Tuesday, February 18, 2014

I can't figure out if Nick has real feelings for Jordan or if he just wants to date a girl whom he admires in The Great Gatsby; which is it?

Jordan Baker certainly
intrigues Nick Carraway. As an "innocent" from the Midwest,
Nick is unused to meeting worldy-wise females such as Jordan. When he first sees her at
Daisy's house, he becomes fascinated with her voice and her cool manner (the
stereotypical "hard-to-get" appeal). Later, though, as Nick learns more about New York's
Old and New Money society, he realizes how "incurably dishonest" Jordan is. He notes
that she lies on several occasions, cheats at golf, and drives
recklessly.


At the novel's end, Nick seems to possess
sympathy for Jordan and guilt regarding his distancing himself from her after Gatsby's
death. My take has always been that Nick did not intentionally use Jordan and then
"drop" her as she claims. Rather, I think he was caught up in the idea of her and then
found her and her crowd repulsive when he realized that she was not much different from
Tom and Daisy who smash up people's lives and then retreat into their "cocoon of
wealth."

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