The Great Gatsby
Does Fitzgerald portray Gatsby as the one who is ?Great? or is Nick Carraway the true hero of the novel
Nick Carraway provides the eyes and ears with which Fitzgerald shows us a period ?described as a corrupt, amoral and violent time, in which loneliness, frustration and lost spiritual values are typical.? Within this bleakness Fitzgerald has chosen to write about Jay Gatsby, a man who symbolizes the American Dream, who has ?an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I (Nick) have never found in any other person.? Nick lives in this bleakness too but Fitzgerald brings him in closer to it, all the while showing us a hero of the time. Despite the flaws shown, I believe Fitzgerald still wants us to view Gatsby as a hero. Nick aspires to be a hero but he cannot due to the reality of his character and despite his admiration for the finer qualities in man, he lacks the fervor to obtain these himself.
One critic claimed: ? Without the gloss given to him the story of Gatsby is merely that of a bootlegger killed by a garage owner.? This is true. Gatsby is a bootlegger, a
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