Who narrates The Great Gatsby and what type of narration is used?

The story of The Great Gatsby is narrated by Nick Carraway. Nick is a native of the midwestern United States who moves to West Egg, a suburb of New York City, to pursue employment in "the bond business." He finds housing in a small nondescript house located next door to an enormous mansion, which he comes to learn is the residence of Jay Gatsby.

When Nick moves East, he becomes reacquainted with his younger cousin Daisy, who is wealthy but unhappy in her marriage to Tom Buchanan. Nick meets Daisy's friend Jordan Baker, who becomes the intermediary in reuniting Daisy and Gatsby. 

Nick strives to stay objective in his telling of encounters with numerous superficial persons and relationships, as well as some volatile but ultimately doomed partnerships.

What is the narration style in The Great Gatsby?

In The Great Gatsby, we have a(n):

Unreliable narrator: Nick claims to follow his father's advice and be impartial, but he is clearly in Gatsby's corner throughout.  He falls for Gatsby's dreams and ignores his shady past.  Nick even hosts the date with Daisy, and he is the only one who attends his funeral.  As such, we see Gatsby as the hero through Nick's eyes.

Highly ornate literary style: Nick narrates using much color imagery, socio-economic and moral symbolism, and direct and indirect characterization.  Really, this is Fitzgerald's voice coming through Nick.  This style stands in sharp contrast to the minimalistic and understated style a Hemingway speaker, for example, would narrate the story.

Observer-Participant Narrative Style: Nick is primarily an observer and critic of human action.  He is rarely the main character in his own narrative.  He is a fly-on-the-wall, a guest at the the parties, not the host or festive party-goer.  Although not detached, Nick certainly distances himself from the established rich like the Buchanans.

Flashback / Memory Tale: Remember, Nick is narrating the entire novel from his home in the Midwest after Gatsby's death.  Nick bases the whole narration on memory and the passage of time.  Just as Gatsby tried to recreate the past with Daisy, so too does Nick try to recreate the past through Gatsby.

Middle-West and Middle-Class Slant: Nick, like Fitzgerald, is from the heartland, and he is critical of the Easter rich.  He calls them "careless."  So, his socio-economic values are of the middle-class and from the Midwest: certainly more modest than the outspoken New Yorkers.

Who is the narrator in The Great Gatsby?

The narrator in this story is a man named Nick Carraway.  He is from a pretty well off family that lives somewhere in the Midwest.  He is related to Daisy Buchanan, who is one of the major characters in the story.

He is able to function as narrator because he ends up living right next door to Gatsby.  Because of that, he meets Gatsby and can narrate about him.  Because he is related to Daisy, he meets her husband and Jordan Baker and the Wilsons and can talk about them.

He functions as a first person narrator, which gives us insight into his attitudes and feelings about the other characters.