The Great Gatsby’ how Fitzgerald establishes his narrator?

The use of subjectivity is however, an essential ingredient in this novel and therefore Fitzgerald had to make sure that Nick did have all the qualities essential to be a good narrator. If the creation of Nick was unsuccessful the novel would fail. Because Nick participates in the story, as a spectator rather than an actor this creates ambivalence in the mind of the reader, who then has to interpret and judge the narrator himself. In the introduction to the novel Nick’s own description of himself reveals many of the qualities that are necessary for

Another quality of Nick’s is his style of writing and the language that he uses, which shows the reader that he is articulate and good at expressing himself. This is due to his high level of education he has had at College, as he wrote sometimes in the ‘Yale News’. Nick uses many metaphors, for example comparing Gatsby to a seismograph ‘one of those intricate machines used to measure earthquakes.’ This shows the quality of being a good orator, as he is a good person to tell the story. Also the varied sentence structures throughout the passage, with many complex sentences, show how highly educated and literate he is.

Nick’s accounts of his own background reveals that he is a typical White Anglo Saxon Protestant. These are people who are seen as the ‘aristocracy’ of America, and therefore the reader feels that Nick’s information is offered in an authoritative voice, which can therefore be respected. As Nick’s family is quite rich, he does not find it difficult to associate with Tom Buchanan and Gatsby. However he is set apart from these characters, because his wealth is not as great. Fitzgerald does this, because he wants the reader to gain trust in Nick, who is revealed as a Middle American, from the upper middle class. However he is not in the self-conceit of the upper class, which Tom and Daisy are in, which allows him to make a clear and unbiased judgement using his Middle American Values.

Some topics in this essay:
Fitzgerald Nick, Tom Gatsby, News’ Nick, Tom Nick, Daisy Gatsby, Saxon Protestant, American Values, Buchanan Gatsby, Middle American, Tom Daisy, reader feels, fitzgerald nick, view proceedings, judgement reader, mind reader, characters allows, introduction novel, tom daisy, middle american, father’s advice,