What is Nick's

role in "The
Great Gatsby"? 01

What does he
add to the story?
 In his novel, Fitzgerald uses a
first-person narrative with the
help of a character directly
involved in the events - Nick
Carraway. This young man in a
02 state of terrible depression
receives a recommendation
from a psychotherapist to
“write” and starts doing that.
 And he writes about the man who
left the brightest mark in his life -
the mysterious and powerful
wealthy neighbor Jay Gatsby.
Through the prism of Nick's
03
perception and judgment, the
reader gets an idea of ​a particular
event.
Nick, being a
participant in all the
fundamental events of
the novel, influences
the course of history
minimally, being
rather an observer,
and, without pursuing
benefits or feeling
great attachment to
the characters in the
novel, gives as
impartial and objective
assessment of what is
happening.
From the first pages of the
novel, the reader is imbued
with sympathy for the narrator
in the person of Nick, since he
can easily associate himself
with Nick.
It matters that Carraway is a “reliable”
storyteller. The information he shares with
the reader can be verified as he immerses 04
himself in the novel. Nick creates a unique
atmosphere by describing the appearance
and the actions of the heroes of the novel
using such methods of creating a vivid
literary image as metaphor, hyperbole,
epithet, etc.
 "In his blue gardens men
and girls came and went like
moths among the
whispering and the
champagne and the stars."
05 Simile
It describes Gatsby’s lavish parties, where

guests pour in large numbers.

Hyperbole

“The eyes of Doctor T. J.

Eckleburg are blue and
gigantic - their irises are
one yard high.“

Description of Doctor
T.J. Eckleburg's eyes,
the irises being one yard
high, is an
overstatement.
 “A breeze blew through the room, blew
curtains in at one end and out the other like
Metaphor pale flags, twisting them up towards the
frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and
then rippled over the wine-colored rug,
making a shadow on it as wind does on the
07
sea. "

While describing the room, the frosted wedding-cake is used as a

metaphor for the ceiling. This also contains ‘imagery’, and helps the

readers visualize the room.

 08

Also, through lengthy descriptions, Nick presents an object

from unusual points of view, evoking pictures from the past or
appealing to a social context, complementing in that way the
image of a character, object or context of a situation.
According we can characterize Nick as "all-knowing" storyteller, since Nick
cannot know the thoughts of other than people Nick as an "all-

to that knowing" storyteller is fully revealed for a detailed description of

events in which he is not present
The role of the Nick acts as a guide for the reader into the
narrator in The Great world of the novel, creating "The effect of
Gatsby is defined by presence", allowing you to feel what is
two functions. happening as if the reader himself were the
hero of the story.

Nick Carraway is also the mouthpiece of 10

the author's ideas, focusing the reader's
attention on those aspects that were
important to Fitzgerald.
Ahother point
of view