Is Nick Carraway presented as a reliable narrator and how is the reader supposed to feel towards his character? ".
Response.
Scott Fitzgerald's, "The Great Gatsby," is a fictional tale set in New York. The narrator, Nick Carraway, is a first person, peripheral narrator who tells the tale of Jay Gatsby. Carraway is presented as an outsider looking in; he waits for an invitation to one of Gatsby's parties when everyone else simply "turned up." .
Nick Carraway tells us in the first chapter that he is "inclined to reserve all judgements ", he explains that he was told by his father to "remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had"." Nick appears to have been brought up well, he acknowledges the advantages he has had in life. This could lead the audience to believe that he is a well principled man of honour, a reliable narrator. Furthermore Fitzgerald introduces Nick this way to highlight Nick's non-judgemental personality, this is the first character we meet in the novel and as a narrator, by being introduced as non-judgemental the reader is initially clear that Nick, as a narrator will be free of bias.
However, early on in the novel we are shown a different, more judgemental Nick from the one he described in the opening chapter. On first meeting Mr. McKee, he describes him as "feminine" and Mr Wilson is described as "spiritless"" and "faintly handsome"" these descriptions while not direct insults are rather judgemental, particularly as they were made upon first meeting the two men. This could be seen as Fitzgerald making Nick appear more human and more relatable, not everyone would buy into the idea of this everyman who "reserves all judgement"." It can be argued that he is only human, right or wrong, the vast majority of people do tend to make judgements on each other upon first meeting and by presenting Nick this way, Fitzgerald is only making him appear more relatable.