The Great Gatsby

Why might Fitzgerald choose to have Jordan narrate the story of Daisy and Gatsby?

In chapter 4, Jordan narrates the story about Daisy and Gatsby. Why might Fitzgerald choose to have Jordan narrate this? Does the narration seem typical of Jordan’s character?

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Fitzgerald uses Jordan's story about Gatsby to contrast what we've already been told.... to show Gatsby from another perspective. Jordan portrays him as a romantic, forced to worship his lover from afar, and although she implies that there was something in Gatsby's background that caused Daisy's parents to oppose their marriage, it is clear that the young Jay Gatsby was a man of unimpeachable virtue. In using this perspective, Fitzgerald draws upon a few centuries of romantic cliché to present Gatsby as the ideal lover: a soldier going off to war, brave and handsome, young and pure.

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The Great Gatsby