Nick as a Narrator

1. Nick as a Narrator

2. First person- gives us his opinions • Does not know what everybody is thinking- Gatsby does tell him some things but he can only guess what other characters, such as Tom and Daisy are thinking, this makes him an unreliable narrator and biased towards Gatsby • Doesn’t judge people and tries to see the best in them like Gatsby who had done bad things in his life but Nick stays with him and is the only character who gets to know him and he only one who cares when he dies

3. “I wanted to get out and walk eastward toward the park through the soft twighlight, but each time I tried to go I become entangled in some wild, strident argument which pulled me back, as if with ropes, into my chair. Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I saw him too, looking up and wondering. I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the exhaustible variety of life”

4. “Mrs Wilson had changed her costume some time before, and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream-coloured chiffon, which gave out a continued rustle as she swept about the room. With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur. Her laughter, her gestures, her assertions became more violently affected moment by moment, and as she expanded the room grew smaller around her, until she seemed to be revolving on a noisy, creating pivot through the smoky air”

5. “I’d been writing letters once a week and signing them ‘Love, Nick’, and all I could think of was how, when that certain girl played tennis, a faint moustache of perspiration appeared on her upper lip. Nevertheless there was a vague understanding that had to be tactfully broken off before I was free”

6. “Mr McKee was a pale, feminine man from the flat below. He had just shaved, for there was a white spot of lather on his cheekbones and he was most respectful in his greeting to everyone in the room”

7. Nick introduces Daisy • “I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean towards her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming” • “it was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again”

8. Nick meets Gatsby • “whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd” • “I got the strong impression that he was picking his words with care.” • ““You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together” I’ve always been glad I said that. It was the only compliment I ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end”

9. Nick and Tom • Tome is a cruel and arrogant man and Nick dislikes him • “shining arrogant eyes” • “cruel body”