The Great Gatsby-Chapter 1 Analysis

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Write some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter One Chapter one begins with Nick, our narrator, talking about his upbringing. He talks of his strong relationship with his father and how he taught him to reserve judgement about other people, because if he holds them up to his own moral standards, he will misunderstand them. On the first page of the chapter it is clear that the story has already happened, his first paragraph includes words like “When I came back...” and “last autumn...” suggesting events from the past. Also in these first few words we gain an understanding into the ideas he has and a judgement into the past. When he came back he says “...I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention for ever” This suggests that he experienced immoral behaviour and wants change. The beginning of the chapter is structured in a way that Nick jumps from topic to topic, after talking about his upbringing he briefly talks about Gatsby, then goes back to talk about his family and his job before coming back to the present to discuss his current life in the East, before going back to discuss Gatsby’s mansion . One way to consider these ideas of Nick being connected is the fact that Nick craves a strong male role model, first his Father and then Gatsby. Later in the chapter Nick goes to visit his cousin Daisy and her partner Tom for a dinner party. This random party is another way in which Fitzgerald tells the story. All these rich characters go from one social event to another, and by emphasising this, those characters lose credibility and makes them look shallow. This therefore gains more respect from the reader towards Nick and as its being told as if he is the author allows him to get his point looked at and accepted. Although the title of the book is ‘The Great Gatsby’ we only see two real moments of Nick talking about him in the

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