Nick thinks of America not just as a nation but as a geographical entity, land with distinct regions embodying contrasting sets of values. The Midwest, he thinks, seems dreary and pedestrian compared to the excitement of the East, but the East is merely a glittering surface¡Xit lacks the moral center of the Midwest. This fundamental moral depravity dooms the characters of The Great Gatsby¡Xall Westerners, as Nick observes¡Xto failure. The "quality of …showed first 75 words of 521 total…

…showed last 75 words of 521 total…values, so strongly rooted in the past, give him the ability to make sense out of everything in the novel except for Gatsby. In Nick's eyes, Gatsby embodies an ability to dream and to escape the past that may ultimately be impossible, but that Nick cherishes and values nonetheless. The Great Gatsby represents Nick's struggle to integrate his own sense of the importance of the past with the freedom from the past envisioned by Gatsby.