Told by his father, the narrator realizes that if you are brought up in life with different benefits than other people you have no right to criticize how they might act, dress, or think about things in life. The author uses "you" to make the reader flashback to times he might have criticize someone without thinking of his background, causing the reader to see his point. Bringing up people all over the world makes the reader think not only of people who might be a little worse off than you but people who struggle in everyday life.(97 words)
(2) "Conduct may be founded on the hard rock or the wet marshes, but after a certain point I don’t care what it’s founded on."
The author attempts, with a simple metaphor, to persuade the reader that you can find conduct about anywhere your mind can think of. He uses the examples of “hard rock” or “wet marshes” to prove to the reader you can find conduct in unimportant objects or regions. The hard rock compares as a straight forward kind of conduct while wet marshes is more of a nervous and soft conduct. At the end of the day the author really just wants people to have at least some kind of conduct no matter how or where they find it. (97 words)
(3) "I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life."
The comparison the author refers to is the extreme feelings and thoughts he is experiencing while listening to the discussion. He had contradicting thoughts because of how Nick felt his true character really was. He believed he was above the childish acts of talking about people while they were not around. He was unable to separate himself from these conversations because they fascinated him so much even though he knew he personally resisted acts like this. He is trying to persuade the reader that truthfully this type of disrespect is not part of his nature but he feels so interested by the topics he seems to not be able to leave the conversation. (113 words)
(4) "I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited."
The author wants the readers to believe that Nick was not interested in trying to get some of Mr. Gatsby wealth but to know him as a human being. The author feels that most of the people there came at their own desire and not were actually invited by Mr. Gatsby himself. He tells how the people would just drive around in their cars until they become bored and would invite themselves to the party. Secondly, most of the people were not there to visit Mr. Gatsby instead were attracted to his wealth. Many of the guests left without actually meeting Mr. Gatsby unlike Nick who actually came to get to know him better and find out what kind of person he is like. (124 words)
(5) "Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known."
The author through this statement tries to persuade the reader that everyone believes they have a cardinal virtue and that Nick's virtue is he is completely honest. The author makes the reader believe this because he talks of how he is one of the few people who is sincere, so if someone went to ask them if this was true how could you believe them unless they were one of the select few. The statement also supports itself because he refers to the people he has known and not every single person in the entire world. (96 words)
