“In the first two pages of the novel, Nick Carraway claims that he is "inclined to reserve all judgment." Do you find that this is true so far? Please provide textual evidence to support your position.”
The Great Gatsby is Narrated by Nick Carraway. Nick claims to reserve all judgments. It’s a bit difficult to tell if he really is reserving all judgments, because in various places throughout the book he makes what could be considered judgments. The most profound thing that Nick says that makes me believe he doesn’t reserve all judgment is when he said that Gatsby represents “everything for which I have an unaffected scorn." He is evidently making judgments about Gatsby here. Another example which may seem like a judgment is when he speaks about Tom and his home. On page 6 Nick seemingly judges their home, saying, “Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay.” On page 7 he says “[Tom’s] body is capable of enormous leverage--a cruel body.” He also says Tom’s voice conveys “fractiousness”. I don’t think these should be considered judgments. I feel that this is simply how the author has chosen to describe characters since the story is told by a character that is the narrator. I don’t feel that Nick reserves all judgments, but I think most of his descriptions aren’t meant to be judgments.
No comments:
Post a Comment