‘The Great Gatsby’ has a real time chronological narrative with flashbacks but from the beginning of ‘Black Water’, there is a huge element of foreshadowing as the reader knows that it is Kelly who dies. The structures of the novels are important because it builds on what has already happened in the opening.
The narrative of ‘The Great Gatsby’ spans over three months, whereas ‘Black Water’ has a subverted narrative in which cuts between the real time of three hours during the build up to the accident and the events that took place earlier in Kelly’s life including the evening she met The Senator. The flashbacks in ‘Black Water’ allow the reader to build up an image of the events surrounding the incident and why she would leave with The Senator in the first place “Kelly Kelleher, baptismal name Elizabeth Anne Kelleher, had written her ninety page senior honour’s thesis on The Senator.” This quote shows that she had an admiration for The Senator even before she met him, and is the reason why she went with him. The narrative also goes beyond her death when the reader sees what The Senator does after escaping; Oates would not have been able to do this if she had written as Kelly.
Nick Carraway is the narrative voice of ‘The Great Gatsby’ and because of this; the reader gets to find out about his life before Gatsby is introduced – “I graduated in New Haven in 1915, just a quarter of century after my father...” The reader also finds out that Nick is a relative of Daisy (Gatsby’s love interest in the novel.) Nick’s narrative voice is objective for the most of the novel, but he is also honest and says that he does not like Gatsby at the beginning of the novel. He is a decent man and this is reflected when he tells Jordan - "Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people I have ever known." He is proved to be trustworthy as Tom doesn’t mind him meeting Myrtle, Tom’s mistress – “‘We’re getting off,’ he insisted. ‘I want you to meet my girl.’”. The narrative voice of ‘Black Water’ is similar but is from the point of view of the female Kelly, so the way she thinks, and the reasons for her actions would be different.
In the opening of ‘The Great Gatsby’ the reader is not given any information on who Gatsby is, and why he is so ‘great’, as the title of the novel would suggest. Nick does not like him at first though he does change his view of him over time, the reader, along with Nick, discover that he is in fact a very amicable man that has been working hard all his life. He is in love with Daisy and his lavish parties are all in the hope that she will attend and give him a chance to win her heart. There is much mystery surrounding Gatsby’s fortune, and though part of it is due to bootlegging, the reader discovers that Gatsby is actually honourable and he dies because of Daisy’s accidental killing of Myrtle - "After Gatsby's death the East was haunted for me like that.” In ‘Black Water’, Kelly’s opinion of The Senator also changes from the beginning of the novel, at first she idolises him but as the novel progresses she realises just how unsettling his presence actually is, but by then it is too late.
Tom Buchanan is the antithesis of Nick and Gatsby, he is Gatsby’s love rival for Daisy and he ‘wins’ her not once, but twice. His house and grounds are an objective correlative for him, his house is grand and ostentatious, and he uses them to show off about the things Gatsby doesn’t have. Nick describes his body as “a body capable of enormous leverage – a cruel body” this shows that Tom is both physically and socially powerful and he uses both to his advantage. “He seems to say, ‘just because I’m stronger and more of a man than you are.’” Tom thinks that he is better than everyone else. The Senator in ‘Black Water’ is very similar. They are both well known and respected (or feared) in society that they seem to get away with things – Tom’s adultery with Myrtle, and in The Senator’s case, murder.
The house and grounds also show how glamorous their lifestyle is in ‘The Great Gatsby’ and the separation of West Egg and East Egg shows that there was still a noticeable difference between the classes – “I lived at West Egg, the less fashionable of the two.” The hired car in ‘Black Water’ is a representation of drowning, there isn’t room to move, and Kelly cannot escape from a moving car, this signifies Kelly’s suffocation as she drowns but also the speed of the car is similar to how Kelly’s meeting with The Senator quickly developed into something far more sinister.
Both novels have significant portrayals of women. In ‘The Great Gatsby’ Daisy is portrayed as weak in the beginning of the novel, and she seems fragile and hurt by Tom’s affair, she is aware of it yet doesn’t say anything about it, she doesn’t confront Tom but she lies about it to stay married to him - “Daisy was not a Catholic, and I was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie.” The reader finds out that she is drawn to wealth and power, which is specifically the reason she is with Tom. Though she may love Gatsby, she leaves him for Tom in a repeat of her actions from years ago, leaving the reader disappointed in her. Jordan is a more positive female character in ‘The Great Gatsby’, she is described as wise by Nick, and though she is sarcastic and cynical she is one of the few characters that remain unchanged throughout the novel. Her relationship with Nick shows that she is caring but she knows when to let things go - “But there was Jordan beside me, who, unlike Daisy, was too wise ever to carry well-forgotten dreams from age to age...” Kelly in ‘Black Water’ is also drawn to power, like Daisy, but young and impressionable - “as with the condom she’d been carrying in her purse for, how long” she is not wise of the world and is far too trusting of The Senator, whereas Daisy has lived with Tom for so long and knows about his affair, yet she is too scared to leave him in the fear of not having as much money and status. The reader learns a lot more about Kelly’s life in ‘Black Water’ than Daisy’s in ‘The Great Gatsby’, allowing them to empathise with her and eventually like her – “Kelly remembered suddenly, when aged sixteen, at that time in her third year at the Bronxville Academy, she had fallen desperately in love with a boy...”
The opening of ‘The Great Gatsby’ points the reader forward by having moments which at the time seem unrelated but are important for later, this can be demonstrated by Myrtle’s phone call to Tom, she would have been a minor character but her death results in Gatsby’s death so she is introduced early on in the novel to illustrate her necessity.
In ‘Black Water’, the opening is used in a slightly different way to point the reader forward, the unusual narrative timeline in which it switches between past and present may seem confusing, but it is representative of the disorientating feeling of drowning, the novel continues on in this way and as it progresses, the reader comes to realise that it is in fact an excellent narrative device.
To conclude it could be said that the role of an opening is ultimately to encourage the reader forward by mentioning and introducing characters that the reader will meet and get to know later. The settings and themes mentioned in an opening will often play an important part in the novel and as the plot progresses the reader may find events from earlier on in a novel will have played a part or engaged the reader to reach the pinnacle of the novel, this is true of both ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Black Water’.