Thursday, October 23, 2008

Nick Carraway

I am going to write about my views and opinions on Nick and his effectiveness as the book's narrator. In the first chapter, Nick says that he comes across to others like a 'politician'. It is as if he doesn't mind sharing the negative viewpoints of other people about him, suggesting that he is honest and the fact that he says that he was 'unjustly accused' proves that he has got nothing to hide, otherwise he would not have said anything at all. To back it up, he mentions later on in the novel - 'I am one of the few honest people I have ever known'.

However, his reliability could be questioned. Taking into account that he is a first person narrator, you have no choice but to see things from his point of view and believe the supposed facts through his words. The people and events he describes, even things to do with himself, could be seen completely differently if it was through an omniscient narrator. There are many examples throughout the novel, that I will mention later on, where the reader has to ponder and even question Nick's honesty and possibly biased views.

First of all, you see all the characters through Nick's eyes. When he describes both Daisy and Myrtle, he could just be biased because Daisy is his cousin and Myrtle is a complete stranger, whom Tom is cheating on Daisy with. Throughout the novel, we are obliged to think that Daisy is the victim of a failed relationship and an unfaithful husband (this iswhere Myrtle plays a part). Also, with Tom we are bound to think that his role in the novel is of the villain, the one causing all the distress and troubles for cheating, being racist and being arrogant. However, looking at the novel more deeply, there are no victims or villains. Everyone plays a part in the succession of events throughout that whole summer that Nick doesn't quite seem to forget.

Gatsby, even though he is shown as mysterious and untrustworthy, is generally seen in good light. Not only is the book titled with his name, Nick also likes him, describing him as 'gorgeous' and saying that he found a 'romantic readiness' in him. On the other hand, Wilson isn't really described at all by Nick. This could be because they didn't have much contact with each other but even on their first meeting, there was no full descriptions of him, only Myrtle. The readers are left to deduce what kind of a person Wilson is through the things he did while Nick was there to witness it. This could also be because Nick, re-telling the story, already knows that Wilson is responsible for Gatsby's death and therefore has a biased opinion about him. When Wilson dies, he makes no comments of sympathy or explanations as to why Wilson would have done such a thing. He leaves the readers to decide for themselves.

2 comments:

Dann said...

Very insightful.
puts my post to shame lol

ANITA said...

I like how you've covered a lot of points. I agree with them too. I hadn't really thought about the lack of description and symapathy we're given on Wilson when he kills Gatsby, thanks :)