《了不起的盖茨比》的叙事风格

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《了不起的盖茨比》的叙事风格

作者：李洁

来源：《校园英语·下旬》2017年第06期

The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald manifests the various themes of the American

Dream and moral values by using the special narrative style. In this essay， I will argue that the first-

person narrative style employed in 'The Great Gatsby' strengthens the narrator's idolization of Jay

Gatsby， is central to the individual's perspective which is portrayed by Nick Carraway of the

American Dream and its disillusionment， and is a useful device to build up suspense and irony.

The first-person narrative is a narrative style that modernist works of literature typically employ

to highlight subjective experiences， Nick is flawed， following the emergence of Freudian

psychoanalytical theories in the early twentieth century. The use of 'I'， a first person pronoun， is

indicative of the first-person narrative technique that lends a limited perspective to the story about its

eponymous protagonist and lay the full text of an subjective tone. It also makes Nick an unreliable

narrator， as his perspective is only one perspective and cannot be completely trusted as it is biased.

“For Nick sometimes sees only part of a meaning that a scene carries， sometimes shifts ground

perplexingly， and sometimes even strains ‘judgments’ out of inconclusive evidence.”（Cartwright，

1984） “Nick suspends disbelief and enters Gatsby’s world， accepting his terms of discourse.”

（Hochman， 2010） “And it was from Cord that he inherited money.”（p.97） Nick glossed over

Gatsby's shady dealings as a businessman. That’s why Nick is unrealible.

This kind of first-person limited perspective can be helpful to combine the content with form

perfectly and give us a fresh feeling. By what Nick saw， heard and thought， the novel signifies the

luxurious， decadent and indulgent lifestyle at that time and readers have more intuitive feelings

about the disillusionment theme of the American Dream. “I began to like New York”（p.57）“That’s

my Middle West.”（p.167）We can see Nick's optimism at the start， which changes to a deep

pessimism for the American Dream. He finds out that it is a lie and that society is destroyed by it.

'Green light' is the symbolic of the American Dream and is a illusion.“The theme of Gatsby is the

withering of the American dream. The Great Gatsby is an exploration of the American dream as it

exists in a corrupt period， and it is an attempt to determine that concealed boundary that divides the

reality from the illusions.”（Brewley，1954）

Not only is Nick the narrator， but also he is the witness of the tragedy and one of the

protagonists. This narrative mode narrows the distance between the narrator and the story， “distance

between the narrator's perception and the reader's perception.”（Boyle， 1969） in other words， the

story based on his personal experience makes the fictionality of the story reduce to a minimum， the

story showed the greatest degree of authenticity and credibility although his is unreliable narrator.

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There are four ways to narrate the story， one is Nick himself describes his own personal

experiences with Gatsby. Nick is Gatsby’s neighbor， Daisy’s cousin and Tom’s classmate in the

university. So he can get some information about Gatsby and witness some dramatic scenes， such as

Gatsby’s behavior and manner of speaking， the lavish party， Gatsby’s appointment with Daisy，

Gatsby’s quarrel with Tom. As a witness and a protagonist， Nick can observe Gatsby from a

distance， listen to others’ gossip and speculation about the identity of the Gatsby in the party.

Nick witnessed the sad scene after Gatsby’s death that form a strong and sharp contrast between

the lifetime of glitz and death. It deepens the tragic effect of the novel and strengthen the theme. Nick

discloses the story of Gatsby to more degree， besides Nick tells his experiences without too much

modification. Nick broadly understood some details in this way. Nick was invited to join in the grand

party so that he witnessed the luxury and depravity in the society， he gradually knew Gatsby’s

characteristics. He was forced to visit Tom’s lover Mrytle. He was brought by Gatsby to visit friend

Wolfshiem who told Nick about the sources of his wealth.

The second one is others provide the information about Gatsby for Nick. Nick is not the God，

he has not the omniscient perspective， he just a narrator， he cannot know about anything. In order

to develop the plot， Nick gives way to the other characters， other persons’ descriptions are required

to make up for gaps in the narrative process. “Nick repeatedly listens to stories， stories told by

Daisy， Gatsby， Jordan， Myrtle. Presented not merely as writer and storyteller， but also as a

recipient of other people’s stories.”（Hochman，2010）When the affair between Gatsby and

Daisy， the sub-character Jordan Baker helped a lot. In chapter 4， “One October day in nineteen-

seventeen （said Jordan Baker that afternoon， sitting up very straight on the straight chair in the tea-

garden at the Plaza Hotel） I was walking along from one place to another.”（p.72） From here，

the perspective has transformed to Jordan at this moment. She started to narrate the story instead of

Nick. Readers get information indirectly by her and know Gatsby has connection with Daisy. Another

example is about the past of the Gatsby. Nick knew nothing about the experience of Gatsby， so he

only showed to the readers the rumours and gossips through the party guests and others such as

Wolfshiem Gatsby himself， Jordan and Mr. Gatz. Gatsby said “I am the son of some wealthy people

in the Middle West all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford. My family all

died and I came into a good deal of money.”（p.64） Wolfshiem said “He’s an oggsford man. I made

the pleasure of his acquaintance just after the war. ”（p.70） Although these materials have certain

limitations such as lack of reliability. However， it gave necessary complement to the narration， but

also to show ambiguity in the fusion of reality and fantasy.

The third one is that Nick sometimes with his own imagination made up the plot that is logical

and can be combined with his narration to show the theme. The most typical example is that Wilson

went to Gatsby's villa to revenge for his wife. “Now I want to go back a little and tell what happened

at the garage after we left there the I have an idea that Gatsby himself didn’t believe it

would come， and perhaps he no longer cared.” （p.153） Nick himself did not witness some events

that are no circumstantial evidences but are extremely important to the plot. He fully showed his

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imagination. Through his hypothesis， reasoning， organization and artistic process， it makes the

event believable even if the event did not occurred. As a method of narrative， it is undoubtedly rich

layering works and adds a certain artistic charm.

The fourth one is Nick is not the only narrator in the story； the novel also uses a limited

omniscient narrator to comment on the emotional and physical landscape， for instance in the

introduction to the 'Valley of Ashes'. “This is a valley of ashes-a fantastic farm where ashes grow like

wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque garden”（p.26）This omniscient narrator supplements

Nick's narration， because it reminds the readers of the presence of God （signified to the eyes of Dr

T.J. Eckleburg） watching these characters even as they abandon their belief in Him. Characters are

both nihilistic and narcissistic， serving themselves and their desires and ignorant of a high moral

presence. There are many descriptions from Nick's point-of-view that disclose their reckless

behaviour， constant partying， and escaping reality and thus forsaking God， such as “A suggestion

that she had moved heer ball from a bad lie in the semi-final round. The thing approached the

proportion of a scandal.”（p.58）

Nick used flashback narrative retell the story， and then in the sequence of Nick’s understanding

of the events. In a retrospective way， Nick recalled the whole story when he went back to “the

Middle West”.

Irony is a specific way to show the narrative style. First of all， the irony of the title make

readers pay more attention to the theme of the moral values and the social class. The title is “the Great

Gatsby”. We can know that Gatsby’s wrong pursuit of life caused the tragedy of his life from the

novel. He died and the American Dream shattered at last. He was not a hero， but the title used

“great” show the contrasts and contradictions. People regarded the new rich represented by the

fashionable Gatsby on West Egg and the old rich represented by Tom and Daisy Buchanan on East

Egg in a different way. It is ironic that the wealth of the Buchanans do not bring them satisfaction and

instead destroys society. Myrtle is “Tom’s mistress.”（p.27）George and Myrtle Wilson are symbolic

of the lives destroyed by the old rich. Gatsby didn’t realize the true role played by wealth in reality.

Even though he had more wealth， he was regarded as inferior upstart by the hereditary wealthy. The

money he received only caused people’s suspicions and jealousy.

Secondly， the evidence of irony is that Gatsby pursued his ideal love in his whole life. Gatsby

enthusiastically chased Daisy， his “golden girl”. The reason why he was infatuated with Daisy is she

had a wealthy life， good family background and social status. Daisy is an ideal symbol of wealth and

desire. What Gatsby want to get actually is wealth and status. He saw Daisy as the representative of

upper nobility and virtue and naively believed that pure love between himself and Daisy would bring

him true happiness. But he didn’t know both wealth and status are illusory， not real things. Daisy is

superficial and no sense of responsibility. The bourgeois people such as Daisy are money-oriented，

vulgar and no basic moral dignity and humanity. So he was destined to be abandoned by Daisy who

represented money.

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Thirdlyl， the comparison between the peacefulness of the social scene and the emptiness and

disillusionment of the spiritual truth （the American Dream） reveals the irony. On the one hand，

there were high-rise buildings， big parties， and widespread automobile due to the rapid economic

development. On the other hand， rampant bootlegger selling and crime behind the glitz caused faith

of life and ethics destruction， social corruption and moral depravity. The Valley of the Ashes and the

billboard are the specific imagery of constrast. “The image here draws not only on the technology of

the automobile but slso on consumer culture， on advertising.”（Tredell， 2007）Gatsby completely

struggled from the bottom of society on his own， and through his hard work， he got great success

in the property. It reveals the deception the the American Dream that the bourgeoisie advocated

everyone has the equal opportunity whatever rich or poor. Because he didn’t get recognition.

The suspense about Gatsby’s identity arouse reader’s curiosity to search for Gatsby’s inner

motivation. By setting the suspense， author advanced the course of the story. By narration of

Gatsby， Jordan， Nick， Wolfshiem and Gatz， we knew the true image of his identity. About the

death of Gatsby， author carefully created a mysterious and exciting atmosphere， attracted great

interesting of both readers and other characters in the novel， effectively control the readers

enthusiasm. The build-up of suspense is evident when readers know that Gatsby did not murder

Myrtle. At the end of the novel， Nick told the truth and said “They were careless people， Tom and

Daisy-they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast

carelessness， or whatever it was that kept them together， and let other people clean up the mess

they had make ”（p.170）The use of both irony and suspense is associated with the work that the

reader has to do to understand the novel's theme， especially the deception of the American Dream.

In my essay， I argue that the narrative style in the novel is revealed through 3 ways； the first-

person narrative perspective（sometimes omniscient perspective）， irony and suspense in order to

reveal the themes of the American Dream and its disillusionment.

References：

[1]Fitzgerald F.S.（1986），The Great Britain，England： Penguine Books Ltd.

[2]Brewley，M.‘Scott Fitzgerald’s Criticism of America’.The Sewanee Review，1954.

[3]Boyle，Thomas E.‘Unreliable Narration in ‘The Great Gatsby’.The Bulletin of the[4]Rocky

Mountain Modern Language Association，Vol.23，No.1（Mar 1969），pp.21- 26.

[5]Cartwright，Kent.‘Nick Carraway as an Unreliable Narrator’.Papers on Language and

Literature 20.2（Spring 1984）：pp.218-232.

[6]Hochman，B.‘Disembodied Voices and Narrating Bodies in The Great Gatsby’，in Bloom's

Modern Critical Interpretations，2010.

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[7]Tredell，N.（2007），Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby： A Reader’s Guide，London，

England： Continuum.