Point of View

The main narrative of the novel is written in third person, past tense. Nick tells the story in a retrospective manner after he himself has already experienced the events of the narrative. However, Nick still tells the story in a sequential manner, and the details he includes usually adhere to his own thoughts, feelings, and knowledge at each given point in the actual events of the narrative. In this way, the novel still maintains its pervading atmosphere of suspense. The novel never defines or clarifies the audience to which Nick is telling the story, and thus the actually telling of the story appears directed, in an abstract way, to the actual reader.

Overall, the novel often rejects the idea of personal perspective as something that is innately reliable, as the narrative maintains a consistent sense of ambiguity, even in the novel’s seemingly conclusive ending...