How does Nick's account modifies the reader's perception of the reality of Gatsby in Chapter 6?

The Great Gatsby, Essay on Chapter 6 :                             AUVERGNE ROXANE 1L1

How does Nick's account modifies the reader's perception of the reality of Gatsby?

        The novel The Great Gatsby was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. The story takes place in a post World War I America, tinted with great economic inequalities, between the beginning of the consumer's society and the extreme poverty. Nick Carraway, the narrator, tells the story of his meeting with Jay Gatsby as well as their friendship. Nick, fairly appreciates Gatsby and his company, as it can be noticed during the whole book. Especially in Chapter 6, Nick gives a deeply admiring description of Gatsby, that could almost be seen as influencing the reader's perception of the character.

        To begin, it can be stated that Nick clearly orientates -and has the will to- the reader's perception of Gatsby. Indeed, through some ingenious stylistic devices, he ensures a certain vision that the reader will have of Jay Gatsby.

        Indeed, even a realist or neo-realist author would admit that it is complicated -and maybe impossible- as a narrator to be completely objective when telling a story. As a character, Nick can't help having inclinations and preferences towards some of the other characters. On top of that, it can be said that offering a character a will, a personality, is what makes this character unique, as well as likeable. Nick, for example, with his personality, and his -sometimes- very strong opinion seems like a description a human being could produce, his conception gives him another dimension. The subjectivity Nick offers to the reader can be noticed very easily in some passages of the chapter. For example, when Tom Buchanan, Mr. Sloane and the woman invite themselves at Gatsby's for a drink after their horse riding session, Gatsby is “delighted to see [them]” (p65). However, Nick, almost shocked by this reaction screams his thoughts, saying “As though they cared!” (p65). It can clearly be seen that Nick takes Gatsby's side and also assumes things about the three visitors. Indeed, none of them states that they don't care, Nick just knows it thanks to everything he knows about the three horse-riders. Later in the chapter, the narrator even states that what he says is what he thinks, and not what he has been told, as remarked in the expression “I knew that except for the half-hour she'd been alone with Gatsby she wasn't having a good time” (p68). Nick says “I knew” not “Daisy told me”, which is a clear mark of an opinion given away.

        Secondly, it is noticeable that Nick often presents romanticized and meliorative descriptions of Gatsby. This recurring stylistic choice obviously gives Gatsby a certain glorified image, and almost forces the reader to take his side while reading the novel. Page 63, for example, is met this kind of description -that is present all throughout the chapter, and even in the whole book-. Indeed, Nick describes Jay Gatsby saying : “His brown, hardening body lived naturally through the half-fierce, half-lazy work of the bracing days.” Words such as “hardening” to describe a body are clearly meliorative, knowing that during the 1920's, being strong was one of the most important beauty criteria. The notions of “bracing days” as well as of “work” can bring to the character of Jay Gatsby a God-like dimension, and, by consequence, insinuate a certain perfection. The references to divine characteristics are elaborated page 63, when Gatsby is qualified as “a son of God”. This kind of improving characterization can also be found in the expression : “Daisy and Gatsby danced. I remember being surprised by his graceful, conservative foxtrot” (p.68). Once again, Jay Gatsby is presented as the perfect person, doing anything and everything exceptionally well, almost without effort, and always surprising his peers with his skills. Indeed, not only does he know how to dance the foxtrot, but it is qualified by adjectives such as “graceful” and “conservative” by Nick. The reader can't see the scene, but he is forced to imagine it perfectly executed by Gatsby and his dancing partner Daisy, although it might only be Nick's filter added onto the account he gives.

        Furthermore, Nick doesn't only elevate Gatsby, but he reinforces the effect of his speech by diminishing the other characters. Indeed, frequently Nick will give disparaging descriptions of Gatsby's entourage, which makes him seem on top of all these vicious, dishonest people he is surrounded by. This stylistic device can be remarked at diverse moments of the chapter, especially during Tom Buchanan and his horse riding partners' intervention, pages 65/66. First of all, Nick insinuates that the three East-Egg inhabitants have abused Gatsby's hospitality. Indeed, the narrator attributes his own thoughts to Gatsby, enunciating that he “would be uneasy anyhow until he had given them something, realizing in a vague way it was all they came for.” Because of the indirect form of the speech, it is not possible to guess if this realization was mentioned by Gatsby after Tom, Mr. Sloane and the woman's departure or it was only a liberty that Nick took in his account of the story. Nevertheless, although this question can't be answered, the reader's reaction will automatically be the one of supporting Gatsby, and feeling outraged of the visitors' way to take advantage of the situation. On the bottom of page 66, Tom's comments clearly aren't here to improve the vision the reader has of him. Mr. Buchanan's hypocrisy towards Jay Gatsby is emphasized with the mention of exclamations such as “My God, I believe the man's coming. Doesn't he know she doesn't want him?” and, when he is leaving he even asks Nick to lie to Mr. Gatsby : “Tell him we couldn't wait, will you?”. The reader is forced to rely on Nick's account of the event, who might have omitted some details, such as mentioning that Gatsby obviously wasn't able to understand that the invitation he was told was only a polite one, and not a sincere one. In the sixth chapter, Tom is described as Jay Gatsby's opponent, for example page 67, mentioning that “his presence gave the evening its peculiar quality of oppressiveness” isn't an extremely sympathetic qualification. The narrator even admits that this description isn't notably reliable, mentioning that “it stands out in his memory” and adding “There were the […] same sort of people, the same profusion of champagne, the same many-colored, many keyed commotion, but I felt an unpleasantness in the air […] that hadn't been there before.” Nick states that the account he gives is based on his memory, and on his feelings. These two notions are extremely personal and not the most reliable ones. However, he formulates it very cleverly, for example the enumeration of positive terms -related to Gatsby's parties and consequently to Gatsby himself- is broken by the “but” followed by the enumeration of negative terms -related to Tom-.

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