The Great Gatsby

Gatsby: pages 1-12

At the beginning of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, I was so confused as to who the narrator was.  I had always just assumed that Gatsby himself would be telling the story.  But after finishing this first section of the book, I think I understand why Fitzgerald used Nick Carraway.  He provides a fresh, unbiased perspective to everything.  Fitzgerald separated him from the life of his relative Daisy so that, when reunited at the beginning of the novel, Carraway would be as oblivious as the reader to the happenings and history of all the other characters.  This allows us to connect with Carraway, because we only know what he knows, and we are confused when he is confused.  For instance, we are given the little information of the fabulously wealthy Mr. Gatsby, so he is just as much a mystery to us as he is to Carraway.

There seems to be some foreshadowing in this section of the book in regards to Tom, Daisy's husband.  When Carraway describes his intimidating demeanor, he states that "it was a body capable of enormous leverage --- a cruel body" (Fitzgerald, 7).  I don't think Fitzgerald wants us as the reader to particularly like Tom Buchanan.  He has Carraway describe him using words such as "arrogant", "dominant", "aggressive", and "gruff".  Based on this first impression of Tom, I don't think I'm going to grow to like him very much throughout the novel.