The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Effect of Point Of View on the Readers Response

The American classic, The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald, utilises point of view to manipulate and shape the readers response to ideas embodied by the characters and events. The novels events are recalled and filtered through the consciousness of its peripheral narrator, Nick Carraway, a young Yale graduate. The Great Gatsby is about Jay Gatsby, a poor man who is unable to move past Daisy’s rejection and how he devotes his life to changing the past, by acquiring wealth and status. The point of view of the novel is a critical narrative technique; this is told through Carraway’s first person retrospective narration. The reader can accept the narrator’s authenticity and reliability as he is constructed as being a moralistic and wholly sympathetic character from the beginning of the novel. However there is no necessity for Carraway to be subjective to be reliable. Through the narrator, Fitzgerald invites the reader to condemn the demise of American society’s moralities during the ‘roaring twenties.’ Ideas represented by the novel include the differences between social classes, the failure of the American dream and the spirit of the 1920s. The point of view from which this story is told is critical to the way the reader responds to the ideas represented by characters and events.

Class dichotomy is a major issue of the novel and is shaped by Nick Carraway’s descriptive narration and is manipulated too, by his own characterisation and participation within the plot. Carraway’s portrayal and subjective opinion of class is effected by the fact that he is from wealthy backgrounds. This is established early in the novel when he talks about his family being, “prominent well-to-do people” and has also recognised himself as being “...

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...od of the 1920s was doomed to failure in the manner it cultivated relationships between people. This is perhaps the author foreseeing the crash of the economy. This is shown as Nick is reflecting on people’s general selfishness and greed. The reader can also agree that this is true for the most part today, the the endless parties and debauchery has a destructive nature.

Americans achieved in their corrupted materialism.

The Great Gatsbyis told entirely through Nick Carraway’s eyes; his thoughts and perception shape and colour the story.

Nick a fairly reliable but most definitely insightful narrator.

Readers are inclined to believe Nick’s recollection of events due to the promise of credibility he makes at the beginning of the novel, a contributing factor to the way readers respond as they are more likely to respond to the ideas in the way Fitzgerald intended.