The importance of Nick Carraway as a narrator of the Great Gatsby In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald criticizes the disillusionment of the American dream by contrasting the corruption of those who adopt a style of superficial life with the honesty of Nick Carraway. As Carraway becomes familiar with the lives of Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Jay Gatsby, he realizes the false seductiveness of the New York lifestyle and regains respect for the Midwest he left behind. “Fitzgerald needs an objective narrator to convey and demonstrate this criticism, and he uses Carraway not only as a point-of-view character, but also as a counterexample to the immorality and dishonesty that Carraway finds in New York” (Bewley 31). Fitzgerald must construct this narrator as reliable. Due to the nature of the novel, the reader would not believe the story if it were told from the point of view of any other character. Fitzgerald cannot expect the reader to believe what immoral and negligent characters have to say, and spends so much time establishing them as such. Therefore, Carraway is considered the narrator and the reader trusts him. Being the practical character of the novel, Carraway is not reckless; he is not influenced by greed and alcohol as some other members of East and West Egg society are. He proclaims, “I have only been drunk twice in my life” (Fitzgerald 33). Fitzgerald constructs Carraway as a follower, not a man of action. He watches Gatsby's parties, but never fully experiences them. Watch the moment before the kiss between the starlet and her director, though Fitzgerald never describes the physicality of her relationship with Baker. He observes the relationship between Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson, but never addresses Tom Buchanan, nor does he use...... half a newspaper ......y to tell the story, but also to criticize the mass disillusionment with the dream American. Carraway's honesty makes him ideal to represent everything the Buchanans lack and legitimizes his admiration for Gatsby. No reader would consider the full impact of Fitzgerald's themes if less attention had been paid to the creation and execution of Carraway's character. Works cited and consulted: Bewley, Marius. "Scott Fitzgerald's Critique of America." Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1983. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992.Hobsbawm, Eric. The era of extremes. New York: Pantheon, 1994. Raleigh, John Henry. “The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.” Trillo 99-103.Trillo, Lionel. “F. Scott Fitzgerald.” Critical essays on Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby". Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: Hall, 1984. 13-20.