My own house was an eyesore and it had been overlooked so I had the consoling proximity of millionaires - all for eighty dollars a month." (P. 5). Consoling means to provide comfort, and here Nick is describing the fact that he feels comfortable being amongst this wealth. Nowhere in the book does it ever say that Nick moved into this house because it was next to a man named Gatsby, nor that he moved in because he knew there were frequent upper class society parties held there. However, in my opinion, it may not be a coincidence, due to the magnitude of Gatsby's notoriety. It is likely that Nick knew he might be able to introduce himself to this whole other world of rich society through Gatsby. The reason I point this out is to illustrate the fact that Nick had goals and Nick had standards, and to achieve these goals he had to make exceptions towards people's character. This in turn means that Nick is now a biased character and cannot be completely trusted, by the reader, as an honest account of the occurring events. .
Early on Nick claims that he has a "sense of the fundamental decencies" and that his tolerance has a limit (Pg. 2). However, this limit does not actually seem to exist. Upon visiting his cousin, Daisy, he learns that her husband, Tom Buchanan, is having an affair. While one would be inclined to believe that such a thing would create an unbearable situation for a man of moral character, Nick carries on the rest of the night without saying a word about it to Daisy, and then further condones it. "I said lightly that I had heard nothing at all," Nick says in reply to having knowledge of the affair when questioned by Tom. (Pg. 20) The following day Nick continues to evade his credibility when he accompanies Tom to meet his mistress. As the narrator, Nick is expected to keep a clear head so that he may portray the scenes accurately, without a personal opinion. Unfortunately, "I have been drunk just twice in my life, and the second time was that afternoon"; "everything that happened had a dim, hazy cast over it.
