Nick and the Trouble That Follows

Donaldson, Scott. "Fresh Approaches: The Trouble With Nick." Critical Essay's on Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. (1984): 131-139. Print.

Nick creates a great deal of controversy for the readers as the narrator of The Great Gatsby. Scott Donaldson views him as a snob and a coward. Nick detaches himself from the emotion of the story. Donaldson and many other tend to see him as the perfect narrator for The Great Gatsby by way of his lack of emotion and judgmental ways. He tends to extract and reserve himself from the events around him and doesn’t reserve judgments. We get from the article that lets social form obscure moral judgment. At the beginning of the story, Nick's father gives in some very well sought out advice. His father told him, "Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," that he was to remember that not everyone enjoyed "the advantages" he has had. (pg.131) His father advised tolerance but he detected Nick would take this in the wrong way. He does just this and thinks there are far worse things in the world than snobbery. Nick has his own opinion and F. Scott Fitzgerald reflects the use of irony throughout the story to show the dominant characteristic in the way Nick speaks to others. Nick narrating shows us the world through his eyes which may be not truthful at times. Donaldson states that Fitzgerald's tecnique is for Nick to navigate in Gatsby's head to get a sense of who Gatsby is. Donaldson says that Nick is unable to understand the depth of Gatsby so he thinks the narration may have switched to third person to help out this controversy. Having Nick narrate, we tend to only feel what he is saying, so understanding why Fitzgerald switched the narration off of Nick may helps us to understand Gatsby more.

The article helps to understand the narrative ways of Nick and really understand why he is the way he is. It helps the reader to make an opinion of whether Nick is judgmental or if he is only being brutally honest in how he feels. He jumps from pulling back his emotions to jumping and judging someone for not being “wealthy” or having the “advantages” that he had when he was younger. Understanding and keeping up with Nick, makes us question why Fitzgerald wrote the narrative in this way. We can infer that Nick is emotionally unattached to the people and events around but yet he states the truth as if he was in character’s minds around him, himself. By Nick being the "eyes" and "ears" for us readers, it takes the focus of Nick. As we move on through the story we see that Nick is the narrator at first, but later it switches to third person and Nick tends to blend in with the background. Although this happens, Nick still has his opinions that get acknowleged and we switch back to first person, so we can hear the story from Nick. We question why Fitzgerald switches back and forth with the narration and if this helps us or hurts us when understanding the story. If Nick really is the best narrator for The Great Gatsby, then understanding why Fitzgerald separates romance from reality is crucial. Also, Fitzgerald's reason behind judgment and honesty could help us to understand why the narration switches.