Narrative
Narrative, like symbolism, is a word that English teachers love and yet again students wonder how it applies to their everyday life. This is a little bit easier to understand than symbolism because every time you are telling a story, you are narrating it in the first person point of view you are using “I” or “me”. Along with first person point of view narration, there is also third person point of view which is where the narrator is NOT a character from the story and the narration be can rather be omniscient (all knowing) or limited (restricted to one characters thoughts, feelings, outlooks, etc). This type of narrative is not used as much in speaking but is used a lot in writing. For example, if you were to go read the Harry Potter series, you would experience third person limited for the series follows Harry yet it does not use the words “I” or “me” in the narration. Every time you tell a story, you are using narrative therefore, not being able to understand narrative would mean you wouldn’t be able to tell stories or talk to your friends.
The video below summerizes the last two major scenes (Myrtle's murder and Gatsby's death) from the point of view of Nick. As you watch it, imagine how the events might differ if the story was told by another character in the story or even a third person narrative.
This short film, like many sources will tell you that George Wilson murdered Gatsby because he believes that Gatsby was the one who not only killed Myrtle but also the one who was having an affair with her. However, one line from the story leaves the reader wondering if George really did in fact pull the trigger.
"The chauffeur-he was one of Wolfsheim's proteges-heard the shots-afterward he could only say that he hadn't thought anything much about them" (Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby chapter 8).
Anyone who has read the book knows that Wolfsheim was Gatsby's boss when it came to Gatsby's affairs with organized crime and bootlegging. Therefore, you can safely assume that Wolfsheim would train his proteges to react when they hear gun shots, not act as thought they do not matter. So why would he say that the gunshots meant nothing? Also, throughout the book the reader begins to realize that Wolfsheim is not to happy with Gatsby for spending so much time trying to earn Daisy's love back when he should be working for him. That gives the chauffeur motive to kill Gatsby especially if he was ordered to by Wolfsheim.
Imagine if this story was told from the point of view of George. Maybe George went to go confront Gatsby about killing Myrtle and the chauffer saw it as an oppurtunity to place the blame of Gatsby's murder on someoe else because as you know Gatsby did not have many friends. This is a case where depending on the point of view the events could change.