Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Blog #20: Beginning of the Great Gatsby

1. Who is the narrator? Describe his perspective, biases, character traits, etc.
I think the narrator is Nick Carraway. He could afford college, but he wasn't even close to being as rich as Daisy and Tom. I think he writes in a way that is bias towards how he felt about the people around him. For example, when he was describing Tom, he was putting in his opinion on how Tom looked to him. Ordinarily, you would probably say, "Yeah he's this muscular guy who's eyes dominate his face." Instead, Nick added in negative details like cruel, aggressive, defiant, and fractiousness. Nick is very quick to talk about appearence and clothes. He is specific about picking the actions of the other people, the ones he thinks defines their situation. For example, he was talking about how Daisy and Tom went to France and lived there for a year with for no apparent reason, they had a quarter of a mile lawn, etc. From these details, the reader purposely learnes the difference between the situation Nick is in and the situation Tom and Daisy are in. This gives a little insight on what sort of wealth Nick is aiming for.

2. What do you think F. Scott Fiitzgerald accomplishes by choosing this specific narrator versus another choice, such as a different character or 3rd person?
I think he tells a story through his eyes. From this, he can add experiencs he had or thoughts he had. Instead of being sort of distant and looking on the story from a 3rd person perspective, telling the story from a character actually in the story gives you the inner working of how his environment effects him. I like how it is in first person because you feel like you're travelining through the story and actually experienced the events he is talking about. And at the same time, it guides you in a direction that is a bit bias, but it gives you the point of view of the person as he sees other people. Since we don't have tht mind set, telling this in first person gives us that mind set that may have been common thought back then.

No comments:

Post a Comment