Tuesday, November 26, 2019

What is Nick's final judgement on Gatsby?

To find Nick's final judgment on Gatsby, the third paragraph of the first chapter is a good place to look. There, Nick, on one hand, says that Gatsby "represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn." But Nick also asserts that Gatsby was "exempt from [his] reaction" of wanting the world to be "at a sort of moral attention forever." It is clear that Nick has mixed reactions to Gatsby's behavior throughout the summer they spent together.
While Nick does not explicitly condone the kind of criminality Gatsby admits to being involved in, Nick does partake in drinking alcohol procured by his host, a crime during prohibition. Nick is also very aware of Gatsby and Daisy's affair but in his mind excuses it perhaps because Gatsby's love for Daisy is genuine and Daisy's husband is a reprehensible character.
At the end of the third paragraph in the first chapter, Nick concludes that "Gatsby turned out all right at the end" and that the people and forces that "preyed on Gatsby" are what turned Nick's thoughts inward and caused him to leave the East to reset his moral compass.

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