NICK CARRAWAY – THE GREAT GATSBY - #BLOGCHATTERA2ZCHALLENGE2022
‘The Great Gatsby’ by the American writer, F Scott
Fitzgerald, was written in 1925. Nick Carraway was the protagonist and narrator
of this novel. The Gatsby mentioned in the title referred to Jay Gatsby, the millionaire,
who owned an enormous estate in Long Island near New York city.
Nick Carraway who had participated in World War 1, comes
back to West Egg, an opulent part of Long Island and makes his home close to
his cousin, Daisy Buchanan and her wealthy husband, Tom, who was Nick’s Yale
classmate.
It is then that Nick meets Jay Gatsby, a neighbour of
Daisy’s, and a man who intrigues him deeply. Jay was rumoured to be Daisy’s old
lover and he is still very much in love with her. In fact, Jay confesses as
much to Nick and confides that his extravagant lifestyle and swashbuckling
parties were only to impress her. Nick brings them together and they resume
their affair.
Meanwhile, Nick has a fling with Jordan Baker, a young
heiress and a golf champion. He is not exactly in love but feels “a tender
curiosity” for her. It is she who breaks the news that Tom is having an affair
with Myrtle who is married to the mechanic, George Wilson. This relationship
proves to be the tinderbox that goes up in flames, setting in action a whole
progression of unhappy events that finally force Nick to drop everything and
leave for the Midwest, heartbroken and disillusioned.
Nick’s role is just that of a narrator standing on the
fringes, reporting what he observes. He is an idealist who believes the best of
people, but he is in for rude shocks as he discovers that the people he
idolises have feet of clay. He starts off as a genial and easy-going person,
but becomes moody as the novel progresses.
‘The Great Gatsby’ was the result of a short affair that
the author, Fitzgerald, had with a young socialite, Ginevra King, and the
riotous parties he attended at the time. The book did not do well commercially
at the beginning, but its popularity grew in leaps and bounds during World War II
when free copies were distributed to soldiers serving overseas by the Council
of Books in Wartime. Today, the novel is considered a classic.
The first film on the book came out in 1926 where Neil
Hamilton played Carraway. Toby Maguire played the role in 2013. The film has an
overwhelming cast with Leonardo Di Caprio as the suave Gatsby, Carey Mulligan
as Daisy and Amitabh Bachchan as Meyer Wolfsheim, a gangster who helped Gatsby.
‘The Great Gatsby’ has been adapted for television and radio as well over the years. It has also been adapted into three graphic novels.
I am participating in the #Blogchatter A to Z Challenge! Happy Reading and Writing! :)
A fabulous write up. The Great Gatsby is one of my favorites. Thanks for sharing this one !
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your kind comment! I am delighted.
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ReplyDeleteI am an avid reader and always wanted to be a published author. I worked one year to write my first novel. When I approached a publisher, Along with other stats the number of reviews on my book mattered. I used usbookreviews.com to get 100+ reviews. This immensely helped me get a traditional publisher. Now I am also looking to sell movie rights for my novel to a medium sized studio in Hollywood.
I remember how much the India media went into frenzy over Amitabh's role in Gatsby. I didn't know there's a graphic novel on it too. No wonder it's considered a classic. It still has fans across the globe.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we (as in authors) should all distribute free copies in bulk. Sigh! If only we could afford that.