This essay explores how the character of Nick Carraway in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby behaves as the narrator of the story, and looks into how he is successful as well as where he is lacking. This is an analysis of Nick's effectiveness as a narrator and what overall effect his narration ...
What effect does Fitzgerald’s use of Nick as a first person narrator
have on the novel as a whole?
Fitzgerald created Nick’s character to act as the narrator for the novel. Nick uses a first
person narrative voice but unlike in a vast multitude of other novels, classic and
contemporary, his voice is modified. The modified nature of the narrative allows Nick as the
story teller, to depict to the reader not only his own story, but also the stories of those
around him. In other words, he supplements his own story with those of the other
characters. The modified first person voice utilized by Fitzgerald through Nick, allows the
reader to experience the story and see the other characters through Nick’s eyes. Unlike with
a normal first person voice however, the reader can also understand Nick better as a
character, by how he includes his own experiences in his narration.
Nick is quite possibly the most complex character in the novel, and this is for a number
of reasons. Whilst he gives the reader valuable insight into the lives of the other characters
and detailed descriptions of them, Gatsby’s smile, Daisy’s voice and Jordan’s “erect
carriage” for example, it is very difficult to visualize Nick himself. Nick may comment on
certain aspects of his own character for example, the fact that he is “slow thinking and full
of interior rules that act as breaks on his desires” but never does he describe his outward
appearance to us. The only reference he makes to his physical qualities is when Daisy
compares him to “an absolute rose” to which he responds by telling the reader that “this
was not true, i am not even faintly like a rose.” The fact that the reader has no idea what
Nick may look like contributes a mysterious, intriguing effect to The Great Gatsby, as the
reader is being told the story by someone who is non-descript and a stranger. Nick tries to
make himself as inconspicuous as possible; he is self-effacing.
Nick is both an active participant in the story, and an observer who conveys the goings
on to the reader. Fitzgerald creates an interesting and powerful effect by giving Nick mixed
involvement and withdrawal. When Nick becomes involved in the action of the novel, it
gives him the legitimate information and evidence he needs to recount the story as he is
there witnessing it or hearing about it. If Nick was purely an observer, there would be no
grounds on which he could lay his information, no foundation or proof of what he is telling
the reader. His withdrawal from the action however, gives him the chance to speculate,
process and at times paraphrase what he has been told or has experienced. As narrator, nick
has to exhibit a certain amount of objectiveness and emotional isolation. Even though Daisy
is his cousin, he still conveys her selfishness, lack of responsibility and insubstantial
disposition. Even though he becomes friends with Gatsby, he still reveals the doubts he has
in Gatsby at times and portrays to the reader Gatsby’s naiveté through his telling of the
story.
After reading The Great Gatsby, or even whilst reading it, the reader is plagued by the
nagging questions: is Nick really honest? Can we really trust what he is telling us? Some
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