Nick Carraway 'And Fight Club'

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It is hard to see from the surface, how people can begin to compare both Nick Carraway and the unnamed Narrator of “Fight Club.” The vast differences in both class, era, and attitude can make it near impossible to be able to find both similarities and differences that would indicate that they are apostolic narrators; when one man chooses the life of liberation from the upper class, and the other has been raised to believe “fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth.” creating a sense of complete opposition from the two narrators. However, through deep analysis of the narrators and their “hero,” we begin to notice that both men have many similarities that centre on the underlining issue of class from the perspective of the opposite…show more content…
This could be due to the “great war,” isolating him from the real world, or his “aunts and uncles” making all his decisions, so that he has never personally learnt right from wrong. Therefore, when rumours that Gatsby “killed a man” arise, it doesn’t tarnish Gatsby’s reputation in the eyes of Nick. This could make us question Nick’s reliability as a narrator, because he is bias towards Gatsby and doesn’t notice the flaws in his character even when he has committed the greatest sin of killing somebody. Yet, is a respectable apostolic narrator, because he is recalling his own thoughts and feelings of his “hero” who he believes is perfect, although as a reader we notice that Gatsby’s character has more flaws than perfections, so he must idolise him as a hero. Similarly, the narrator of “Fight club” does not question the mayhem created by his “hero” Tyler. Tyler has lived his life freely, and the narrator is pleading him to…show more content…
Contrastingly, the two men pursue very different goals, yet they are both using their hero as a means of getting it. The unnamed narrator believed his life was “ending one minute at a time,” therefore; He constantly dwells on the fact that his life is killing him. He doesn’t want to die anymore, he wants to live, but when he meets Tyler his concept is that “only after you’ve lost everything...that you’re free to do anything.” Yet, the only way we can fully lose everything is through death. So does that mean his goal is primarily death, but with Tyler there to justify it? He constantly touches on the subject of death and destruction, and never fully starts to live his life before the inevitable day he has to die. All he does is prolong his miserable death, for a more meaningful, exciting death with Tyler. Even so, Tyler is making the unnamed narrators “life” more meaningful in his eyes, so has helped him to reach his goal. Similarly, Nick also wants to escape his old life, and moves into a “weather-beaten cardboard bungalow.” The fact that he is moving to such an appalling place, just so that he can restart, shows that Nick is desperate to reinvent himself. He consciously chooses the help of Gatsby because he has personally transformed himself, so
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