The Great Gatsby and Short Story Comparative Analysis Essay
             Certain novels and short stories written between the two world wars express common traits that equate to a story commonly labeled Modern American literature. The authors expressed a need through writing of peace and search for values in an unstable world. By careful examination and comparative analysis of the novel The Great Gatsby and other short stories of the Modern Era, one could find the similarities in point of view, conflict, theme, and setting.
             The role of the narrator and point of view in the aforementioned stories all commonly consist of a first person point of view, and an involved narrator. In The Great Gatsby, the novel's narrator is Nick Carraway. He is a young man who moves to the East to learn the bond business. Honest, tolerant, and inclined to reserve judgment, Nick often becomes a confidant for those with troubling secrets and problems. The Great Gatsby is told entirely through Nick's eyes, and his thoughts and perceptions shape the story. As Nick says, "I'm inclined to reserve all judgments...the abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality"(Fitzgerald 1). In the short story by Catherine Anne Porter, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall, the main character is also the narrator. Granny, as she is affectionately known, is telling the story of the last moments of her life. The author uses the technique of interior monologue, or stream of consciousness. This is a free, rambling thought process by the author to allow one to overhear Granny's thoughts and memories. This process is best exemplified when Granny makes he final goodbyes in her mind, "...and went around making farewell trips to see her grandchildren, with a secret in her mind: This is the very last of your mother, children! Then she made her will and came down with a long fever"(Porter 584). The involved narrator stresses t...