Great Gatsby Chapter 3

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HOW DOES FITZGERALD TELL THE STORY IN CHAPTER THREE? Following on from the previous chapters where we were introduced to all the main characters, this chapter is structurally separated into two parts. The first focuses on a lavish party thrown by Gatsby and it is here we witness Nick becoming a participant. In the second part of the chapter, we gain a general context of Nick, our intrafictional narrator’s day to day life. As before, Nick remains our retrospective narrator, “reading over what I have written so far” and Fitzgerald continues to present Nick as an outsider, an observer, listening in. Nick often feels to the reader as if he is giving an omniscient account “I watched” and appears lonely “I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes” evoking empathy from the reader. However, Fitzgerald uncharacteristically begins to present Nick in the present tense “The orchestra has arrived” making both Nick and the audience participants at the party. Nick appears to integrate into this society, the one on the surface he despises whilst also remaining an outsider “I was one of the few guests who had actually been trusted” disassociating himself from other people. Furthermore, in this chapter not only do we have the narrative voice of Nick, but Fitzgerald also incorporates the reported speech of other characters namely ‘yawning’ Jordan, but also for the first time, the mysterious Gatsby and it is here that we discover his use of idiolect “Old Sport”. Whilst Nick’s narrative voice is crucial to telling the story of Chapter 3, the use of descriptive language used by Fitzgerald is also an integral part. In contrast to the earlier grey, dusky setting of chapter 2, Fitzgerald uses a considerable amount of figurative language involving colour “the blue garden”, “the yellow twins” all playing to the reader’s senses. Furthermore, Fitzgerald notes that the girls “came and
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