Nick Carraway

Nick Carraway is the novel's central character and narrator, an observer of and commentator on events rather than an active participant. It could be argued that his essentially reactive nature makes him something other than a protagonist, a valid point if the term "protagonist" is taken to suggest a character who drives the action, who makes things happen, who defines the story and themes through choices and intention. If, on the other hand, the term "protagonist" is taken to mean a character who undergoes the most significant journey of transformation over the course of a narrative, Nick definitely qualifies.

The series of discoveries that Nick makes about the economic and social world that he has dreamed of inhabiting and that he has moved across the country to delve into, clearly move him from a place of innocence and hopefulness to a place of cynicism and despair. The...