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Rachel Penick

Ms. Storer

English 3 H Block 5

2 March 2020

A narrator is a character who recounts the events of a novel or narrative poem. In the

book The Great Gatsby, Nick caraway narrates the whole story because he is seen as an honest,

background character that can capture everything. Nick is an unreliable narrator in the Great

Gatsby because he shows bias when he involves his feelings in his description of certain

characters, he is intoxicated during a portion of his narration, and he makes Gatsby's death all

about himself.

Nick is biased when describing Gatsby and Tom. In the beginning pages of the book,

Nick introduces Gatsby with the following description: “If personality is an unbroken series of

successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity

to the promises of life” (Fitzgerald 2). Nick is clearly obsessed with Gatsby. He sees Gatsby as

an amazing man who could do no wrong. He does anything Gatsby asks. He organized a tea

party with only Gatsby and Daisy as his invited guests. He made sure that Tom Buchanan would

not be around at the tea party. He didn’t care that Daisy was Tom’s wife and that Tom would be

upset, he only cared about Gatsby’s happiness. Nick was the only good friend of Gatsby because

he is the only one who overlooked all of his flaws. Nick leaves out the less appealing aspects of

Gatsby’s character such as the fact that he is involved in adultery, that his wealth comes from

unsavory sources, and that he may be mixed up in organized crime. He justifies Gatsby’s flaws

and twists them to make the reader think that he has good intentions for all of his unacceptable
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actions. He then goes on to describe Tom as “a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty” with “a rather

hard mouth and supercilious manner”. Nick’s personal opinion of Tom shines through when he

describes his eyes as “Two shining arrogant eyes” that “establish dominance over his face” and

give him the “appearance of always leaning aggressively forward” (Fitzgerald 7). Nick makes

Tom out to be an aggressive man from the start. All throughout the book he makes Tom sound

aggressive. He makes the readers already not like him simply from how he portrays him in his

narration. He gives a very brief explanation of Tom, when in contrast he wrote about Gatsby in

great detail. Nick preaches about how honest he is and how he does not judge other characters

when in reality he refers to the other characters, excluding Gatsby, as “a rotten crowd”. He goes

on to characterize Tom as a careless person who will ruin things and then revert back to his

money. Nick adds to Tom’s description by calling him a “cruel body” that was “capable to

enormous leverage”. (Fitzgerald 7) Nick is clearly biased in his beginning description of Tom.

But he keeps it up throughout the whole story. When Wilson fills up Tom’s car with gas for him,

Tom responds, “What do I owe you? demanded Tom harshly” (Fitzgerald 123). Wilson does

Tom a favor and Nick still makes Tom seem like he is threatening Wilson. Nick consistently

portrays Tom as the bad guy in the story, showing his unreliability when it comes to certain parts

of the book.

Nick is an unreliable character because he was intoxicated during a portion of his

narration. Nick Carraway admits that he does not recall exactly what happened at the party when

he announces, "I have been drunk just twice in my life, and the second time was that afternoon;

so everything that happened has a dim, hazy cast over it..." (Fitzgerald 29). Nick introduces a

few characters whilst he was intoxicated. Nick admits that his memories of the afternoon are

fuzzy and in turn that leads the reader to question his credibility in his description of characters
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such as Catherine or Mr. McKee. All of the narration throughout the entire afternoon as well as

the party itself, has no credibility. He is intoxicated during one of the most important chapters of

the book. This is where he goes to Gatsby’s party and meets him for the first time. Therefore, the

reader does not really know what Nick’s first impression of Gatsby was or even how the party

itself actually went. Nick explains, “I had taken two finger-bowls of champagne” and he shows

how the alcohol affected his memory when he adds, “the scene had changed before my eyes into

something significant, elemental, and profound” (Fitzgerald 47). He accepts the fact that he is no

longer in his right mind. Nick fully admits how the scene changed around him. His perception of

the party and of the people at the party is completely befuddled. Nick lost his credibility the

second he began letting alcohol cloud his judgement. It is well-known and affirmed by the

National Rehabs directory that drinking alcohol will impair your memories and ability to recall

information. Nick was very drunk and most likely cannot accurately remember what exactly

happened that day. Nick’s state of mind during this period of narration and meeting Gatsby,

leads the reader to think he is an unreliable narrator.

Nick makes Gatsby’s death about only himself. Nick declares that everyone is asking him

questions about Gatsby: “From the moment I telephoned news of the catastrophe to West Egg

Village, every surmise about him, and every practical question, was referred to me. At first, I

was surprised and confused; then, as he lay in his house and didn’t move or breathe or speak,

hour upon hour, it grew upon me that I was responsible, because no one else was interested”

(Fitzgerald 164). Gatsby died and Nick makes it look like he is the only one who cares. Many

people asked other characters questions about Gatsby, but Nick made it seem like everyone

thought that Nick was the only one that knew Gatsby. He revolved Gatsby’s death around

himself. Nick only portrays his feelings and what he does for Gatsby instead of showing
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everyone else’s mourning. The reader is not given the chance to hear from the other characters

about how they feel about his death. Nick then throws a funeral for Gatsby, but the whole time

he is worried that people would not show up and he would be embarrassed. When not people do

not show up, he assumes that they do not care, when in reality they may have just not been able

to make it or it was too hard for them to endure. Nick shows his feeling of the city after Gatsby’s

death with the following description: “After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like

that, distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction” (Fitzgerald 176). Nick explains how the

East is changed for him now. But he does not talk about how Daisy and Tom moved away right

after Gatsby’s death. Maybe his death had the same effect on them. He also leaves out how all of

the other characters felt and only focuses on the emptiness he feels. Gatsby’s dad came down

from Minnesota to attend his funeral, but Nick never describes what Henry Gatz is feeling. In

Nick’s withholding of information on many characters feelings following Gatsby’s death, he

once again proves himself to be unreliable.

Nick’s fickle narration throughout most of the story leads us to believe that he is not

credible. He demonstrates his unreliability in narration through bias, selfishness, and

intoxication. Nick is an unreliable character in the Great Gatsby because he shows bias in his

depiction of Gatsby and Tom, he is intoxicated during an important chapter in the book, and he

revolves Gatsby’s death all around himself. Many people in today’s world are also unreliable

when many people are counting on them.