Nick,Carraway:,Both,Narrator,of,The,Great,Gatsby,and,Spokesman,of,the,Author:The country and

　　摘 要：本文旨在分析《了不起的盖茨比》中第一人称叙事者尼克的作用，主要分析他被选为叙事者的原因、向读者传达信息的方式、他作为作者道德观的发言人的作用，从而得出结论：尼克虽为次要人物，却被作者赋予了双重作用。
　　关键词：Nick；narrator；spokesman
　　中图分类号：I106 文献标识码：Ａ　　 文章编号：1005-5312（2012）24-0073-01
　　1.Introduction to The Great Gatsby and Nick Carraway
　　Written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby is considered as one of the great American novels. The Modern Library named it the second best English-language novel of the 20th Century. The story is told by the first-person narrator, Nick Carraway. As a secondary character, he serves as the dual role: both as the first-person narrator and Fitzgerald’s spokesman. The paper aims at analyzing Nick’s function in the novel.
　　2.Reasons of Being Chosen as the First-Person Narrator
　　（1）His Trustworthiness and Reliability
　　When the technique of a first-person narration is employed, what we should pay special attention to is the narrator’s trustworthiness and reliability, because all the information we get depends on the narrator. So we need to ensure the authenticity of the information given by him.
　　His qualification as a narrator is established on the first page of the novel: “I’m inclined to reserve all judgments”. Such a characteristic is mandatory for an observer who must rely to a great extent on other people for information about those events which he himself is unable to witness, because this makes his narration comparatively objective and informative, rather than become his own judgments.
　　Besides, at the end of chapter III, Nick himself has directly mentioned one of his most cardinal virtues: “I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known”. Also indirectly through Jordan, unlike Nick, she is “incurably dishonest”. She has also mentioned that she likes him because she hates careless people. The implication is that Nick is not careless. Therefore, all these prove Nick’s honesty which is also necessary and important for his narration.
　　（2）His Connection with Gatsby, Daisy and Tom
　　The magic power of Nick lies in the fact that he has contact with them all. As the neighbor of Gatsby, he becomes acquainted with him and can conveniently watch what is happening in Gatsby’s house. Meanwhile, as the cousin of Daisy, he gets the chance to bring together Gatsby and Daisy after five-year’s separation, and witnesses Tom’s dating with Mrs. Wilson and his confrontation with Gatsby, and as a result becomes involved in their stories. Hence, he becomes the medium for Gatsby and Daisy and the best choice for narrating the happenings in their life.