Model Blog - Diction and POV analysis

Fitzgerald creates a 1^st person narrator with Nick Carraway, who appears to be an objective and nonjudgmental speaker.  He is thoughtful since he ponders the advice of his father, observant and warm because he recounts how others attach themselves to him, yet slow to react in the face of confrontation.  When he states, “I was unjustly accused of being a politician,” (5) two implications exist.  One, politicians are comparable to other derogatory names; no one wants to be accused of being a politician any more than a person would want to be called a "jerk."  Secondly, politicians connote dishonest and manipulative characteristics.  Often we do not trust politicians, and the reader must note the significance in terms of Nick as the narrator.  A primary focus for this novel is whether or not Nick will be a trustworthy narrator, keeping in mind the fact that this accusation was “unjust.”  Through a close analysis of the speaker and point of view from the onset of the novel, the audience might predict a possible theme in The Great Gatsby, which is initial appearances can be deceiving.  Superficiality seems a normal part of the upper class society and Fitzgerald clearly finds such attitudes distasteful.