To ensure that readers don't think Nick is superhuman in his goodness, however, Fitzgerald gives him a mortal side. In this was, the reader is encouraged to trust Nick and to believe in his impartiality and good judgment a biased narrator will make the narrative reactionary, not honest, so stressing his good judgment is crucial. just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." The implications are strong: Nick comes from at least a middle class family that values a sense of moral justice. In his "younger and more vulnerable years" (suggesting he is older and wiser now), his father gave him advice that he has carried with him ever since: "Whenever you feel like criticizing any one.
From the very beginning, even before learning about Gatsby, "the man who gives his name to this book," Fitzgerald gives details about Nick. It is imperative that readers trust him, then, because time can distort memories, and the reception to the story hinges largely on his impartiality and good judgment.Īs a means of establishing faith in the narrator, Fitzgerald carefully develops Nick and positions him both within and without the dramatic situation, creating a dynamic and powerful effect. He is distanced from the events at hand and is recounting them by way of memory. The reader knows immediately that the story has already taken place and that Nick is telling it to us through the filter of time. Nick has, by his own admission, come "back from the East last autumn," jaded and embittered by his experiences there. Looking back at the mysterious figure Nick realizes that Gatsby has vanished.įitzgerald opens his novel by introducing Nick Carraway, the story's narrator. This gesture seems odd to Nick, because all he can make out is a green light, such as one finds at the end of a dock, across the Sound. Gatsby, standing by the waterside, stretches his arms toward the darkness, trembling. Nick's initial impulse is to call out to Gatsby, but he resists because Gatsby "gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone." It was while watching Gatsby that Nick witnesses a curious event.
Upon returning home that evening, as he is sitting outside, Nick notices a figure emerging from Gatsby's mansion.
Nick reassures them there is no impending marriage, merely a series of rumors that cannot substitute for truth. As Tom and Daisy work to set up Nick and Jordan, they seize the opportunity to question him about his supposed engagement to a girl back home. Tom, known for his infidelities, makes no pretense to cover up his affairs. When Tom takes a phone call, Jordan informs Nick that Tom's mistress is on the phone. As the foursome lounge around the Buchanans' estate, they discuss the day's most pressing matters: the merits of living in the East, what to do on the longest day of the year, reactionary politics, and other such shallow topics.
Nick goes to visit Daisy, an ephemeral woman with a socialite's luminescence, and Tom, a brutish, hulking, powerful man made arrogant through generations of privilege, and there he meets Jordan Baker, the professional golfer and a girlhood friend of Daisy's. As he tries to make his way as a bond salesman, he rents a small house next door to a mansion which, it turns out, belongs to Gatsby.ĭaisy Buchanan, Nick's cousin, and her husband, Tom, live across the bay in the fashionable community of East Egg. The story proper begins when Nick moves from the Midwest to West Egg, Long Island, seeking to become a "well-rounded man" and to recapture some of the excitement and adventure he experienced as a soldier in WWI. The narration takes place more than a year after the incidents described, so Nick is working through the filter of memory in relaying the story's events. Readers learn of his past, his education, and his sense of moral justice, as he begins to unfold the story of Jay Gatsby. As The Great Gatsby opens, Nick Carraway, the story's narrator, remembers his upbringing and the lessons his family taught him.