F. Scott Fitgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, tells the story of Nick Carraway's life in West Egg, and his relationships with people from the more prestigious and wealthy East Egg, including none other than Jay Gatsby. Acting as the novel's narrator, Nick Carraway tells of his interactions with Tom Buchanan, a "hulking brute of a man" from Yale, Nick's Distant cousin Daisy Buchanan, the small breasted golf star Jordan Baker, and Tom's mistress from the Big Apple, Myrtle Wilson. Fitzgerald utilizes Nick Carraway to characterize the stories main characters.
             A good judge of character, Nick picks up many characteristics of people, but does this silently and "reserves judgement," as Fitzgerald wrote. Much of the text is Carraway's thoughts of people, and his confrontations with them. It is very hard to gather what Nick's true feelings of a person are. In chapter one, his visit with the Buchanan's is told. From the text, it seems that Nick is flirting with his cousin Daisy. An example of this is when Daisy asked, "Do you want to hear about the Butler's nose?" Nick replied, "That's why I came tonight." That playful manner of Nick's comes across as flirting, but it is nothing but far from the truth. Another key aspect of this novel, is Fitzgerald's use of setting.
             The idea of setting plays a very large roll in this novel. The most dynamic contrast in the story is the setting of East Egg and West Egg. East egg is the old money of Long Island, and its inhabitants show much contempt to the new money of West Egg. Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby live in West egg, while Tom and Daisy Buchanan live in East Egg. Another major setting is the Valley of Ashes. The valley represents the destruction that modern society is causing. An example is the ash created by the trains. Also, George Wilson's garage is located there, and his the house of George's wife Myrtle, also known as Tom's mistress. Nick's narration is also a very important i
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