I want to take a moment to talk about Nick’s role as the narrator and question why he chooses not to tell his own story but instead tells us Gatsby’s. It is on p. 135 that he rather abruptly stops the story to tell the reader that it is his birthday. This comes right after the heated argument in the hotel between Gatsby and Tom over Daisy. It’s as though he considers their lives more important than his, and I would like to know why.

An example of this comes in his relationship with Jordan. Throughout the novel, I was curious as to whether or not something romantic was happening between them. They spent a lot of time together with the love triangle (Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom), so it would make sense that they then turned to each other for support. I think I first put two and two together when Nick comments, “I’d  had enough of all of them for one day, and suddenly that included Jordan too” (142). That “Jordan too” made me wonder why Jordan was special enough to get that extra recognition. To my knowledge, Nick only ever confirms their relationship at the end of the novel when he says that was “half in love with her” (177). It seems strange to me for a man to put himself so far on the sidelines when telling his own story. It’s mentioned that he tells this two years after Gatsby’s death (163), so maybe something that time span has something to do with Nick’s narration style? I’m not sure, but I would like to continue talking about his role in the story.