The Great Gatsby: Whose Story Is It?

The Great Gatsby: Whose Story is it?

In keeping with the experimental nature of modernism, Fitzgerald greatly experimented with the character Nick Carraway as peripheral narrator of The Great Gatsby. This novel was first published in 1926 during the time which critics called high-modernism. This time in literature of mainly marked by World War I and its various horrific implications for humanity. The First World War marked an important time in literature as it affected literature in many ways. Not only did they question all major valued beliefs and traditions of the time, but more importantly in relation to The Great Gatsby, there was a terrible sense of mistrust among the common citizen towards the government as authorative figure. The implications of this on The Great Gatsby lead to the fragmented way in which the narrator, Nick Carraway, relates the story of Jay Gatsby to the reader. The way in which the reader needs to piece the story together, make his/her own speculations and even feel a little distrust towards the narrator are all effects of modernism on Fitzgerald interesting choice of narrator. Throughout this essay, however, I will argue, by examining Nick’s characteristic traits, character development throughout the novel, limitations as narrator, biasedness towards certain characters and overall reliability that even though the story mainly revolves around Jay Gatsby, as he gave his name to the novel, the story is by no means an objective account of his life, but rather largely affected by Nick’s opinion, and possibly fascination, of the enigmatic Jay Gatsby.

We find a rather different narrative situation in The Great Gatsby than we normally find in novels. Although, the story mainly revolves around the main character, Jay Gatsby, the story is told from a first-person peripheral narrator, in this case Nick Carraway. To truly understand Nick’s opinions on various matters, and how this affects The Great Gatsby, we must firstly come to understand Nick himself. Nick Carraway is the product of a wealthy upbringing and a family of “prominent, well to-do people” (Fitzgerald, p.8). Having been educated at New Haven, as well as coming from a wealthy background, we may assume that Nick is no stranger to the glimmering lifestyles of the rich. Yet he states, that upon his return from the war, he found himself restless, which led to him leaving behind, his wealthy support system and trying to maintain himself. It becomes clear that Nick has rather a high opinion of his own morality, especially when viewed in relation to the morals of the company he keeps. Furthermore it seems as if though Nick has grown weary of wealth and the various implications that it brings, which explains his determinism to make it on his own, despite his wealthy family, especially in relation to Gatsby, Nick blatantly states that Gatsby “represented everything for which I had an unaffected scorn” (Fitzgerald, p. 8).