I don't see any evidence in the salon article to convince us that Nick is gay. They raise an interesting point: what happens to a very drunk guy-- a recent vet of a horrific World War in which he faces death numerous times-- who finds himself at a party, not relating to the various females, & drunkenly follows a guy, perhaps engaging in gay sex? The party scene where a falling-down drunk Nick follows a man, perhaps to his bed, could certainly indicate Nick is gay. But it also could signify he simply is seeking available human intimacy when his back is to the wall-- being a human on the universal sexual spectrum, perhaps Nick is one of those we would today pigeonhole as 'bisexual'. But 'bisexual' means nothing other than the ability to find, when under the gun, intimacy w/ either sex.
This interpretation of Nick's proclivities could be stretched to suggest that his sympathy & support of Gatsby is based on lust. But I think that is a cheap 21st-c copout based in easy pigeonholing, assigning character motivation to simple 'inborn' genetic attraction, which begs the question of complex characters (both Nick's & Gatsby's). Perhaps Nick's interest is based subliminally on sexual attraction-- a stretch. More likely it is common-sense-based: his next-door neighbor attracts hundreds of guests, wildly interested in Gatsby's combination of endless riches & remoteness. Ick is a sensitive soul, & senses there are more layers to thie host than his guests perceive.
It is important that we do not undercut the credibility of the novel's narrator by assigning reductive motivations: positing that Nick is blinded by homo-erotic lust can only suggest further reductionism, i.e., that Gatsby is some crude arriviste who would be seen as such by a more-neutral observer. Nick should be seen as Fitzgerald paints him: a sensitive Midwesterner, assaying temporarily the stimulating NE life of a financier during the late-'20's financial bubble, suspecting cannily that his next-door neighbor has bought into a shady, manipulative version of contemporary ultra-materialism, vulnerable because his motivation is based solely on gaining consummation of an illusory relationship.
This interpretation of Nick's proclivities could be stretched to suggest that his sympathy & support of Gatsby is based on lust. But I think that is a cheap 21st-c copout based in easy pigeonholing, assigning character motivation to simple 'inborn' genetic attraction, which begs the question of complex characters (both Nick's & Gatsby's). Perhaps Nick's interest is based subliminally on sexual attraction-- a stretch. More likely it is common-sense-based: his next-door neighbor attracts hundreds of guests, wildly interested in Gatsby's combination of endless riches & remoteness. Ick is a sensitive soul, & senses there are more layers to thie host than his guests perceive.
It is important that we do not undercut the credibility of the novel's narrator by assigning reductive motivations: positing that Nick is blinded by homo-erotic lust can only suggest further reductionism, i.e., that Gatsby is some crude arriviste who would be seen as such by a more-neutral observer. Nick should be seen as Fitzgerald paints him: a sensitive Midwesterner, assaying temporarily the stimulating NE life of a financier during the late-'20's financial bubble, suspecting cannily that his next-door neighbor has bought into a shady, manipulative version of contemporary ultra-materialism, vulnerable because his motivation is based solely on gaining consummation of an illusory relationship.