Nick Carraway 2

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Nick Carraway - Profoundly Sad

Nick seems to be sorrowful and melancholy at various points in the story, and he has a habit of always finding the sadness in his observations. This could suggest that, deep inside, Nick feels lonely and isolated in the world.

Nick's loneliness

Sometimes, Nick acknowledges his own loneliness, and the loneliness he sees in others: 'At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others' (Chapter Three).
Nick is sometimes pessimistic about the future, and, although he is relatively young, he is worried about what is to come: 'the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair.' (Chapter Seven).

Nick's relationship history

Since Nick is the narrator of the story, he is in a position to quickly gloss over any scandalous speculation about his own past. However, we do still learn of rumours about his engagement to 'a girl out west' (Chapter One).
At the end of Chapter Three, Nick reveals some information which makes us slightly more suspicious about his ongoing communication with this mysterious 'girl out west'. Sensing a growing connection with Jordan Baker, Nick says that he needs to sort out a 'tangle back home' (Chapter Three).

Nick's relationship history (cont.)

Given the clues we have about Nick’s chequered past, it seems reasonable to wonder whether Nick has been scarred by some previous romantic trauma.
At one point, Nick tells us that he 'liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter into their lives, and no one would ever know or disapprove.' (Chapter Three).
It would, therefore, be reasonable to infer that, at some point in the past, Nick has experienced things which have led him to fear disapproval.

Nick Carraway - A Man to be Trusted?

Nick considers himself to be an honest person. In Chapter Three, he refers to himself as 'one of the few honest people I have ever known'. But there are a few points in the narrative which bring this assertion into question:

Relationship with Jordan

Jordan Baker, who was initially attracted to Nick’s seemingly 'honest' and 'straightforward' (Chapter Nine) personality, certainly does not feel that way about him by the end: she feels betrayed and let down by him.
Nick seems to spare a lot of the details of his affair with Jordan, but if she has found him to be a dishonest person, then maybe his whole account of events must be brought into question: just how truthful is Nick Carraway being?

Nick's narrative

Nick himself tells us that he is a person who people like to share their 'intimate secrets' (Chapter One) with, but really all we have is the version of events Nick chooses to share.
- Could it even be that Gatsby is just a front for Nick’s own colourful time in New York City?