Nick Carraway-The Great Gatsby

[KRG]

Have I been living under a rock? Nick Carraway is gay??

 

I have read this book numerous times. Oldest ds and I just read it this school year. I have a degree in English from a state university with professors that had no problem discussing any type of real or made-up ideas about $e%uality in books that were taught. I was never taught and the subject was never broached that Nick was supposed to be gay. It never crossed my mind. So is the topic of Nick Carrawy being gay just because of our culture or what?

[Word Nerd]

Are you referring to the movie? I haven't seen it, but one of my friends says Baz Luhrmann got the characters all wrong in the movie and in his opinion missed the point. Not sure if everyone would agree, but in any case, I wouldn't necessarily take his interpretation of Nick as the correct one. I am just finishing the book again today and haven't seen any indication that he was gay (unlike the main character in Breakfast at Tiffany's, for example).

[KRG]

It was a movie conversation that spurred it but then I googled and there are lots of thoughts about Nick from the book being gay.

 

I haven't seen the new movie.

[Shahrazad]

I never got that impression from the book. This is the first time I'm hearing it as well. :confused1:

[Mrs Mungo]

I have heard the theory of Nick being bisexual (or gay) before. His fascination with Gatsby, his broken engagement, etc. This scene in Chapter 2 is one possible indicator:

 

'Come to lunch some day,' he suggested, as we groaned down the elevator.

'Where?'

'Anywhere.'

'Keep your hands off the lever,' snapped the elevator boy.

'I beg your pardon,' said Mr McKee with dignity, 'I didn't know I was touching it.'

'All right,' I agreed, 'I'll be glad to.'

...I was standing beside his bed and he was sitting up between the sheets, clad in his underwear, with a great portfolio in his hands.

'Beauty and the Beast...Loneliness...Old Grocery Horse...Brook'n Bridge...'

Then I was lying half asleep in the lower level of the Pennsylvania Station, staring at the morning Tribune, and waiting for the four o'clock train.

 

Many people take this scene as Nick and McKee sleeping together. There are other sort of intimate moments between the two.

 

His view of women also has something to do with this. He only likes women in their idealized form. Look how easily he is turned off by Jordan.

 

ETA: It is probably worth pointing out that many people believe Fitzgerald was a closeted gay man, which is what leads people to seek out these veiled scenes. Have you read A Moveable Feast, Into Something Rich and Strange or other books about Hemingway?

 

Note: I am not saying I necessarily agree with this view, just explaining it.

[Orthodox6]

Absurd.

[Jenny in Florida]

I think there is plenty of textual evidence that suggests Nick might be gay or bisexual, actually. I've always thought so.

 

Mrs. Mungo pretty much covered it. So, I won't go over the same ground again.

 

I've always been intrigued by Nick's comments about the woman back home, too.

 

I think, in a novel as spare and condensed as Gatsby, that we have to assume everything that is in there has a definite purpose. Fitzgerald was an extremely thoughtful and careful writer, often fussy over minute changes in word choice and sentence structure well into what should have been the final proof stage. I don't think there is anything in any of his novels that slips through accidentally. The fact that there are multiple small details in the book that hint at Nick's sexuality tells me that at least the question is included intentionally.

 

Edit: I'm basing my thoughts solely on the novel. I haven't seen the new film and have no intention of seeing it, based on the reviews.

[VeganCupcake]

I re-read the book last year and though it didn't really occur to me then, it doesn't surprise me at all to consider the possibility.

[Mergath]

I think there's certainly enough evidence to make the argument that he could be gay or bisexual. I've always taken the scene Mrs. Mungo referenced to mean that Nick slept with McKee. Obviously we don't know the author's intentions, but I can't see how anyone who has actually read the book could reject the idea out of hand.

[Mrs Mungo]

Absurd.

 

Nice rebuttal! Seriously, why not explain why you do NOT think it is true, using evidence from the text? That is how an exchange of ideas usually works. If I think something is absurd, I at least try to explain why. Again, have YOU read books about the relationship between Hemingway and Fitzgerald? Or Fitzgerald's turbulent relationship with his wife?

[Mrs Mungo]

Here is a literary criticism work that discusses this possibility in more detail:

http://books.google.com/books?id=ZnEzL5XRd7wC&pg=PT322&lpg=PT325&ots=-h_9hxc7pL&dq=gatsby+homoerotic+subtext&output=html_text

[Orthodox6]

 

 

Nice rebuttal! Seriously, why not explain why you do NOT think it is true, using evidence from the text? That is how an exchange of ideas usually works. If I think something is absurd, I at least try to explain why. Again, have YOU read books about the relationship between Hemingway and Fitzgerald? Or Fitzgerald's turbulent relationship with his wife?

 

[Orthodox6]

As you wish.

[Caroline]

I remember thinking about Nick being gay when I read the book in high school. However, in 1984, that wasn't something we talked about in my English class. I need to read the book again.

[Caroline]

Absurd.

 

 

I am curious. Why is it absurd?

[unsinkable]

Is Nick gay or bisexual...hmmm...? I'm not sure.

 

The quote from the book occurs on only the 2nd time Nick is drunk in his life. That could explain the almost disjointed jumping from elevator to bedroom to Penn Station.

 

What happened in that white space? Is Nick passing in and out of consciousness? Or is there a sexual encounter?

[Mrs Mungo]

As you wish.

 

What does this mean? What I hoped for was that you would explain and/or defend your position.

[plansrme]

You guys all know this is a fictional character, right? Not a real person. Just checking to be sure we are clear that there is spit flying on

the sexual orientation of a someone who does not actually have a sexual orientation. You know, with his not being real and all.

[Shahrazad]

Wow. I completely missed that but it does add some context to why people might think that.

 

I don't think spit is flying but if someone post such a vague 1-word comment, it is understandable people would ask for clarification.

[unsinkable]

You guys all know this is a fictional character, right? Not a real person. Just checking to be sure we are clear that there is spit flying on

the sexual orientation of a someone who does not actually have a sexual orientation. You know, with his not being real and all.

 

 

You're a buzzkill.

 

:lol:

 

P.S. A person doesn't have to be "real" to have a sexual orientation.

 

 

[elegantlion]

You guys all know this is a fictional character, right? Not a real person. Just checking to be sure we are clear that there is spit flying on

the sexual orientation of a someone who does not actually have a sexual orientation. You know, with his not being real and all.

 

That's the beauty of fiction, well developed characters are very, well, developed by the author. Backgrounds, memories, back story, all of that can be important into the development of a quality story. Not everything the author knows about a character goes into the actual work. Some of it can be implied or subtle or even left unstated, room for discussion (such as this thread). Some authors write very detailed character information sheets before they ever start their stories. Character development is one of the most intriguing parts of writing for me. A character's passion and personality are part of that, sexual orientation would be a part of that as well.

 

Does Nick exist? Yes. Is he a real person? No. It's Sunday and I'm not pulling out the argumentation book, but I just read something along these lines. To say it's irrelevant because he's not "real" is like saying you simply shouldn't read fiction because none of it exists either.

[Caroline]

Well said, EL. Well said!