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likeabulldozer) wrote2010-12-07 10:38 pm
likeabulldozer) wrote2010-12-07 10:38 pm
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At Tifa's request
I'm doing papers and stuff for classes. I plurked about this one and Tifa was amused so....I present 'The Bromance in Gatsby'
The Bromance in Gatsby
The relationship between Nick and Gatsby
Bromance: the complicated love and affection shared by two straight males. Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby share a relationship in The Great Gatsby that is complicated on many levels and is difficult to pigeon-hole into one category. Yes they are friends but in some ways Nick plays the older sibling in the relationship. Gatsby provides an inspiration and a mystery to Nick as well as giving him a purpose that Nick needs. The relationship is further complicated by the possibility that Gatsby is only using Nick and doesn't hold any feelings toward him outside of the means to get to Daisy. Nick and Gatsby's relationship is multifaceted on both sides.
Nick is from a midwestern town and a midwestern background. Outside of his academic career there is nothing outstanding about his life. He moves to the East seeking glamor, purpose and meaning for his life. He also wants a life that diverges from the mundane experience he's had so far. Nick wants to remake himself. In Gatsby he recognizes someone that has remade themselves. Gatsby is, in some ways, a reflection of what Nick seeks to do but Gatsby has done it so convincingly and so successfully that Nick doesn't believe in the illusion, neither education nor appearance, that Gatsby has created. He serves as a cautionary tale to Nick both on the surface and through experience: Beware. Don't lose the 'real' in search of betterment. This is further reinforced after Gatsby's death when Nick sees through Jimmy Gatz how humble he began. Gatsby simply wanted better than what he had, something more exciting, something more glamorous and purposeful. All of his careful planning got out of hand until Gatsby was no longer in touch with what is real and what is an illusion. Nick lives in the real world, standing on the outside of this illusion that is perpetrated by everyone in the story with perhaps the exception of Jordan Baker and spearheaded by Gatsby himself. The tragedy of Gatsby both through his life and in his death keep Nick from taking those final steps to leave the grounded world behind. His experience with Gatsby pulls Nick up short allowing him to cement his own morals and values to find that “after a certain point [he doesn't] care what [conduct] is founded on” (4) it is a person's actions that matter not social standing, what coast they live on or what friends they keep.
If Gatsby serves as a cautionary tale to Nick then Nick's role in Gatsby's life is that of guide, big brother and conscience. Gatsby needs Nick while Nick considers himself, by the end of the novel, lucky to have known Gatsby. Gatsby's need is reflected in several ways, first and foremost because Nick is Gatsby's connection to Daisy. Nick's guidance is integral in Gatsby's drive to possess Daisy once again. He provides a solidarity and a sense of reality to Gatsby that piques Daisy's interest in a way that all of Gatsby's flamboyancy hasn't. Nick is the door that let's Daisy step into Gatsby's life. When Gatsby, Daisy and Nick are having tea they reside in Nick's world and in that world Nick first exhibits his role as mentor. He encourages Gatsby at first as a sibling or a parent is wont to do and when that doesn't work he chides him: “You're acting like a little boy,” (Fitzgerald 94) then just as a mentor, parent or older sibling would do, he leaves Gatsby to his own devices fleeing to the back yard despite the rain to let Gatsby sink or swim on his own. There is a feeling that Nick has done all he can to help; the rest is on Gatsby himself but he doesn't abandon him. When Daisy steps through the door Nick has opened into Gatsby's life and home, Nick assures Gatsby his house is “splendid” (96) when prodded. Later in the novel during a trip into town, Nick serves as a buffer between Tom, Gatsby and Daisy, providing the voice of reason and the calm presence that is necessary to keep the situation from exploding.
While mentor is a role that Nick plays well, nudging Gatsby along when needed and scolding when necessary, he also serves as Gatsby's confidant and conscience. Throughout the story people talk to Nick, gossiping, sharing private sides of their lives but no one reveals more or trusts Nick more than Gatsby. Gatsby has a respect for Nick that he doesn't for others, a respect that insists Gatsby tell Nick the truth because he doesn't want Nick “to get a wrong idea of [him] from all these stories” circulating throughout the society. Gatsby trusts Nick with not only his secrets but James Gatz himself. In knowing the real Gatsby Nick gains the ability to keep Gatsby from getting entirely lost in the persona he's cultivated in order to win Daisy.
While Nick serves as a confidant for Gatsby, Gatsby provides Nick with an understanding about the world that he lacks. Nick observes Gatsby's life just one step closer to that world than the readers. He helps Nick to understand the love for Daisy that drove him to recreate himself entirely. He provides Nick with insight to Daisy with the peculiar way he describes her and “that was it. [Nick had] never understood before”, like a lock turning in a key one part of Daisy makes sense in a way that he's never seen before (128). Gatsby lets Nick try, do, see and understand bits of the world he imagined he'd become a part of when he left Chicago behind without losing the naivete and the honesty that Nick boasts of as well as treasures in himself. Gatsby is a 'safe' way to experience these things because Nick can hang back, watch Gatsby live his life, dabble when he feels like and know that if there is a fall, Gatsby will be the one taking it because he's the one playing with fireworks. Nick is the involved observer.
Upon Gatsby's death, Nick's role as observer shifts a bit and becomes more active by necessity. He becomes Gatsby's voice and his memory, privy to other people's memories of Gatsby when Mr. Gatz shares with Nick the book that Gatsby wrote his schedule in. That schedule fills the last piece of the Gatsby puzzle Nick has been assembling. Nick knows the why and the how of Gatsby but Mr. Gatz's recollection of his son answers the question of when Gatsby began this transformation. It allows adds a depth to Gatsby and an understanding of the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy. Gatsby already had the tools to become the man he was. He simply needed the reason that falling in love with Daisy gave him to really go over the top. In death, Gatsby gains an active respect and loyalty when Nick “found [himself] on Gatsby's side” while the others were lined up on the side that pretends it never happened.
Nick and Gatsby mean many different things to each other on many different levels. Theirs is the only relationship not entirely disconnected or founded in illusion in the entire novel. The relationship is real, founded on both pragmatic and emotional levels just as relationships in real life often are. The relationship between Daisy and Gatsby is a dream; the one between Daisy and Tom is dysfunctional but Nick and Gatsby are real. After Gatsby's death, after a bit of time has passed Nick realizes this and truly appreciates the bromance he shared with Gatsby realizing that Gatsby held hope, readiness and a life “such as [he had] never found in any other person and which it is not likely [he] shall ever find again,” (4).
Works Cited
"Urban Dictionary: Bromance." Urban Dictionary, December 6: Audience Typing. 3 Feb. 2010. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. <http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bromance>.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1925. Free EBooks at Planet EBook - Classic Novels and Literature. Web. 07 Dec. 2010.
The Bromance in Gatsby
The relationship between Nick and Gatsby
Bromance: the complicated love and affection shared by two straight males. Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby share a relationship in The Great Gatsby that is complicated on many levels and is difficult to pigeon-hole into one category. Yes they are friends but in some ways Nick plays the older sibling in the relationship. Gatsby provides an inspiration and a mystery to Nick as well as giving him a purpose that Nick needs. The relationship is further complicated by the possibility that Gatsby is only using Nick and doesn't hold any feelings toward him outside of the means to get to Daisy. Nick and Gatsby's relationship is multifaceted on both sides.
Nick is from a midwestern town and a midwestern background. Outside of his academic career there is nothing outstanding about his life. He moves to the East seeking glamor, purpose and meaning for his life. He also wants a life that diverges from the mundane experience he's had so far. Nick wants to remake himself. In Gatsby he recognizes someone that has remade themselves. Gatsby is, in some ways, a reflection of what Nick seeks to do but Gatsby has done it so convincingly and so successfully that Nick doesn't believe in the illusion, neither education nor appearance, that Gatsby has created. He serves as a cautionary tale to Nick both on the surface and through experience: Beware. Don't lose the 'real' in search of betterment. This is further reinforced after Gatsby's death when Nick sees through Jimmy Gatz how humble he began. Gatsby simply wanted better than what he had, something more exciting, something more glamorous and purposeful. All of his careful planning got out of hand until Gatsby was no longer in touch with what is real and what is an illusion. Nick lives in the real world, standing on the outside of this illusion that is perpetrated by everyone in the story with perhaps the exception of Jordan Baker and spearheaded by Gatsby himself. The tragedy of Gatsby both through his life and in his death keep Nick from taking those final steps to leave the grounded world behind. His experience with Gatsby pulls Nick up short allowing him to cement his own morals and values to find that “after a certain point [he doesn't] care what [conduct] is founded on” (4) it is a person's actions that matter not social standing, what coast they live on or what friends they keep.
If Gatsby serves as a cautionary tale to Nick then Nick's role in Gatsby's life is that of guide, big brother and conscience. Gatsby needs Nick while Nick considers himself, by the end of the novel, lucky to have known Gatsby. Gatsby's need is reflected in several ways, first and foremost because Nick is Gatsby's connection to Daisy. Nick's guidance is integral in Gatsby's drive to possess Daisy once again. He provides a solidarity and a sense of reality to Gatsby that piques Daisy's interest in a way that all of Gatsby's flamboyancy hasn't. Nick is the door that let's Daisy step into Gatsby's life. When Gatsby, Daisy and Nick are having tea they reside in Nick's world and in that world Nick first exhibits his role as mentor. He encourages Gatsby at first as a sibling or a parent is wont to do and when that doesn't work he chides him: “You're acting like a little boy,” (Fitzgerald 94) then just as a mentor, parent or older sibling would do, he leaves Gatsby to his own devices fleeing to the back yard despite the rain to let Gatsby sink or swim on his own. There is a feeling that Nick has done all he can to help; the rest is on Gatsby himself but he doesn't abandon him. When Daisy steps through the door Nick has opened into Gatsby's life and home, Nick assures Gatsby his house is “splendid” (96) when prodded. Later in the novel during a trip into town, Nick serves as a buffer between Tom, Gatsby and Daisy, providing the voice of reason and the calm presence that is necessary to keep the situation from exploding.
While mentor is a role that Nick plays well, nudging Gatsby along when needed and scolding when necessary, he also serves as Gatsby's confidant and conscience. Throughout the story people talk to Nick, gossiping, sharing private sides of their lives but no one reveals more or trusts Nick more than Gatsby. Gatsby has a respect for Nick that he doesn't for others, a respect that insists Gatsby tell Nick the truth because he doesn't want Nick “to get a wrong idea of [him] from all these stories” circulating throughout the society. Gatsby trusts Nick with not only his secrets but James Gatz himself. In knowing the real Gatsby Nick gains the ability to keep Gatsby from getting entirely lost in the persona he's cultivated in order to win Daisy.
While Nick serves as a confidant for Gatsby, Gatsby provides Nick with an understanding about the world that he lacks. Nick observes Gatsby's life just one step closer to that world than the readers. He helps Nick to understand the love for Daisy that drove him to recreate himself entirely. He provides Nick with insight to Daisy with the peculiar way he describes her and “that was it. [Nick had] never understood before”, like a lock turning in a key one part of Daisy makes sense in a way that he's never seen before (128). Gatsby lets Nick try, do, see and understand bits of the world he imagined he'd become a part of when he left Chicago behind without losing the naivete and the honesty that Nick boasts of as well as treasures in himself. Gatsby is a 'safe' way to experience these things because Nick can hang back, watch Gatsby live his life, dabble when he feels like and know that if there is a fall, Gatsby will be the one taking it because he's the one playing with fireworks. Nick is the involved observer.
Upon Gatsby's death, Nick's role as observer shifts a bit and becomes more active by necessity. He becomes Gatsby's voice and his memory, privy to other people's memories of Gatsby when Mr. Gatz shares with Nick the book that Gatsby wrote his schedule in. That schedule fills the last piece of the Gatsby puzzle Nick has been assembling. Nick knows the why and the how of Gatsby but Mr. Gatz's recollection of his son answers the question of when Gatsby began this transformation. It allows adds a depth to Gatsby and an understanding of the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy. Gatsby already had the tools to become the man he was. He simply needed the reason that falling in love with Daisy gave him to really go over the top. In death, Gatsby gains an active respect and loyalty when Nick “found [himself] on Gatsby's side” while the others were lined up on the side that pretends it never happened.
Nick and Gatsby mean many different things to each other on many different levels. Theirs is the only relationship not entirely disconnected or founded in illusion in the entire novel. The relationship is real, founded on both pragmatic and emotional levels just as relationships in real life often are. The relationship between Daisy and Gatsby is a dream; the one between Daisy and Tom is dysfunctional but Nick and Gatsby are real. After Gatsby's death, after a bit of time has passed Nick realizes this and truly appreciates the bromance he shared with Gatsby realizing that Gatsby held hope, readiness and a life “such as [he had] never found in any other person and which it is not likely [he] shall ever find again,” (4).
Works Cited
"Urban Dictionary: Bromance." Urban Dictionary, December 6: Audience Typing. 3 Feb. 2010. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. <http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bromance>.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1925. Free EBooks at Planet EBook - Classic Novels and Literature. Web. 07 Dec. 2010.