are not listening to the people, Nick. People are fascinating. People have stories about wars and murders and bombs and stuff!! LISTEN TO THEM. If you don't have any interesting stories of your own to tell, you could at least have told us some of the initimate secrets divulged to you.
"I'm going to be a banker." Oh dear. Money stuff, for a man whose family have enough money to support him without a job for a whole year. People like him make me feel fairly ill at ease with the world.
In conclusion, for the first few pages of The Great Gatsby, I have not been endeared to Nick Carroway.
But he's so impressionable and weak - if one collected enough of him and created a personal army of Nick Carroway-droids, the world could be conquered through persuasion and coercion!
ReplyDeleteYeah I hate him too, he manages to be boring and stuck-up at the same time, and stuck-up people are usually at least interesting :(
Love it :), I love how strongly you dislike Nick :D
ReplyDeleteMaddy, please. Sit down in a isolated field, listening to soothing sounds of the ocean and have a Bovril and a hot egg. This should calm you down.
ReplyDeleteGive him time to grow on you. He's a good lad.
You make it sound as if Nick is really makeing a big fuss about something so blank. I feel that this text so far makes Nick a character for questioning, and your thought will help we with this. He says that he will not be judgemental, yet he is - is there a reason for this?
ReplyDeleteWell done =D