Friday, January 2, 2015

What type of family does Nick Carraway come from in The Great Gatsby?

Nick Carraway, the narrator of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, is from a wealthy midwestern family. There is a family legend that they are descended from British royalty, but their wealth and success go back to the Civil War. Nick's great-uncle paid a substitute to fight for him in the Civil War, and allowing him to begin a hardware dynasty. Nick's father carries on the family business. The family has been around long enough not to be considered nouveau riche, but in any other place but America, they would hardly be considered landed gentry. Nevertheless, they seem very full of themselves. Nick's father has told him,"just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages you've had" (5). When Nick decides he wants to go to New York and be in the bond business, his father provides him a year's support. 

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Thomas Jefferson's election in 1800 is sometimes called the Revolution of 1800. Why could it be described in this way?

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