Nick starts the book reminiscing on how his father urges him to reserve judgment. Although when he turns from war, he criticizes this. Nick calls reserving judgment as a source of “infinite hope”. After returning from war, Nick relies that infinite hope doesn’t help in the name of making objective decisions. If assumptions cant be made, certain possibilities cant be crossed out. While that does generate infinite hope, when a decision needs to be made, probabilities and logically educated assumptions need to presumed in order to make an informed decision. In short, infinite hope sounds good in theory but not in practice.
While others in the book open themselves up to infinite hope, Daisy hoping that she can live happily with Gatsby without causing a huge mess with Tom, Gatsby hoping that Daisy never really loved Tom and would leave Tom without any qualms, and Tom hoping he would keep control over his life, wife, and mistress, Nick is more like an observer. He makes judgments and assumptions of others through out the book, knowing Jordan is a liar, keeping in the back of his mind that Tom isn’t to be trusted, not fully trusting Gatsby and his made up story. Nick reserves judgment.
While Nick does seem to be judgment itself, he is also the one who uses it to shape himself the most. Nick starts the book as a very timid and passive character. He is constantly being dragged along by characters, events, and circumstances. Through out the course of the book, he starts to review his own choices, what it means for him as an individual, and rejects on if this is what he wants for himself. It’s not till the end of the book, especially when Gatsby dies, that Nick starts to tell people ‘no’. He starts to take acts that better align to what he wants from life. His internal monolog starts to connect to his actions more seamlessly.
"a card where your past and your future come together. You are being called on to review your decisions and your actions until now, to ensure they are in-line with where you ultimately want to go. The Judgement card reminds you that your future is not set in stone, and that it's never too late to make a change for the better."
This is why I reserved the Judgment Card to the one and only Nick.
– Lucid Lamb