the West Eggers and Gatsby to uphold American social values.
             Gatsby is in many ways a man living outside of his proper time, being a romantic in an age of cynicism. Carraway eventually comes to see this, but the other characters never really understand Gatsby because they also cannot understand that mindset. In the early part of the novel, Fitzgerald uses uncertainty about Gatsby's background to create a sense of mystery, but once Gatsby's background is explained, the people of West Egg believe they know him and can categorize him. In truth, even the reader never really knows Gatsby the way one would know a character whose consciousness the reader shares. Nick Carraway is the character whose consciousness is shared in this novel, and from the first he has to be seen as a relatively objective observer.
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