Nick as the Narrator in The Great Gatsby Essay Example

During times of stress and triumph, it can be hard to keep a level head amongst the judgment.  In the novel “The Great Gatsby” the author F. Scott Fitzgerald, tells the tragic story through Nick Carraway, who is the narrator. He goes through the summer with Gatsby, his neighbor, and he explains in haunting details how that summer had unfolded. A reliable narrator has an element of honesty and unbiasedness. In the novel ‘The Great Gatsby’, Fitzgerald shows how reliable Nick is as a narrator, through his honesty and unbiased opinion. Throughout the story, Nick shows that he can judge when needed keeping himself level-headed. 

Throughout the novel, Nick proves his accountability by keeping himself faithful to his morals. He meets Jordan Baker, and she tells him that she does not like careless people which is why she likes him. Nick believes that Jordan is a very dishonest person, so he does not think too much of what she says. Although, he goes on to say that every man has a few rules they follow- “this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.”( Fitzgerald 59). Nick calling himself an honorable person shows his morals. Nick keeps his head level and does not let Jordan disrupt his trustworthy values. Nick's morality is so important because when he states opinions we know they are unbiased. Nick and Gatsby are talking after the accident and Nick states that he must go home because he has work, so Gatsby walks him out. Nick knows that he is a good man and he has always had the shorter end of the stick in life. As Nick is leaving he states that everyone in Gatsby's life is a rotten crowd and goes on to say “You’re the whole damn bunch put together”(Fitzgerald 154). This was the only compliment that Nick ever gave him during their short summer together, so by Nick announcing this even though he disapproves of Gatsby, shows that Nick truly is an honorable man. Nick is showing the reader that he is a trustworthy narrator and can keep his morals true to himself. 

A quality of a good narrator starts with knowing when to judge and when to withhold judgment. Nick learns to not judge from a very young age, his family is old money and has an abundance of wealth, unlike the people that live in the Valley of Ashes. Therefore unlike Nick, most people that live in East or West Egg do not understand the importance of money. He has a clear understanding of how important withholding judgment is, his father is the one who told him this wisdom. Mr. Caraway, Nick's father, tells him that whenever he felt the need to invalidate anyone, to remember that “all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had”(Fitzgerald 1). The importance of this is to show that in that moment Nick gets his understanding of how to withhold his judgments about others. Nick can see others through unbiased eyes, without judgment, and because of that it makes him a good narrator. Nick and Gatsby are going out to lunch, and Nick has been hearing whisperings about who Gatsby genuinely is. He listens to Gatsby's story on the car ride to lunch, but when they get there, he is surprised to see a secluded area where Gatsby leads them inside. From there, he is introduced to Mr. Wolfsheim who wears molars as cufflinks. Nick asks Gatsby if he is a doctor and to his dismay, Mr. Wolfsheim is a gambler. To which Gatsby says that he is the one who fixed the 1919 world series and goes on to say “They can’t get him old sport. He’s a smart man.”( Fitzgerald 73). Through these events, he is led to believe that Gatsby is a bootlegger even though he had told him that he was an Oggsford man he doesn't quite believe it. Nick even though the following events had just happened he proceeds to not judge Gatsby. Even though Gatsby has clear signs he is a bootlegger, Nick does not show him an ounce of disrespect or judgment. Nick's qualifications as a reliable narrator are showing consistency. 

On the other hand, by the end of the summer Nick does judge people for their decisions and actions. Through the entirety of the novel, he stands by his fairly new friends even though they have made bad decisions or have been only focused on their money. He learns that there has been three murders all because of Tom and Daisy. They are the reason for all of these deaths, Daisy killed Myrtle but let Gatsby take the blame, and Tom sent Goeroge Wilson to his own murder along with the motive to kill Gatsby. Tom and Daisy were so stuck in their money that they did not even see the real world before them. In which Nick judges them, he says “They were careless people; they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money”(Fitzgerald 179). Nick Judges Tom and especially Daisy for allowing all of these events to occur. Even though Daisy had been very materialistic and Nick could see her intentions he stayed loyal and unbiased towards her until she did this. Following along, Nick has to plan Gatsby's funeral in which no one shows up, not even a call from Daisy. Nick then leaves East Egg and he soberly states “The East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes power of correction(Fitzgerald 176). Nick's judgment of the East is valid, he has a right to judge the East because of everything that has happened. Nick's judgment shows that the East is filled with people just like Tom and Daisy, thus allowing him to be a good narrator. 

Through the novel, Nick proves to be a reliable narrator based on the fact that he is honest and unbiased in his judgment of others, but he also knows when to judge people, showing how he is a good narrator. Fitzgerald uses Nick as the narrator because he is outside of the equation. Nick moves east to sell bonds and finds himself in the middle of a story that started five years ago. He sits on the edge of two worlds…. and bridges the gap between the world of old and new money all while upholding the truth. He has morals that he keeps himself accountable for, and he also has an opinion and can be critical of others' actions for good reasons. Throughout the novel Nick displays characteristics that prove him to be a good narrator, proving that overall Nick is a genuine narrator.