Imagine how different the Harry Potter series be if it was told from Voldemort's perspective. Tremendously different right? It’s all about bias and perspective. In The Great Gatsby, there are many characters that could be used as the narrator but shouldn't. Gatsby would paint Tom in a bad light, Tom would paint Gatsby in a bad light (well certainly he did), and Jordan wasn’t exactly there for the entire story so there would certainly be plot holes. Which leaves Nick as the most fitting character to narrate the story. Fitzgerald uses Nick as the narrator because he is the most neutral character in the novel; the only one that's reliable enough to not twist up the plot but to tell it as it is. He's fairly new to the city, so he's hyper aware
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So this new, rich, extravagant life Nick is revealed to triggers a new sense of emotion and he describes it perfectly. He describes the parties Gatsby throws with colorful detail, because he is impressed and overwhelmed. On the other hand, if it was Gatsby describing it, it'd probably be dull because he has experienced them several times and things tend to get less exciting the more you experience them. Nick describes the party with vivid details such as “a fortnights a corps of caterers came down with several hundred feet of canvas and enough colored lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby's enormous garden.” (39) and “spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold.” (39-40) Which therefore makes Nick the most suitable narrator. He describes the lavish in Gatsby’s mansion thoroughly the same way he describes the party because, compared to Nick’s cottage, Gatsby’s mansion is a whole other dimension to Nick. He describes even the smallest details that an average person would over look, when he's sent the invitation he describes the courier as, “a chauffeur in a uniform of robin blues” (41). Let's be honest no one else in the book would take the time to take note of the color of a mailman's uniform color. Very descriptive
So this new, rich, extravagant life Nick is revealed to triggers a new sense of emotion and he describes it perfectly. He describes the parties Gatsby throws with colorful detail, because he is impressed and overwhelmed. On the other hand, if it was Gatsby describing it, it'd probably be dull because he has experienced them several times and things tend to get less exciting the more you experience them. Nick describes the party with vivid details such as “a fortnights a corps of caterers came down with several hundred feet of canvas and enough colored lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby's enormous garden.” (39) and “spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold.” (39-40) Which therefore makes Nick the most suitable narrator. He describes the lavish in Gatsby’s mansion thoroughly the same way he describes the party because, compared to Nick’s cottage, Gatsby’s mansion is a whole other dimension to Nick. He describes even the smallest details that an average person would over look, when he's sent the invitation he describes the courier as, “a chauffeur in a uniform of robin blues” (41). Let's be honest no one else in the book would take the time to take note of the color of a mailman's uniform color. Very descriptive