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Culture Documents
Joshua Abrenica
Mrs. Sharp
English Literature
08 February 2019
The mysterious novel of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is full of plenty of
conflicts and uncomfortable events that caused the narrator of the story, Nick Carraway, to end
up in a psychiatric hospital. Some out of the many events that lead up to Nick being in the
hospital consist of the fact that there were a lot of affairs going on that Nick knew about but kept
secret, and that there was rage, murder, and death just because of the character’s strong desires of
love.
One main reason why Carraway would probably be telling the story to a doctor is that he
has been harboring in all of the knowledge of all the affairs that has been going on with the
characters. As Daisy was married to Tom, Nick knows of Gatsby’s love for Daisy, and watches
as Gatsby tries to impress Daisy with his fancy house and all of his riches. “He took a pile of
shirts and began throwing them [to Daisy], one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick
silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored
disarray” (Fitzgerald 92). At this point in the story, it explains that Gatsby is trying to win over
Daisy from Tom by not only loving Daisy intimately, but through trying to win her love and
satisfy her through materialistic things that Gatsby hopes she will love. And even though Daisy
didn’t wait for Gatsby while he was at war and married Tom as he provided a rich lifestyle for
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her in the East Egg, Gatsby is trying to prove that he is just as rich at Tom is and tells her that he
Another reason why Carraway might have been in a psychiatric hospital is because of all
the rage and deaths that have occured in the story. Characters in the story are dying or in doubt
because of the their strong affections/love or the unwillingness to let their spouse have an affair
with them. For example, George Wilson, knew that his wife, Myrtle Wilson, was having an affair
with him and George was trying to beat it out of Myrtle to figure out who the man was.
However, Myrtle cried at George, “Beat me!... Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little
coward” (Fitzgerald 137). And then she “rushed out into the dusk, waving her hands and
shouting… her life [got] violently extinguished... (Fitzgerald 137). In the story, Myrtle gets hit
and killed by the “death car” which turned out to be Gatsby’s car who drives off after murdering
her. This might have caused distress on Nick because death in itself is very hard to cope with;
later in the story, Gatsby convinces Nick not to say a word about it to anyone about the accident.
Also, another fight that broke out regarding fighting for love is when Gatsby is trying to force
Daisy to admit to Tom that she had never loved him. Gatsby says to Daisy, “Just tell him the
truth- that you never loved him- and it’s all wiped out forever” (Fitzgerald 132). After moments
of hesitation, Daisy cries out to Gatsby that he “wants too much [from her]” and there was a lot
of frustration and raised voices in the room between Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom; all while Nick
In conclusion, it is reasonable for the narrator, Nick Carraway, to seek mental help at a
psychiatric hospital because of all the affairs going on that Nick knew about and all of the rage
and death there was between the people he has been around lately.