Having recently read 'The Great Gatsby' for my American Lit class, some points came out in the class discussion and lecture on the book; the main focus of both was Gatsby; is he so great? What does he want? But someone raised an interesting point about Nick, questioning whether he was a reliable narrator. I decided to take another look at the text with this in mind.
Point One;
Nick does not hesitate in providing us with other characters' versions of events, and never questions their validity. For example, he is told of Gatsby's love affair by Jordan and presents her narrative to us unquestioningly; how do we know we can trust Jordan? If Nick trusts this so implicitly, what else might he take on trust, and therefore present to us as true?
Point Two;
Subjectivity; Nick does not judge Gatsby at all, despite his many actions which might lead another character to form an entirely different view of him. Like attempting to steal another man's wife away, for example. He consistently calls Gatsby, well, great - is he really? Likewise, he is not particularly fond of Tom and therefore is disposed to paint him in a negative light; can we really trust what Nick says about other characters?
Point Three;
He is recounting this story from three years or so onwards. How can we trust that his memory remains utterly accurate, to the exact word of every sentence every person speaks? 'The Great Gatsby' is a reconstruction of Nick's memories, rather than an accurate record of the narrative.
Point Four;
On page 25, a curious lapse occurs. We jump from a scene in an elevator, to "I was standing beside his bed and he was sitting up between the sheets, clad in his underwear." No explanation is given for this gap, and shortly another follows: "lying half asleep in the cold lower level of the Pennsylvania Station." Does Nick not remember what happened here? Or is he purposely withholding information from us? Either way, he proves himself an unreliable narrator and we are warned to treat his narrative with caution.
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