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The Narrator In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby features a statement from Nick Carraway regarding himself as one of the few honest individuals he has ever known. Although Nick convinces the reader to agree with this assessment, his own actions and behaviors suggest that he may only be revealing what he wants the reader to know. In The Great Gatsby, Nick serves as both the narrator and the main character, who is selective about the information he gives to the reader. By withholding information, Nick influences the reader's thoughts and opinions to fit his agency. When Nick reveals his developing relationship with Jordan, he also mentions that he needs to get himself out of a “tangle back home” (Fitzgerald, 58). The tangle at home refers to the woman …show more content…

Nick establishes his closeness to the wealthy by referring to it as, “the consoling proximity of millionaires” (Fitzgerald 5). This bias ultimately affects the reader’s understanding of the rich characters. The conclusion of this statement from Nick highlights his unreliability as a narrator and that his favoritism distorts the reader’s perception. Nick's earliest bias started in the first chapter saying, “then there was something gorgeous about [Gatsby]” (Fitzgerald 2). Jay Gatsby is a wealthy millionaire who is the central character in the story. Nick's initial admiration for Gatsby influences the readers' thoughts on him. Before Gatsby's introduction into the narrative, the reader is inclined to believe that he is this intellectual and perplexing character. As the story progress, and Nick discloses Gatsby's past with Daisy, the reader subconsciously becomes invested in Gatsby's love affairs, even rooting for him. Nick's ability to persuade the audience with his biases is seen numerously throughout the book, despite claims of being honest. From his closeness to millionaires and his biased towards certain characters, Nick persuades the reader to see the world through his lens. Going on to use manipulation tactics and other faulty methods to influence the reader highlights Nick’s unreliability as a

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Nick’s impression of Gatsby is ironic for it is not Gatsby’s wealth and social status that fascinates him but instead his foolish emotion of love. Through his secret, most likely illegal scandals, he pretends to belong to the same social class as Tom Buchanan and his wife Daisy, Gatsby’s one love. If he wants a girl like Daisy Buchanan, he knows he could not be the broke farmer from Minnesota he once was. His poverty stricken prior life holds no value for him and his dream. His penniless past fueled his entry into the army.

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The revelation of these integral themes through diction is the foundation for deeper understanding of characters as well as the many critiques that Fitzgerald makes towards the “modern society” of the time. Finally, the third rhetorical device Fitzgerald used in the opening of the book was personification. Nick says “The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person”, giving human traits to the “abnormal mind”. By personifying the mind, Fitzgerald suggests that certain tendencies in the brain actively seek out and latch onto people with particular qualities. This personification gets the idea across that unusual or unique perspectives can greatly impact social interaction in specific scenarios, which in the case of Nick should allow him to act as an “impartial” narrator.

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Nick states that he is “Inclined to reserve all judgements” but then goes on to say that such "tolerance . . . has a limit". This gives the idea that Nick is an unbiased narrator that is telling the “unfiltered” truth, but in a way is contradicting his opinions .Throughout many instances in the book where foolish behavior is acted upon many adults, Carraway is not swayed by the greed and alcohol as some other members of East and West Societies are. Nick states “I have been drunk just twice in my life” (Fitzgerald 33).

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His fixation on external attributes further underscores his inability to form genuine connections based on mutual respect. Moreover, Nick, the narrator, indirectly contributes to the mistreatment of women by not actively challenging or questioning the

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Nick, a man of many conceptions, interacts mainly with four other characters that only one of which he held no contempt towards when all was said and done. That character being Jay Gatsby, was in many ways the embodiment of

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In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, the character Nick Carraway possesses a figurative gift that is both an advantage and a problem. Nick's gift is his ability to empathize and understand others, which allows him to be an effective narrator and to see the truth behind the glamorous façade of the wealthy elite. However, this gift also causes him to become emotionally involved with these characters, leading to disillusionment and disappointment. Nick is able to see beyond the surface-level appearances of the characters and understand their true motivations. For example, he understands that Gatsby's pursuit of Daisy is driven by a desire to relive a past that he believes was perfect.

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Nick thinks that Gatsby believed that the best version of himself was when he was with Daisy. But now he has lost that version of himself and is desperate to find it again. Gatsby’s whole obsession with Daisy and desire to be with her stems from his ill conceived notion that he can somehow change the

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Nick had attempted to escape from this lifestyle but because he was unable to make a complete decision in the beginning, he kept living it through the Buchanans; they were Nick’s window to the past. He witnesses Tom’s affair being “insisted upon wherever he was known” (21) without shame, and Daisy “[turn] out the light” (117) in her relationship with Gatsby, as it it never happened. A quiet bystander, never interfering, he experiences their life of ignorance, one with no repercussions, the one he had. Unwilling to remove himself from them, he instead complies to their wants, their decisions that create a sense of accomplishment. Doing nothing to change and move on from his past, Nick makes his choice to move to the east pointless.

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Nick Carraway is aware of how ridiculous many of the social norms in the upper class are, but Nick simultaneously cannot help being seduced by the extravagant life of the upper class. This is the type of feeling Nick has towards Jordan Baker, as he reveals that “At first I was flattered to go places with her, because she was a golf champion and everybody knew her name.” (p. 57) Nick’s, and by extension Fitzgerald’s, tone provides a window into Nick’s dilemma about the true nature of a person’s life in the upper class. Nick’s impartial nature, his continual reservation of judgement, creates a tone in which the reader can nearly forget that the story is from a first person point of view.

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It is made clear to the reader that Nick gains quite an interest in Gatsby. He actually begins to become obsessed with him. The book states, “Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him… It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again.”

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As the story begins, Nick says, “...I’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me…” (Fitzgerald 1). Although Nick claims he has been taught to not judge others, he does quite frequently. Nick insults Daisy and Tom,

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