Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald’s autobiographical first person means of telling the story in a way that takes the reader into his confidence by retelling a recollection of significant events. It is immdeiatly noticeable that Fitzgerald’s sentence structure is complex and his vocabulary sometimes obscure â€Å"only Gatsby, the man who gives this book its name was exempt from my reaction – Gatsby, who represented everything I was scornful of. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him† Fitzgerald asserts the idea that although Nick Caraway is the should narrator of this book, the story is about a much greater man – one whom the narrator is set to admire so much that the use of language to describe him gives Nick a new view on a set of people he once hated, so much so, he decides to write a book about him. Fitzgerald introduces Nick just returning to the Midwest after the civil war, he settles in the â€Å"west egg† but finds himself starting the story by visiting his cousin Daisy and Tom â€Å"the consoling proximity of millionaires† in the much more glamorous east egg, Fitzgerald is perhaps emphasising this was the norm for Nick having grown up with such people as a child. Fitzgerald begins the story with a generalisation of himself â€Å"I’ m inclined to reserve all judgements† separating himself from the likes of other judgemental upper class characters, which whom are given the most attention to. The likes of characters such as Daisy, Tom and Jordan are given almost choric voices â€Å"well you ought to see her she’s-â€Å" the characters constantly cutting each other off with ongoing information to the story such as rumours â€Å"he’s got some woman in new York† the idea of scandal and covered up rumours seems to dominate this chapter, although Jordan has only just met Nick, Fitzgerald does not hold back on writing Jordan so she already reveals a huge scandalous piece of gossip emphasising how these characters. Fitzgerald presents women in this chapter in a very unusual way â€Å"splendidly, luagiduly, their hands set lightly on their hips, the two young women proceeded us out on to a rosy coloured porch† the imagery of two young women leading them into this heavenly place emphasises them as delicate and beautiful â€Å"for a moment the last sunshine fell romantically upon her glowing face† the sensual imagery Tom uses to describe Jordan presents some type of respect Fitzgerald is able to see for women, however it is contrasted to a much lower view of women when Daisy states â€Å"that’s the best thing a woman can be in this world – a beautiful fool† where she expresses her opinion that a woman can only get by on looks and total ignorance to how a man should treat her. Some readers are irritated by nick caraway as a narrator, what is your view of Nick as a narrator? Fitzgerald’s interesting and intelligent use of such a character is in no way a mist ake, he would have been aware of the dangers from such an unusual means of narrating, however it works very well and makes this book the success it is. The use of Nick as more of a spector than an actual narrator involves us as readers and allows us to make up our own minds about the characters rather than having a central character as a narrator who may be in love with Daisy or hate Tom, whose language would then shape our own opinion of them. Nick is able to re-call past events in a very serious tone but yet at the same time his sensual and light-headedness description on small matters reflect pleasure onto the reader â€Å"I had two – finger bowels of champagne, and the scene had changed before my eyes into something significant, elemental and profound† commenting on small humorous parts of the story make the reader more able to relate as in our own lives we would notice such changes after a drink, Fitzgerald gives nick very realistic qualities here which means the story is more lifelike for the reader to enjoy. However, there are some aspects of the story in sensual description where Nick elevates his dramatic and in depth description that may not be so down to earth, but neither the less engage the reader in the very beautifully worded lines. â€Å"for a moment the last sunshine fell romantically upon her glowing face† the way in which women are presented through Nick’s eyes gain him a certain amount of respect for him as a narrator which will gain to the reader’s interest in his own characteristics, he is clearly a very passionate and respectable man in his romantic interests which in many ways erase from the reader’s mind any doubts they may of had at the start of his attitude to women when it is told he left a woman behind to move to the east egg. It is easy to suggest that without Nick’s descriptive detail and constant symbolism, the novel would have been a better less obscure portrayal of events, however without Nick’s ignorance and unfamiliarity to Gatsby at the start, Fitzgerald would have never been able to create this sense of enigma around him that engages the reader about this unknown mysterious character. â€Å"He stretched out his arms in a curious way towards the water, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling†. Fitzgerald also uses such a character as he is able to connect more with Gatsby upon living in the same less glamorous egg; they are in many ways similar through their views on life, money and love – a realistic friendship. Scott Fitzgerald was interested in many ways to present Gatsby through Nick; he stated once how â€Å"symbolism can produce a kind of magical transformation in which the physical world might, through an act of imagination, come to assume the quality of ideal†. So at the end of the novel Nick no longer looks at the world through symbolism as he remarks â€Å"he must have looked up at a familiar sky through frightening lease and shivered as he found was grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the secrecy grass† Fitzgerald here uses this technique to cut Nick’s symbolic language on beautiful things, to mirror the down turn of events and keep in with the language to reflect the mood of gloom the reader may be feeling, again heightening the reader’s opinion of Nick, as he is many ways realistic when it comes to the language he uses to express events that aren’t so glamorous. The use of Nick as a narrator is without a doubt a genius idea from Fitzgerald. He was able to contrast the norm and expected narrator but yet at the same time engage the reader with it. The writer is kept realistic, with real romances such as his relationship with Jordan giving him his own story but yet still present Gatsby i n the intelligent and beautiful way Fitzgerald intended.