Nick's Reliability

Phelan, James. "Reexaming Reliability: The Multiple Functions of Nick Carraway." Narrative as Rhetoric: Techniques, Audience, Ethics, Ideology. (1996): 56-70. Print.

Phelan examines the different "types" of narrator Nick transforms into throughout the novel. Phelan questions Nick reliability. He relfects to the scene where Nick gives the readers vivid details of the death of Myrtle. The audience learns who was the diver of Gatsby's car that ran over and hit Myrtle. He tells the audience that Gatsby is covering for Daisy and that Daisy was actually the killer. There are only two characters in the novel that know who was actually driving the car. Phelan questions why Fitzgerald gave Nick the power to have this Knowledge. He notes how Fitzgerald switches Nick from a "witness narrator" to a "omniscient narrator". He uses the term homodiegetic narrator. This means he is an omniscient narrator that is also a character in the novel. Phelan questions whether Fitzgerald's use of switching Nick's narration throughout the novel is in violation of being unethical. Phelan points out Nick's statement of being honest and his ability to reserve judgment on others. Phelan dismisses Nick's statement by providing narration where Nick either passed judgment on a character or told an event that Nick was not there to witness. It raises a question to why Fitzgerald would violate the ethics of reading this novel.

This criticism points out that Nick switches his narration around. Phelan seems to not agree with Fitzgerald's technique. He believes it to not be responsible to the readers by delivering a narrative that doesnt explain Nick's knowledge of the events that Nick is narrating on when Nick was not there to witness them. This criticism doesnt answer whether or not it affects the readers ability to ethically read The Great Gatsby but raises the question to critically think about whether or not it affects the readers. This criticism initially raised the research question. Phelan describes the mechanics behind the novel. Phelan describes all the fuctions of Nick and shows the readers examples in the novel of where Nick's narration switches. This raises many questions about ethically reading The Great Gatsby.