#GREAT GATSBY NARRATOR SERIES#

Too often the kick ass heroine narrator seems to sow an author that isnвЂ™t aware that the the story is a reflection of their own fantasies. ItвЂ™s ultimately the self awareness of the author that is reflected in first person narration. Some others lie to hide their own actions from themselves. Some narrators are blind to their own selfishness. All of us construct our story around ourselves in the way that best serves our self interests and prejudices. What is often called the вЂunreliable narratorвЂ™ isnвЂ™t a occasionally used tool of first person narrative. Not just through what they say, but through what they leave unsaid and through what they downright lie about.

#GREAT GATSBY NARRATOR SERIES#

So we end up with repetitive, flat narration that does nothing more than lay out a series of events, but completely misses the real beauty of first person narrative, which is the opportunity it gives the writer to show us the character of the narrator. ItвЂ™s not essential that we are told any of this directly, but it is essential that the author knows otherwise the narration loses its depth and colour. They donвЂ™t tell us where or when the story is being told from, again because they donвЂ™t know.

The author doesnвЂ™t tell us, directly or indirectly, why the story is being told, often because they havenвЂ™t thought this through themselves. But then things start to get problematic. We do usually know who the narrator isвЂ¦a kick ass female heroine on a mission with a thing for wereleopards more often than not. Unfortunately in lots of fiction, with a particular culprit being the current crop of urban fantasy writing, these questions remain largely unanswered. These are the questions that Fitzgerald answers so intelligently in The Great Gatsby. Who is the narrator? Why are they telling this story, and why now? Where and when are they telling the story from? After the action? In the action? I could go on. I talk about some of those questions in my workshop on Narrative, but will recap them here for this context. Hence much of what is relevant to first person is also relevant to third.Д«ut because in first person the presence of вЂIвЂ™ on the page makes us very aware of the narrator, its becomes all the more important to answer some questions about that narrator. Wood also points out that while first and third person might seem quite different, they both lead to telling the story. We can also tell it in second person, but itвЂ™s rarely done its simply an unnatural way to tell a story. We can tell a story in first person or third person. In How Fiction Works critic James Wood says that вЂThe house of fiction has many windows, but only two or three doors.вЂ™ By which he means narrative points of view. Fitzgerald and Easton Ellis both read as fresh and remarkable voices not so much because they were unique in their time, as because they handle the techniques they are employing with such mastery that they stand out at any time. Unlike style in film or other narrative forms which change year by year, quickly dating older media, prose only dates at the speed that the language around it changes.

The Great Gatsby was first published in 1925 but would not seem dated if read alongside Brett Easton EllisвЂ™ Less Than Zero published in 1985, a novel it bears many striking similarities to. Scott Fitzgerald writes, and in particular how well he writes first person narrative. If youвЂ™ve picked up some corrupted ideas about 1st person narration from bad urban fantasy writing, The Great Gatsby is a good The Great Gatsby today, IвЂ™ve been struck by how well F.

Great gatsby narrator