Role Of Narrator In The Great Gatsby

Without Nick, Gatsby's true colors would not be shown and his behavior would be left not pondered.  His presence from the beginning to the

A narrator, by definition, is how an author chooses to portray information to readers in their work. An author’s choice, in how to tell a story is ideal to the effect it has on readers. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s timeless classic The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway tells the entire story as a first-person, peripheral narrator. Fitzgerald purposefully chooses Nick as a partially removed character, with very few emotions and personal opinions. By doing so, readers experience the same ambiguity of other character’s thoughts, are carried smoothly throughout the plot, and Nick’s nonjudgmental character lets readers form opinions of their own.

Nick Carraway is a prime example of how an unbiased and trustworthy narrator can change a book. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is told in first person point of view, through the eyes of Nick Carraway, a 30-year-old man living in West Egg, New York. Carraway tells the story as it is happening and lets the reader know what is to come. Nick seems to be an “invisible character” because he is involved in the story but not in the major conflict. Nick Carraway is the perfect choice of narrator because he is reliable, connected to the main characters, and has an amicable personality.

A reliable narrator is one who shares thoughts and perspectives honestly, and can be trusted to take account of important events. A reliable narrator will give great insight onto the story and say what he is feeling. A unreliable narrator is one who shows prejudice and inaccurately portrays the story and the characters. Nick caraway, the narrator, of The Great Gatsby is seen telling the story of Jay Gatsby a bootlegger who lives an extravagant life, but he is doing so to see Daisy, a girl who he’s in love with, Nick’s cousin. In the story The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays Nick as a reliable narrator due to his honesty, trustworthiness, and his close connection with people.

Have you ever lit your pants on fire!?! Thankfully, neither have I, but I did make a fool of myself in front of my entire class. All of my teachers and classmates know that I am a slow reader, but I usually never do anything wrong. That is why it became such a shocking and hilarious experience when I finally did something wrong. I learned the hard way, through slight humiliation, that you should always follow an instructor’s exact directions no matter the circumstance.

Last night was all a blur. It was definitely one of the most memorable night of my life. Everyone was all done up in expensive and ornate clothing. I felt so plain in my simple party dress. I silently drifted through the crowd choosing to observe the crowd rather than joining in on their festivities. After all, the only way I was able to obtain an invitation was through work. You see, my boss wanted me to write an article on Gatsby’s party. I was refused at first but my boss knows some things about me that I do not under any circumstances want exposed.

Some would argue the most vital character of the story is the protagonist, however many more would say it is the narrator. The narrator describes what his happening in the story, and we see every moment through their eyes. But alas, not all narrators can be trusted. Especially in a time like when The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was written. The narrator for this book is Nick Carraway, who grew up with his well off family in Chicago and then went to Yale. Throughout the book, he reveals attributes about him that make him seem like a reliable narrator, however he may very not be.

In The Great Gatsby, a classic novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway is in love with Jordan Baker, George Wilson is in love with Myrtle Wilson and Jay Gatsby is in love with Daisy Buchanan. Regrettably, all of these women are unworthy of the love and affection bestowed upon them by these men. Throughout the course if this essay, the love between these individuals will be analysed and the reasons why these women are unworthy will be highlighted.

Throughout The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway narrates the novel through his own eyes. Carraway portrays himself to be honest, but readers learn in every part of the novel Carraway seems to integrate his own judgemental and biased views. Nick Carraway’s prejudice and hypocritical opinions make his narration throughout the novel questionable and ultimately undependable because of his always changing tendentious views. Because of Nick Carraway’s hypocritical disposition and his alternating opinions, Carraway proves himself to be an unreliable narrator in The Great Gatsby.

In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald proves that Nick Carraway is an honest and reliable narrator. The author uses writers effect to portray how Nick is within and without, how he reserves all judgments and how he is honest.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby demonstrates what Marie-Laure Ryan, H. Porter Abbott and David Herman state about what narratology should be. These theorists emphasize the importance of conflict, human experience, gaps and consciousness, among many other elements, in order for a story to be considered a narrative. The Great Gatsby shows these elements throughout the book in an essential way. This makes the reader become intrigued and desperate to know what will happen next. The Great Gatsby is unpredictable throughout the use of gaps, consciousness and conflict.

The ideological concept of social hegemony, based on the stratification of class, ensures that the ruling elite, the aristocracy, have absolute power over social institutions, with the ability to control and determine dominant social values. “The Great Gatsby” (1925), by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a contemporary realism novella, which explores the tragic adventures of the titular character, Jay Gatsby, as narrated by his neighbour and friend Nick Carraway. Fitzgerald’s scathing attack upon the selfish and frivolous values of the 1920s Jazz Age is effectively constructed through the author’s use of Carraway’s distinctive voice, to develop the ironic idea of Gatsby as “great” and the representation of the American Dream, the manipulative attitude of the aristocracy towards the bourgeoisie and proletariat classes, and the alternate reading of Nick Carraway as an unreliable narrator. Furthermore, “The Great Gatsby” is a Modernist text, rejecting traditional forms of literature in favour of Fitzgerald’s use of the distinct unreliability of narration within a nonlinear structure. Audiences are encouraged to respond to the ideas and attitudes constructed through Carraway’s distinctive voice, to question the hyperbolic excess of the Jazz Age, supporting the dominant reading of rejecting the extravagant and acquisitive corruption of the period, whilst also exploring the alternate reading of Carraway as an unreliable narrator.

Over the last week, I've been able to look at all the progress that I have made since I started the semester and I feel I have earned an A+. I remember the first unit of the semester was on how to write a proper sentence. I thought it was a joke. Learning how to write a sentence? Is this first grade all over again? Everybody knows how to do that. I recall the quote that Mrs.Brown shared really changed my mind and showed me that there was much to learn. It was from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby:

Humans are not built for precision; nor are they built for perfection. Their eyes can deceive them and their memories can be distorted. F. Scott Fitzgerald toys with this idea of a perfect narrator, more specifically, in Nick Carraway. Fitzgerald portrays Nick as the pseudo author and an unbiased observer. However, Nick is anything but perfect. In fact, he is rather unreliable in his narration of The Great Gatsby. Throughout the novel, Nick shows the readers the facets he possesses that reveals his imperfections: firstly; his dishonesty, secondly; his immense bias for Gatsby, and thirdly; he is a human.

  In The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald presents a specific portrait of American society during the roaring twenties and tells the story of a man who rises from the gutter to great riches. This man, Jay Gatsby, does not realize that his new wealth cannot give him the privileges of class and status. Nick Carraway who is from a prominent mid-western family tells the story. Nick presents himself as a reliable narrator, when actually several events in the novel prove he is an unreliable narrator. Although Nick Carraway may be an unreliable narrator, he is the best narrator for the novel because he creates the correct effect.