Describe Nick. Why do you see him this way?

Nick in The Great Gatsby is not as he first appears, or as he would have the reader believe.

When he opens the novel telling the reader that he reserves judgement of others, because others may not have had the advantages that he had, he is demonstrating that he has feelings of superiority--he thinks he is superior to others.  And he gets this from his Midwestern father.  He wouldn't have to try so hard to not judge others, if he didn't judge others.

Nick is also extremely opinionated.  Note these examples:

• In college, Tom's "freedom with money was a matter for reproach--..." (10). 


• Miss Baker, the first time Nick sees her, "...was extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless and with her chin raised a little as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall.  If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it--indeed I was almost surprised into murmuring an apology for having disturbed her by coming in" (13).  This characterizes Jordan as lethargic and stuck up, and this is a first impression, which Nick earlier says he never uses.


• After Tom expounds on his theories about "Nordics," Nick writes:  "There was something pathetic in his concentration as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more" (18).

Nick's natural tendency is to judge others.  He may well be accurate in most of his judgements, but we don't really know, because his is the only voice we get in the novel.  Everything is filtered through Nick.

Thus, you can write whatever you decide for your assignment, but don't assume Nick is nonjudgmental and objectively observes what goes on around him.  Nick is extremely subjective.