Conflict Between Nick And Jordan In The Great Gatsby

Nick’s Observation of Jordan Baker Nick never paid too much attention to his intriguing “relationship” with the Jordan Baker. Although he increasingly found it monotonous to write “love you” letters to his girlfriend back in Chicago, he was reluctant to commit to a steady relationship with Jordan (Fitzgerald 57). Nick found her “incurably dishonest” after he Nick discovered that she was suspected of cheating in a golf tournament (Fitzgerald 58). He was rationally suspicious of Jordan Baker.

The line of attack we use in order to identify individuals around us is an intriguing thing. Our perception is forever shifting, forever building, and affected not only by the person’s actions, but by the actions of those around them. In Scott F. Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby Nick Caraway’s perception of Jay Gatsby is always changing. All the way through the novel, Nick’s perception of Gatsby changes from him perceived as a rich chap, to a man that lives in the past, to a man trying to achieve his aspirations but has failed.

As Nick moves into West Egg, his life begins to change from what it used to be. Following his appearance in New York, his cousin Daisy invites him over her house in the East Egg, where he meets Tom Buchanan and Jordan Baker. Nick never judges someone, rather, he gets to know them and their story before making any assumptions, and this is shown many separate times. He knew Tom because they were friends in college, but Jordan was a new face for him and he was interested to find out what she was like. Nick and Jordan form a sort of relationship, propelled by Daisy, as time goes on but it is rather short lived, he felt like she was untrustworthy and the way she acted after Myrtle's, Toms mistresses, death caused Nick to not care about her any more, and lose what love he had for her.

Nick’s father gives him this advice “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one”(Fitzgerald 1) and to keep in mind “People in this world haven’t had the advantages you’ve had” (Fitzgerald 1). Nick then claims that he is “inclined to reserve all judgements” (Fitzgerald 1). Nick was able to stand up for Gatsby rather than just let Tom have a skewed view of Gatsby when he said that he was “Some big bootlegger”(Fitzgerald 107). Many other people believed Gatsby had some illegal, high paying job. Nobody knows Gatsby’s job, but Nick wanted to make sure that his reputation was not tainted before he met Tom. Nick defended Gatsby well staying reserved and without being rude to Tom. and on the surface it hardly did anything to gatsby’s reputation at all Daisy runs over Myrtle, Nick

This is a common theme due to the fact that Nick is present during all of the key characters interactions. This enables him to have a clear picture of certain situations. Of course, there were other characters that could also have seen the fact that characters were not showing their true feelings, but in order to enable flow, I thought it ideal to show Nick observing each situation. In order to show that Nick is not the only one that is able to notice things, I took it upon myself to study his relationship with Jordan. I was able to glean some details about Nick and Jordan that they were oblivious to. What I was able to discern is the fact that Jordan was a bit more attached to Nick than him attached to Jordan. This is displayed when Jordan says, “You threw me over on the telephone. I don’t give a damn about you now, but it was a new experience for me, and I felt a little dizzy for a while” (178). I was able to pick up a strong sense of jealousy in her voice, which attends to the fact that Jordan still harbored some resentment over Nick’s abrupt annulment of their relationship. This shows that anyone observing from a third person perspective would be able to see a relationship’s dynamic, not only one character, such as

Through the observations and experiences of Nick, The Great Gatsby exposes the temptations that men have towards the allure of the East and the consequences of giving into them. When Nick first attended one of Gatsby’s parties, he noted that “they [the guests] conducted themselves according to the rules of behavior associated with an amusement park” (41). Nick describing the guests of Gatsby’s party with the behavior associated with an amusement park shows that people from the East are not truly any more civilised than those from the West. Throughout the book, the East is seen as being more privileged than the West, with grander houses and prestigious families, while the West is less fashionable with wide lawns and friendly trees. With the

character but is vital in the role of the novel. It is later that Nick realizes that he becomes twisted and that he finds no desire to associate himself with careless people like Tom, Daisy,

It can therefore be seen that Jordan, Myrtle and Daisy are not the slightest bit worthy of the love of Nick, George and Gatsby respectively. Jordan is dishonest and careless, in complete contrast to Nick’s honesty and integrity, and lies to him throughout the entire relationship; Myrtle has no respect for George and never treats him kindly, and indirectly causes his death, whilst Daisy takes advantage of Gatsby’s love and allows him to take responsibility for her actions, which ultimately leads to his death.

Jordan Baker is not talked about much in the book until the third chapter. Nick talks about her “incurable dishonesty”

Jordan’s cold nature is instantly drawn attention to when she is introduced with the use of the colour “grey” to describe her eyes, as if she sees everything as “grey” and dull. This image is exaggerated at the end of chapter 3 however Nick clearly finds her attractive nonetheless as he brought her “scornful mouth” up closer to him. As Nick is such a moral character who prides himself on being “one of the few honest men” he has ever known, it can be argued that Jordan cannot be such a terrible person to be accepted by someone so meticulously honest. Nick describes Jordan as “incurably dishonest” and this suggests that she is immoral as she her whole personality seems to be consumed by this dishonesty, therefore creating an overpowering immoral image of her.

This is why he can see that Tom’s actions were justified in his mind. But, by revealing that he "couldn’t forgive" Tom, Nick also makes it clear that he is slipping up, breaking from his father’s advice, closing the psychological gap between himself and "that

From the moment Nick first met her, Nick immediately went to commenting on her physical characteristics. “I enjoyed looking at her. She was a slender, small breasted girl, with an erect carriage, which she accentuated by throwing her body backwards at the shoulders like a young cadet.” (Fitzgerald, 11). Throughout the story it is learned that Jordan is not a single man women, as she has multiple men romantically pursuing her at all times. “There were several [men] she could’ve married at a nod of her head.” (Fitzgerald, 117). This quote implies that Nick was not the only male romantically involved with Jordan Baker. She was the typical flirty, seductive flapper of the 1920’s that had every guy longing to be with

Imagine being in an untrustworthy relationship, or a relationship that involves unfaithfulness. The novel The Great Gatsby (written by F. Scott Fitzgerald) , starring Gatsby, Tom, Myrtle, Nick, there are two couples that undergo this type of relationship. This certain story includes a lot of thrilling, sad, weird, and inevitable moments to keep the readers, reading. To begin explaining the plot of The Great Gatsby, you have to truly understand the intentions behind each character and relationship in the story.

During the 1920's American culture was centered around status and wealth, especially in the east, in hopes of living the true "American dream". Although most people became shallow, empty, and careless in their paths to wealth, often hurting those who have less then them, and making them pay the consequences of their immoral actions. But Jay Gatsby was unlike every other hollow person in the East, because he had something to live for, fight for, and dream for; Daisy Buchanan. His love for her gave him the strength to keep believing in the American dream and the drive to accomplish it. Gatsby restores Nicks faith in the people of the 1920's by showing him that not everyone is shallow and selfish, and that in order to live the American dream, hope and determination can not be lost.

He helped him reconnect with Daisy and supported him loyally till his funeral. Meanwhile, Nick is a really nice person who cares and seems like he is always there for Daisy. Although he does not do the right thing when it comes to helping her choose between Tom and Jay, he just leaves the scene, probably because he did not want to take sides, as he was a close friend with all three parties of that conflict. “At this point Jordan and [Nick] tried to go, but Tom and Gatsby insisted with competitive firmness that [they] remain” (Fitzgerald 7, 130). Carraway tries to flee the scene, instead of advising Daisy that Jay would be a much better man than Tom who is cheating on her ever was. As her cousin, it was part of his duty to guide her and tell her about the most realistic option in spontaneous and unexpected situations of such. That’s is to say, Nick is one of the characters that will express the strong bond between the illusion of appearance and reality by his kind personality that covers the mistakes and bad decisions he makes.