While Jay Gatsby is considered to be the protagonist, The Great Gatsby is narrated by Nick Carraway, a young man from the Midwest who moves to New York City. Generationally wealthy yet humble, Nick is inclined to reserve his judgment, but cannot hold back his disgust at the shallow, corrupt lives of the upper class in the Big Apple. 

A few chapters into the novel, Jay Gatsby is introduced as the host of a party Nick is personally invited to. Gatsby is a wealthy yet lonely man who throws elaborate parties in hopes of attracting the charming Daisy Buchanan he met before serving in the war. Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan, and both of them come from generational wealth, looking down upon those who are not. The Buchanans, along with everyone else, are completely unaware that Jay Gatsby is actually James Gatz, a poor farmer who earned his wealth through crime and bootlegging during the Prohibition Era, in which the sale and consumption of alcohol was illegal. 

Spoiler alert: Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan do not live happily ever after. But I’m here to talk about a different romance with Gatsby. Personally, the fickle romance between Gatsby and Daisy feels inauthentic and built on lies. The true love in The Great Gatsby comes from none other than Nick Carraway, who is in love with Gatsby to a fault.

For starters, Nick finds himself intimate in another man’s bedroom. In Chapter Two, Mr. McKee attends a party along with Nick and invites him to lunch. This in itself is not an indication of his sexuality, but Nick later finds himself standing over Mr. McKee, who is wearing nothing but underwear in his sheets. Platonic relationships can be quite meaningful, but to my knowledge, they do not involve being naked in bed.

Let’s not forget the first time Nick and Gatsby interact. Nick is instantly in awe of his smile before he can utter more than a sentence. In Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation, the camera focuses on Nick, not Gatsby, as he describes what a wonderful smile the man has. In this scene, readers and listeners should not only note explicitly how Gatsby’s smile is characterized, but the fact that Nick characterizes his smile this way before intimately knowing Gatsby. He spends the novel critiquing the wealthy New Yorkers and their lavish parties, yet is starstruck by the ultimate host.

For those who argue that Nick is heterosexual, they may reference his relationship with Jordan Baker. Personally, this relationship felt incredibly forced. Nick states that he is attracted to Jordan, but acts otherwise. He spends little, if any time complimenting the woman he is romantically involved with and actually admits that he dislikes her. He finds himself unable to ignore her negative qualities and is unable to decipher why he likes her at all. 

Nick is irrational when it comes to Gatsby, a trademark of true love. What makes Nick such a compelling narrator is that he tends to question everything. He does not glamorize the wealthy, and is unequivocally critical about their life choices. He recognizes the corruption hidden beneath the lavish lifestyle: the elitism, the broken homes, the abusive husbands, and the countless affairs. Nick regards himself as an honest man, but becomes blind to his morals when it comes to the protagonist. He learns from external sources that Gatsby, while kind, is a dishonest man and becomes privy to how he truly gained his wealth. After possessing such knowledge, Nick still continues his friendship with Gatsby.

Also, Nick is completely indifferent to the affair he allowed to occur. Gatsby makes a concerted effort to form a relationship with Nick in hopes that he will invite him and Daisy to tea. Nick agrees not only to their initial meeting, but to many more outings with the three of them, and a relationship between Daisy and Gatsby blossoms. Readers take pity upon Jay Gatsby, a lonely man who only became wealthy to pursue a woman he has been in love with for five years. Nevertheless, Daisy is a married woman. A wealthy man having an affair with a married woman is the antithesis of what Nick finds admirable, yet he played a pivotal role in making it happen.

True love, especially queer love in the 1920s, is not always about actually pursuing the romantic interest. It is about doing anything for their happiness, even if you lose out.