water. Nick looks out at the water, but all he can see is a distant green light that might mark the end of a dock.Analysis Nick Carraway's perceptions and attitudes regarding the events and characters of the novel are central to The Great Gatsby. Writing the novel is Nick's way of grappling with the meaning of a story in which he played a part. The first pages of Chapter I establish certain contradictions in Nick's point of view. Although he describes himself as tolerant and nonjudgmental, he also views himself as morally privileged, having a better sense of "decencies" than most other people. While Nick has a strong negative reaction to his experiences in New York and eventually returns to the Midwest in search of a less morally ambiguous environment, even during his initial phase of disgust, Gatsby stands out for him as an exception. Nick admires Gatsby highly, despite the fact that Gatsby represents everything Nick scorns about New York. Gatsby clearly poses a challenge to Nick's customary ways of thinking about the world, and Nick's struggle to come to terms with that challenge inflects everything in the novel."I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."In the world of East Egg, alluring appearances serve to cover unattractive realities. The marriage of Tom and Daisy Buchanan seems menaced by a quiet desperation beneath its pleasant surface. Unlike Nick, Tom is arrogant and dishonest, advancing racist arguments at dinner and carrying on relatively public love affairs. Daisy, on the other hand, tries hard to be shallow, even going so far as to say she hopes her baby daughter will turn out to be a fool, because women live best as beautiful fools. Jordan Baker furthers the sense of sophisticated fatigue hanging over East Egg: her cynicism, boredom, and dishonesty are at sharp odds with her wealth and beauty. As with the Buchanans' marriage, Jordan's surface glamour covers ...
