The telling of a story heavily relies on the narrator, the information they choose to include or exclude, and the emotions infused into their narration. As a result, the reader often receives a distorted version of the recounted events due to the filtering of information caused by the narrator's personal biases, a theme relevant in both the narrators Nick from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and Irene from Nella Larson’s Passing. Both novels are recounts of encounters with other characters, Gatsby and Clare respectively; the narrator’s unreliability causes them to paint those characters in different lights based on personal beliefs. On the topic of the narrator’s values and consequent unreliability, Fitzgerald’s text reveals how the perspective of the narrator influences the reader’s perception of the surrounding characters, whereas Larson’s text reveals how the narrator’s values can be used to influence those around them.

Through the language and connoted emotions both Nick and Irene use in their narrations, the reader gains an understanding of their personal values, which are the cause for their traditional interpretations of how people around them should act. After the death of Gatsby, who Nick favors over the other upper class characters, Nick can only see New York in a negative way: “I see it as a night scene by El Greco: a hundred houses, at once conventional and grotesque, crouching under a sullen, overhanging sky and a lusterless moon,” (Fitzgerald, 176). Nick references a scene by a Spanish painter, which contains a city shrouded in dark clouds at the top of hills of vibrant greens. He compares this painting to the scene of West Egg, a place filled with people from the upper class, in order to point out the perceived similarities between the two. Painters often use more dull colors to express lifelessness or lack of emotion; in Nick’s comparison, the darkness and lack of color in the city compared to its surroundings reveals how he believes the city to be lifeless, and lacking true meaning. Nick further portrays this idea by describing the scene as the darkness crowding around a shriveled city, words that connote the same theme of lifelessness and unhappiness. From this comparison, Nick conveys his opinion that the industrial city lacks vitality. Nick continues to paint an image of his perception of West Egg for the reader: “In the foreground four solemn men in dress suits are walking along the sidewalk with a stretcher on which lies a drunken woman in a white evening dress. Her hand, which dangles over the side, sparkles cold with jewels. Gravely the men turn in at a house—the wrong house. But no one knows the woman’s name, and no one cares,” (Fitzgerald, 176). Dress suits are commonly worn for business; Nick uses the four men to symbolize America’s capitalistic society, describing them as without joy to portray capitalism as a killer of emotion. In the context of the time period, alcohol was seen as immoral and harmful to society. The woman, who seems to be unconscious from alcohol, symbolizes what Nick believes to be the result of capitalism: the loss of moral values. The imagery of the jewelry, a monetary possession, on the unconscious woman illustrates Nick’s belief that the cost of monetary gain is human life. Through this visual comparison, Nick conveys his negative point of view of capitalism and his disgust with the loss of morals that come with a shallow, capitalist mindset. Similarly, Irene in Passing resents shallowness, and finds value in routine and security. Irene conveys her values through her opinions about the holiday season: “Christmas, with its unreality, its hectic rush, its false gaiety, came and went. Irene was thankful for the confused unrest of the season. Its irksomeness, its crowds, its inane and insincere repetitions of generalities,” (Larson, 100). Irene narrates how she believes Christmas to be a facade, and how she dislikes the temporary happiness of the holidays by connoting negative emotions through her description. Analogous to how Nick is disgusted by the shallow capitalistic understanding of life, Irene is disgusted by the shallowness of the temporary; she believes that in order to be of value, emotions, events, and people need to be permanent. The facade of happiness that she interprets Christmas as contributes to the theme of hatred for meaninglessness in the narrator’s surroundings. Irene then describes holiday greetings as repetitive and without substance. Irene sees Christmas as a temporary happiness that comes and goes, and thus sees no value in engaging in the festive conversations with other people. Both the narrators of The Great Gatsby and of Passing share a hatred for shallowness due to their values of honesty and security respectively; both narrators consequently apply their values to those around them.

While Nick’s values and point of view skews the reader’s sympathies regarding the people around him, Irene’s beliefs cause her to actively control others. The point of view of both narrators through the lens of their personal values lead to their expectations of those around them to be more traditional, which distorts the narrative based on the narrator’s opinions. At the very beginning of the novel, Nick introduces Gatsby as a contradictory exception to his disgust for the upper class, despite Gatsby also being a symbol of wealth and status: “No—Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men,” (Fitzgerald, 2). Nick uses zoomorphism to frame the other characters from the upper class as animalistic, as if they are predators. Despite Nick’s conveyed hatred for the upper class, Nick presents Gatsby as above them, arguing that Gatsby is different from the moral-less rich. Nick, who despises the shallow wants and actions of the rich, thinks more highly of Gatsby because of his determination. Nick holds a traditional interpretation of the American Dream, one where hard work and perseverance are key values, causing him to see Gatsby as the embodiment of the American Dream. Nick’s moral compass thus causes him to skew the reader’s sympathy towards Gatsby, who he thinks reflects this traditional value of hard work. In the same way, Irene’s personal values also cause her to have a traditional interpretation of her role as a woman. Clare, who visits Irene without notice, wishes to reconnect with her black heritage through Irene. In a discussion about the dangerous situation that Clare would be in by associating with other black people while passing as white, Irene brings up their role as mothers and its implications on Clare’s safety: “We mothers are all responsible for the security and happiness of our children. Think what it would mean to your Margery if Mr. Bellew should find out. You’d probably lose her,” (Larson, 69). Irene’s value of security and permanence lead to her strict interpretation of their roles as mothers; she believes in a more traditional purpose of motherhood, putting her children before herself, an idea that contradicts Clare’s value for her own happiness. In order to convince Clare to act in line with Irene’s own beliefs, Irene uses inclusive pronouns, which create a sense of a collective purpose. She then uses second person pronouns to direct the argument more persuasively at Clare. Irene continues to dissuade Clare of her risky desire to reconnect with the black community and its possible consequences on her daughter: “She’d never forgive you. You may be used to risks, but this one you mustn’t take, Clare. It’s a selfish whim, an unnecessary and—” (Larson, 69). Irene continues to try to sway the thoughts of Clare by using negative adjectives to describe a possible outcome of her actions. She further argues that Clare’s wish to reconnect is not thought out carefully, which reflects her own hatred for shallow understandings. Similar to Nick’s influence on the reader by characterizing Gatsby as the prey in a world of moral-less predators, Irene influences Clare by applying her belief in security over happiness to Clare’s situation.

Studying the root of the unreliability of the narrators Nick and Irene reveal the underlying theme of personal values and how they shape the narrator’s perspective. Through the narrations of Nick and Irene, the reader gains an understanding of their character, due to the non-severable connection between the narrator’s opinions and the narrative itself. Ultimately, the idea of a completely impartial narrator is seen to be virtually impossible, as the point of view from which the narrator tells the story is built on their biases and personal experiences.