Welcome, IB English students of the 2014-15 school year!
If you are here, it's probably because you received a summer assignment from me and perhaps you have questions. As I said on the assignment paper, I may not check this blog every day, but please do leave questions here and I will do my best to answer them. Feel free to answer someone else's questions if you can. I think you'll find that a supportive learning community is vital to your success and peace of mind in IB and this is where it can begin.
Jonathan Martinez
ReplyDeleteReferring to the conversation on the 8/29/14 about Nick Carraway why do we think the Author chose him to be the narrator of the story. My comment on that is that Nick was born in a humble background and was raised with morals from his father who taught him to never be judgmental and to reserve his judgment. By creating a character that doesn't judge, it gives the reader the opportunity to create their own opinion about the people that surround Nick.
I also want to comment about on that if Nick hadn't been there, would there be a story. I think that there wouldn't have a story if Nick hadn't shown up because Nick is the one who ties everything together and makes something happen in the lives of the one surrounding Gatsby.
I agree with Jonathan. Since Nick is so humble, he is also neutral, which goes back to the point Ben made in our classes seminar. Ben mentioned that Nick was chosen because he was neutral between Tom and Gatsby. Furthering that, Nick was also neutral between Gatsby and Daisy. He didn't mind that Daisy was "unfaithful" to Tom, nor that Gatsby was pursuing a relationship he shouldn't.
ReplyDeleteAlso, on a different note, I wanted to bring up one of the questions I wrote for the summer assignment. Nick moved out East to make something of himself in the bonds business. He wanted to be wealthy. So when he meets Gatsby, he somewhat latches on to him because he sees everything he wishes to be in Gatsby. My question I wanted to pose was do we create relationships with people based on who we are or who we want to be?
ReplyDeleteFitzgerald created a character for us to see as honest and nonjudgmental, yet throughout the book Nick is passing judgments to everyone. He tells us that Jordan Baker is incurably dishonest, Tom and Daisy are careless people, and that he felt an unaffected scorn towards Gatsby. As time goes on though, Nick becomes more and more dishonest and judgmental himself. By the end of the book he was a completely new person compared to the Nick we were first introduced to. He moved there for a new atmosphere and in way i think he was corrupted by it.
ReplyDeleteGoing back to the question “Why did Fitzgerald create the character Nick Caraway?”, I believe Nick acts as a surrogate for Fitzgerald. This was a way for him to express his thoughts and opinions through the mind and eyes of the character. Fitzgerald was trying to communicate his perspective of the American Dream at that place in time. Without Nick it would be very difficult to convey the message of the story using only the remaining characters. Using Nick Fitzgerald was able to communicate the evolution of his disappointment about the American Dream as the events of the story progressed.
ReplyDeleteClearly Nick changes over the course of the story. After experiencing a different lifestyle, it it inevitable that anyone would show signs of change, no matter how small. In Nick, the most notable example is the shift in his goals from the beginning to the end of the story. He arrives in New York determined to succeed in his new life and striving to be a "well rounded man." However, as the story progresses, Nick seems to realize perhaps the perfection of well roundedness is not as attainable or even desirable as he had once believed and he allows himself to return home, abandoning his initial ideals.
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