When the butler brought back Wolfshiem's answer I began to have a feeling of defiance, of scornful solidarity between Gatsby and me against them all.
Chapter 9 · Narrator
Context
After receiving Wolfshiem's letter refusing to attend the funeral or get involved, and after failing to reach Daisy or anyone else willing to come, Nick experiences a shift in his emotional orientation—from seeking help to feeling allied with Gatsby against the world that has abandoned him.
Analysis
Nick's 'scornful solidarity' marks the moment when his relationship to Gatsby transforms from observer to partisan—he now identifies with Gatsby against 'them all,' adopting a binary moral framework that aligns the two men against the entire social world. This emotional turn is what ultimately produces the narrative itself: Nick writes Gatsby's story not from neutral observation but from this felt alliance, which raises questions about whether the elegy he constructs is shaped more by loyalty than by truth.
How to Use in Essay
Useful for essays on Nick's evolution from detached observer to committed advocate for Gatsby's memory, or for analyzing how the novel's narration is motivated by grief and moral outrage rather than objective retrospection.