How Are You?
Submitted by dwolfsohn on 06/30/2008 05:21 PM
- Category: History Other
- Words: 612
- Pages: 3
- Views: 7
- Popularity Rank: 34611
How Are You?
The narrative point of view adopted by F. Scott
Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby supports the novel's
criticism of the upper class and the
importance of wealth in society. Fitzgerald
uses Nick Carraway as the narrator who views the upper
class as entirely superficial. Through his
observation of people at Gatsby's party, at the
beginning of chapter three, Nick seems to feel that
the wealthy are clones of a stereotype accepted
and created by themselves. To him it seems as
though this society is based on appearance and
recognition and judges people according to how
much they own rather than what they believe in.
Nick's criticisms are accepted by the reader as
impartial because Nick is the only major character
who is not preoccupied with wealth. This is
established in the first few pages of the novel where
Nick describes himself and his upbringing in a
manner that immediately secures the trust of
the reader. This allows Nick to act as a measure for
other characters who are in a relentless pursuit of
money and power.
Fitzgerald creates a particular impression of
Nick in the first few pages of the novel in order for
Nick to present himself as honest and to secure
the trust of the reader. Fitzgerald does this
by describing Nick's upbringing and his opinion of
himself. Nick states that he is 'inclined to reserve
all judgments' which is 'a matter of infinite
hope.' This has the immediate effect of presenting
Nick as an unbiased narrator. When he states that
his tolerance has a limit, the reader feels
that he would only judge people if they have gone too
far. The importance of this is that Nick does form
very strong opinions of...
You must Login to view the entire paper.
If you are not a member yet, Sign Up for free!
