Why Does Nick Change His Feelings Toward Jordan

It's
important in first person novels to question the point of view of the narrator, especially their
self-assessment, for who among us can see ourselves clearly? As readers, we question the point
of view or the reliability of a narrator by pitting what happens against the narrator's
assessment of what happens.

In , 's assessment of
himself as an honest person doesn't hold up under scrutinywe know, from his own admission, not
to mention an early dinner conversation withand , that Nick is not being entirely honest with
the "girl" from Chicago to whom he keeps signing letters "love" while he is
seeing and we know as well he is remembering the Chicago girlfriend primarily in terms of the
unattractive sweat mustache that forms on her upper lip after a game of tennis.

Nick has never felt too deeply for Jordan, either. He describes himself at the end of
chapter three as "flattered" to be seen with her, and as feeling a "tender
curiosity" about her. He thinks "for a moment" that he is in love with her, while
also finding her shrewd and dishonest. He finds fleeting relief from the loneliness of turning
30 in her company. Whenstrikes and Myrtle dies, Nick lacks the emotional commitment to her to
give Jordan the support she needs. She reaches out to him, wanting him to stay with her, Tom and
Daisy. She asks, "won't you come in, Nick," and he refuses. She calls him at work the
next day, wanting to work out their differences and even offering to come "to town"
from Southampton to see him, but he again refuses, saying he couldn't sit across a tea table
from her "if I never talked to her again in this world." Instead, he tries to call
Gatsby four times.

From these events, we can surmise that Nick is more
interested in Gatsby than Jordan, supporting a queer reading of the novel, and we can see that
Nick's feelings towards Jordan have been fairly superficial. He's never been deeply invested in
her, no matter what he might want us to believe, yet it takes a tragedy to make this apparent.
Jordan, imperfect as she might be, realizes this when she tells him he wasn't very nice to her
the night he leaves her at Tom and Daisy's. When he refuses to see her the next day, that ends
the relationship. There simply isn't enough there for Nick not to lump Jordan with Tom and Daisy
as people he wants to avoid. Gatsby, in contrast, as he tells us throughout the novel, is the
person who captures his imagination.