“Nick’s main attitude to east coast society is fascination.” How far, and in what ways do you agree with this statement?

In The Great Gatsby the smellings of the main characters argon often serious to work out, and this ambiguity continues with the character of ding. However, I cogitate that the olfactory perceptioning of fascination could be taken in two different right smarts positive and negative. It could pie-eyed that chip off is enthr anyed and entranced wholly by what he sees, or fascinated in that he is amazed by how fake or shallow the people can be on the tocopherol Coast.Throughout the novel, break aways thoughts and touch sensations change frequently, depending on the situation he is in and the people that he is with, and this is why it is difficult to attack and establish what his main feeling is as it varies so much. I will look at the main excites in the intelligence where the East Coast nightspot is clearly shown, and try to establish snicks main position and how Fitzgerald presents his thoughts and feelings to us. One of the primary places where Fitzgerald displays the nine to us is when break away meets Tom and Daisy.When describing Daisys voice, nick address phrases such(prenominal) as low, thrilling, and calls it an exhilarating ripple. I commit that this type of comment, which occurs frequently whenever ding negotiation about Daisy, show his fascination in a positive way with the East Coast population. The words thrilling and exhilarating imply that chip is almost mesmerised by her as they are so emotive, roughthing which I believe holds true for the fiat as a hale it appears as if Nick is upchuck in something of a trance by the fascinate of it.I believe Fitzgerald chose Nick to make this reaction to Daisy because it goes some way to showing his feelings towards the East Coast. This is because Fitzgerald leads the lector to believe that Daisy is supposed to represent the people and the society on the east coast as a whole by making her pretty, somewhat archaic and somewhat false, Fitzgerald is able to show Nicks feelin gs about the situation as a whole through 1 character. I believe that this aspect of the novel shows mainly the fascination on Nicks part.Although the reader gets the judgement that Nick is mesmerised by this world, Fitzgerald makes us doubt this ascribable to the way that he has written some of Nicks memorial. For framework, when describing Daisy and her mannerisms, Nick narrates That was a way she had. This quote implies that Nick realises that Daisy is not how she presents herself to be, and almost knows that shes f ancestryly manipulative in the way she acts. There are numerous examples of this throughout Nick explains that Daisy has an funny, charming little laugh, and the word absurd again implies that he finds it too charming to be real.I believe that Fitzgerald wanted Nicks feelings to be perplexing these comments extend to the impression that if the reader takes away the surface attraction, Nick is genuinely fascinated by the insincerity of the society around h im rather than fascinated in wonder. In this way, I would say that Nicks main feeling here would also be fascination but not in the corresponding way as the fascination with Daisy and her appearance as I believe that to be more of a surface fascination.Whilst I believe these negative comments to be a sign of Nicks absorption in this world, it is easy to understand why some readers could take them as signs of out and out contempt. Contributing to this calculate would be the way that Fitzgerald makes Nick tidy mocking and sometimes sarcastic towards Daisy. An example of this is when he says Thats why I came over this evening in response to Daisys question about the story of the butlers nose. The sarcasm is clearly evident in that reply, and it has an air of mockery to it also as the reader realises that Daisy is perhaps not the brightest of people.Fitzgerald has ensured that the reader knows that Nick has realised this also, and because of this, it would be easy to feel that he i s mocking Daisy as he knows she wont understand the sarcasm in his response. This would take the impression that Nick holds Daisy and the lifestyle in general in contempt and would thitherfore go against the narrative that Nick is mainly fascinated by this world. However, I believe that many of Nicks sarcastic comments are actually him trying to be funny, as I dont believe that he would be capable of being stringent to Daisy as he is so mesmerised by her.I also believe that this fits with Nicks perception of the whole society, due to the fact that I think Fitzgerald meant Daisy to represent the East Coast as a whole. some other main situation in the novel where we see what Nick thinks about the society is up to and during Gatsbys parties. In a similar fashion to his description of Daisy, at the beginning of Chapter 3 Nick provides us with a very long description of everything about the parties.The description is very detailed, for example the spiced baked hams, crowded against s alads of dapple designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold. The detail in the description means that Fitzgerald has created the impression that Nick is relishing describing what he sees, and again that he is drawn in by the extravagance and dish aerial of what he can see. This adds to this impression that Nicks main attitude. In addition to this, Fitzgerald uses lots words that make things sound magical in the description, for example bewitched, gold and floating.These words create the feeling in the readers minds that Nick is enchanted by what he is seeing as if he is placed in some sort of trance by the glamour of it all. Again, I believe that this can be linked to how he feels about Daisy Nick is put in almost a trance by her looks and her voice, and its almost as if only the odd negative thought is able to slip through that. Again, Fitzgerald makes Nicks true feelings difficult to ascertain, as he puts in words into the description that are very ambiguous in their meaning.They make the reader unsure of Nicks truth in his words, as the way they are taken entirely depends on the person readers point of view. An example of this is the phrase A bar with a real brass rail was lot up. Here, the word real is what makes the reader unsure, as it could just be taken in the same way as everything else Nick is describing everything in sight with detail and relish. However, it could also be taken as mocking, because real sounds as if Nick could be making fun of those people who care about and are truly fascinated by the authenticity of the brass rail.The first point of view, that this is genuine wonder from Nick, would contribute to the first interpretation of fascination, as it would demonstrate a real interest in the extravagance of the society that they would be able to afford and expect something like that. However I believe that the second point of view, the mockery, would also contribute to an attitude of fascination but the second inte rpretation of the word the meaning that involves Nick being fascinated by the shallowness and materialism of the people and the society in general.This is because the society in the East is a lot more concerned with possessions and appearances than Nick would have been used to in the Midwest, where family would have been much more important. In conclusion, in creating such intense description, I believe Fitzgerald makes the reader feel that Nicks main feeling here is fascination, but leaves us undecided as to what think. Another aspect of the parties that creates a similar dilemma is how Fitzgerald creates intercourse and conversation during the parties.When Nick is talking to the two girls, the way that the narration during the dialogue between speech is put makes Nick sound potentially mocking the repetition, for example It was for Lucille, too sounds very mocking and as if Nick feels that the conversation he is surrounded by is very artificial and that nought there is very indi vidual. This would clearly be a reflection on society there as a whole and would go against the statement in the title.Another possibility is that Fitzgerald wants the reader to feel that Nick feels superior to the people around him, and so is repeating names and sayings in order to create pique to be mocking in a more light-hearted way. This interpretation would not particularly support the view that Nick is fascinated by society either. However, another interpretation would be that Fitzgerald wants us to feel that Nick is so caught up in the conversation that he is simply writing down everything because he feels it is all really interesting, or that he is too engrossed to filter what is being said.This third view of the narration by Fitzgerald would obviously support the statement that Nick is fascinated by the society. This is the view that I would take, due to the fact that other aspects placed in the novel at this point by Fitzgerald support it for example A thrill passed ov er all of us and We all turned and looked around for Gatsby. These sentences show that Fitzgerald wants us to see that Nick feels included in this conversation and is intrigued by it, and so adds to the view that Nicks main attitude is fascination.A similar effect is achieved by the way in which Fitzgerald structures the narration here when Nick is describing what he sees, he writes lists of the things. Fitzgerald has structured these not in a fluent, literary way but by lay a heavy repetition of the word and in-between each new addition to the list. This makes Nick count almost overwhelmed by what he sees as if he is too mesmerised by it all to try and structure anything coherently.It also gives the reader the impression that the objects are never-ending, and makes us feel that Nick believes all the fascinating things he sees will go on forever. It creates the feeling of wonder that I would link strongly with fascination, and as a result I believe it supports the title statemen t. It could be pure fascination at the glamour and appearance of all these things, but it could also be fascination at just how much there is Nick could be in wonder at the overly extravagant natures of the parties.Again, I believe Fitzgerald has constructed this ambiguity intentionally to show how Nick has conflicting emotions about the society he is now involved in. A separate place in the novel where we see Nick immersed in the East coast world is during his visit to New York, which we are briefly told about. I believe Fitzgerald placed this description of New York in the novel to show Nicks reactions to the East Coast outside of East and West Egg.I think the description on New York adds to the idea that Nick is mainly fascinated by the society, because Fitzgerald uses such mysterious and magical words in the description for example enchanted, twilight and haunting. These words create the feeling for the reader that Nick believes he is in some sort of magical world, and display s his obvious liking for the city. I think that Fitzgerald intended this to link with Nicks overall feelings about East and West Egg, as I believe that if he wished us to believe that Nick was repulsed by the nature of the area he would not be so complimentary about New York.The description creates an appealing vision of the city, not one that is meant to dissuade the reader. As a result, I believe that this description adds to the impression that Nicks main view is fascination. The way that Fitzgerald presents Nick also affects what we think his opinion is about East Coast society, because his personality affects how we take his reactions. Fitzgerald has presented Nick as a character who always looks for glamour in situations, and prefers to see the better side of things.This can be seen in the New York description, when he imagines that he is involved in the lives of the glamorous people around him. As a result of this personality we are given for Nick by Fitzgerald, personally I am more inclined to go with the interpretations that he is simply fascinated by what he sees of the culture in the East. In addition to this, we are told that Nick is very reserved with judgements, and this personality trait makes me think that Nick would therefore not be mocking and sarcastic so early on in the book i. . during the bits I have written about which also makes me believe that most of his fascination is genuine. Overall, I would carry fairly strongly with the statement that Nick is mainly fascinated by East Coast society however I think the type of fascination that he feels varies depending on the situation. I believe that he is fascinated in terms of the glamour of that world and also, at times, fascinated by how materialistic and shallow it appears to be.