Undreamed Dreams

‘They’re a rotten crowd,’ [Nick] shouted across the lawn. ‘You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.’ This was Nick’s last remark to Gatsby as he waved farewell, not knowing it was the last time. It has always been clear to readers and to the narrator himself that he was rather fond of Gatsby, but how fond he is can be further analyzed. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a theme of ambiguity appear continuously throughout the whole novel. There was ambiguity in the uses of colors and the character’s background within the story, however, one of the most intriguing yet least noticed mysteries is Nick’s sexuality. Many would argue that Nick is utterly in love with Jordan and his mere affection towards Gatsby was anchored in admiration and hope. There is evidence that points to the theory that Nick’s feelings towards Gatsby might be more than platonic and how ultimately, these feelings might alter the interpretation of this novel.

At a side glance, Nick Carraway was thought to have been in love with Jordan Baker, a sporty golfer who was friends with Daisy, but whether he was actually enchanted by her or not is arguable. Nick had had many pondering moments when “[he] thought [he] loved her. But [he is] slow-thinking and full of interior rules that act as brakes on [his] desires” (Fitzgerald 39). He was so indecisive when expressing feelings about Jordan, there was always a bit of hesitance and denial. The hints of his queerness are sprinkled across the novel like the ‘interior rules’ which could be referred to the social oppression of homosexuality that ‘acts as brakes’ on his real desires. What he wanted was not Jordan, Nick wanted someone who could fill the void that he is unable to satisfy. And when he is unable to achieve his desire, he seeked comfort within reaching distance and Jordan was there: “Unlike Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, [Nick] had no girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs, and so [he] drew up the girl beside me, tightening [his] arms” (52) Nick had no girl not because he could not have Jordan. He had no girl because he did not want a girl! This quote misdirects readers to the false conclusion that Nick loved Jordan, but reading it at another angle changes the meaning completely.

After the death of Gatsby, it was as if Nick had given up completely to the ‘interior rules’ that he had built morally. When he met Jordan for the last time, she remarked that she thought he was an honest person, that it was his ‘secret pride’. He replied with: “I’m thirty. I’m five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor” and eventually he ran away “angry, half in love with her, and tremendously sorry” (113). Nick has reached the point where it was no point in hiding it anymore, the years of restraining his feelings have finally wore the man out. ‘Tremendously sorry’ because he led a girl who was in love with him on, and making her think that he was in love with her too. He was too honest for his own good that the feeling of guilt crept itself in him. In the end, the affair between Nick and Jordan just did not work out. Jordan was a disguise that Nick used to conceal and disapprove of his true feelings for men, more specifically Gatsby.

More than the ambiguity between Nick and Jordan’s relationship, Nick’s words and actions directed to Gatsby, or men in general, are more than platonic. It was fairly obvious that the scene after the fight between Myrtle and Tom, Nick had a sexual interaction with Mr. McKee when “[Nick] was standing beside his bed and [McKee] was sitting up between the sheets, clad in his underwear, with a great portfolio in his hand.” (26) Then the person whom many would claim that he was attracted to, Jordan Baker, was described as “almost any exhibition of complete self-sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from [Nick]” (8) with her “hard, jaunty body” (38). Jordan Baker has been introduced as a rather conventionally masculine character, with her sporty attributes and a strong personality. Nick was drawn to her, and she was the most masculine women in the novel there was.

The way he observes and describes Gatsby, his main spectacle, is not how friends describe one another. It is essential to keep in mind that The Great Gatsby was written in Nick Carraway’s perspective. So when Nick caught the glimpse of “[Gatsby] tanned skin was drawn attractively tight on his face and his short hair looked as though it were trimmed everyday” (33) or “his brown, hardening body lived naturally through the half-fierce, half-lazy work of the bracing days” (63), he was not looking at Gatsby as a platonic friend. Also let’s not forget the smile that captured Nick immediately. “It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hope to convey” (32). All of Nick’s life, he has been surrounded by people who used him as a cauldron to pour confidences in, but coming across Gatsby, it was as if someone had finally understood him as he wanted to be understood. The scrutiny in his description of Gatsby was too transparent that it is hard to miss out on. Afterall, Gatsby is the man who “gives his name to this book” and when the narrator is clearly in love with him, it changes the whole perspective of the novel.

If Nick was in love with Gatsby, then how one interpret this novel would alter in a variety of different angles. Many would be quick to assume that Nick was meddling into a situation where he could have prevented what had happened, but that downright is unfair. Nick is an outsider hence everyone expect him to be the wise and objective tiebreaker in this novel. Nevertheless, Nick Carraway is at heart just a man trying to figure his way through life, like any other human being. He is not there to be the cupid matchmaker for the insiders, nor is he the problem solver when something goes wrong. Thomas Foster commented on Nick in his essay about The Great Gatsby that “a hundred times [Nick] could stop the proceedings with a word but does not”. It does not matter that Nick could have prevented everything, anyone could have prevented anything if they were wise enough. But they were not. Gatsby was full of lust for love, Daisy and Tom for money. So was Nick. He was in love with someone he could not be with, and dealing with those feelings have been hard enough. To be a queer man at this period was confusing. It was not something one could figure overnight and it might have been something Nick is still struggling even after Gatsby’s death. Moreover, Nick being in love with Gatsby truly, honestly, and secretly means that he wants to see him happy, even if it means being with Daisy. By forcing the “hero” label on Nick is to disregard his perspective and hardship and to disregard the beauty of literature interpretation.

The Great Gatsby is a layered story. There is not just one simple explanation for it, and it broadens one’s mind to dive in and explore what is hidden underneath. Nick Carraway would not have dedicated a novel for a casual friend whom he had known for several months. This is not a writing about Gatsby only, it is also about Nick and his feelings. What readers see from Nick’s narration is what he sees. What he sees are forbidden loves that could never be reached and a sexual ambiguity that lingers forever in his heart. If readers were to only interpret The Great Gatsby as a story about a man named Jay Gatsby trying to reach for his unfulfilled American Dream, Daisy, they would never be able to see the story about Nick Carraway and the dreams that couldn’t be dreamed.