F. Scott Fitzgerald - "The Great Gatsby": Demonstrate Nick Carraway's maturation as the events of the summer of 1922 unfold.

Essay by elusive_butterflyHigh School, 10th gradeA, October 2007

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As the events of the summer of 1922 unfold, the character of Nick Carraway matures greatly in the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In the beginning of the novel, Nick is very naïve and doesn’t notice faults in people. Nick also realizes that materialism is wrong and that if he must give up his morals to be successful in the east, it is not worth it.

Nick has a very naïve personality in the beginning of the novel. He is unaware of how to judge the truth in people and doesn’t see many faults with them. As the summer unfolds though, he learns how to accurately judge individuals and realizes that what he thought at first is not the truth at all. For example, he thinks that Daisy is a beautiful woman with admirable traits and even makes the mistake of liking her. “I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.”

(Fitzgerald 14). Nick regarded Daisy as a cute, fun-loving girl who had no imperfection. It is later that he realizes how materialistic and superficial and flawed she is. Nick Carraway enjoyed the company of the Buchanan’s but by the end of the book he was mature enough to realize their true nature. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness....” (Fitzgerald 170). This shows us that his view on the Buchanan’s changed greatly and that his judgement matured throughout the book because he could not see them from this light before.

Nick’s views on materialism and his desire to become a rich bond man change throughout the novel as he matures. “The...