Nick Carraway's Eyes

The story is told by Nick Carraway, Gatsby's neighbor and Daisy's cousin. Nick presents himself as honest and nonjudgmental, but careful readers notice he is deeply attracted to Gatsby's romantic intensity while also benefiting from the wealthy world he claims to critique.

Nick is an unreliable narrator whose judgments shape everything we see. He romanticizes Gatsby while dismissing others, raising the question of whether the novel's famous sympathy for Gatsby is earned or whether Nick — like Gatsby himself — is selling us a beautiful illusion. The entire novel may be one man's attempt to make meaning from a story that has none.