《了不起的蓋茨比》敘事藝術(shù)探析

1、畢業(yè)設(shè)計(jì)（論文）2006 屆題 目 on the narrative art of the great gatsby了不起的蓋茨比敘事藝術(shù)探析專 業(yè) 英 語(yǔ)學(xué)生姓名 朱 平學(xué) 號(hào) 0233315指導(dǎo)教師 4950論文字?jǐn)?shù)contentsabstract3摘要31. introduction42. the dramatic narrators 53. the placement of suspense63.1. the identification of gatsby 732 the death of gatsby74. the poetic language741 symbolism 8sel

2、ection of the words135. the role of narrative time 136. conclusion 15bibliography16abstractthe famous novel the great gatsby is written by e scott fitzgerald, which enjoys an outstanding position in the history of american literature the novel outwardly relates a tragic love story, however, inwardly

3、 reveals the discrepancy between ideal and reality and the subsequent, unavoidable disillusionment of american dream. the great gatsby is regarded as the best and mature novel in ideological level and artistic technique. this essay makes an analytical study of the unique artistic achievement of the

4、novel in four aspects as follows: the dramatic narrators, the placement of suspense, the poetic language, and the role of time.keywords: the great gatsby; narrator, suspense, language, narrative time;摘要了不起的蓋茨比是美國(guó)著名作家菲茲杰拉德的不朽名篇,也是美國(guó)小說(shuō) 史上的一部精品力作，被公認(rèn)是其思想和藝術(shù)技巧最成熟的作品。小說(shuō)了不起 的蓋茨比表面上講述了一個(gè)悲劇的愛(ài)情故事，實(shí)則揭示了理想與現(xiàn)實(shí)z

5、間的差 距及其沖突導(dǎo)致美國(guó)夢(mèng)幻滅的必然性。本文試圖從戲劇化的敘述者，懸念的設(shè)置， 詩(shī)化的敘事語(yǔ)言和敘事吋間等四個(gè)層面，探討和挖掘這部作詁獨(dú)特的藝術(shù)成就。關(guān)鍵詞:了不起的蓋茨比；敘事者；懸念；敘事語(yǔ)言;敘事時(shí)間on the narrative art of the great gatsby1. introductionthe great gatsby is set in the "roaring twenties as it takes place in the summer of 1922 it is the height of the jazz age as society is

6、dissolves into the great depression. the detail on art world in the novel profoundly reveals the hollowness of the american worship of riches and the unending american dreams of love, splendor and gratified desires. it is a symbol for an age. on the art form, it characterizes clarity, imposing and p

7、roficient and still enjoys high reputation about it now.the writer f. scott fitzgerald was born in st. paul, minnesota. his family was considered socially prominent and genteelly poor. with the financial aid of relatives he was sent to prep school and to princeton. in 1917, in his senior year, he le

8、ft princeton to serve in world war i. in alabama, where he was sent for military training, he fell hopelessly in love with zelda sayre, an embodiment of his romantic notions of a southern belle. discharged from the army in 1919,fitzgrald was determined to win success, fame, and zelda. he took a job

9、with an advertising agency and worked on short stories and a novel at night. eventually his first novel, this side of paradise, was accepted for publication. the book appeared in march 1920. a week later fitzgerald and zelda were married.in 1922 he publish his second novel, the beautiful and damned,

10、 and a collection of short stories, tales of the jazz age. in 1923 he wrote a satirical play, the vegetable. o r, from postman to president. it was a critical and financial failure, and to maintain his extravagant lifestyle, fitzgerald was forced to grind out short stories rapidly for money, which h

11、e squandered just as rapidly. in 1925 fitzgerald managed to complete the great gatsby. it was a critical success but a commercial disappointment; it sold only about half as many copies as either of his first two novels, and it earned little more than enough to repay his debts to his publishers. over

12、 the next two years fitzgerald wrote little. in desperation he went to hollywood, in 1927, for his first period of screen writing, an occupation that was to sustain him for much of his remaining life. in 1934 tender is the night was published. in december 21，1944 he died. his last novel, the last ty

13、coon, remained unfinished.the great gatsby is a story about american dreams. nick carraway, a young man from the middle west of america, leaves home to east for live. during his adrift life, he knows the fiction protagonist gatsby and eyes the whole process of gatsbys tragedy. nick uses a special na

14、rrative form to describe a story of this poor mid-westerner jay gatsby. the young gatsby loves daisy who has married tom buchanan, a brutal man, for his various criminal activities, including bootlegging. drawn by his wealth and his devotion, daisy becomes his mistress. when as a hit-and-run driver

15、she kills myrtle, wife of a garage man and tonf s mistress. gatsby tries to protect her. he is shot when tom in a fit of jealousy betrays him falsely to myrtle's husband. at his death, all of his so-called friends abandon him.in this novel, fitzgerald gets the context and form to connect perfect

16、ly. through using the new and unique narrative techniques, the author creates dramatic effects to strengthen the specific artistic charm and highlight the novefs concept content. all these things appear fully the author's effort for the development of traditional narrative techniques.2. the dram

17、atic narrators"dramatic narrators is "to make narrators dramatic and let them to be vivid characters like the people mentioned in the story”. the novel, the great gatsby can be best described as a naixation of a series of events as viewed through the eyes of an important central figure, ni

18、ck carraway, around whom a story takes fomu nick is the representative of the narrators- the title of the novel is the great gatsby, but it tells two stories: one story is about nick，and the other is about gatsby. the latter is the main body. nick is the narrator of a story, however, he also takes p

19、art in the story he is narrating.fitzgerald gets rid of traditional narration, but to choose nick as the main narrator, because nick has unusual identity. nick lives in the west egg district oflong island, next door to gatsby. nick is also daisy's cousin, which enables him to observe and assist

20、the resurgent love affair between daisy and gatsby. as a result of relationship to these two characters, nick is the perfect choice to narrate the novel, which functions as a personal memoir of his experiences with gatsby in the summer of 1922.nick is fit for narrating the great gatsby also because

21、of his temperament. as he tells the reader in chapter 1 that he is tolerant, opeinded, quiet, and a good listener, and, as a result, others tend to talk to him and treat him as a confidant. nick generally assumes a secondary role throughout the novel, preferring to describe and comment on events rat

22、her than dominate the action. often, however, he functions as fitzgerald's voice, as in his extended meditation on time and the american dream at the end of chapter 9.through physical and emotional observations through nick, we are allowed a general feel of each character. a greater depth is add

23、ed to each personality as the reader distinguishes between the moral standard nick holds and the morality of those around him. the duality of nick's role in the novel is thus a clear indication of the importance he holds in the progress of the story.3 the placement of suspensesuspense is common

24、factor in detective novels. it is used to push the process of novels and strengthen the nervous feeling of the readers. the narrators should do their best to take the readersattractions, and to rise readersinteresting. of course, narrators should have enough tactics to make the novel fulfill readers

25、expectation, while the result out of it. therefore novelists always use suspense to push the process of a story. in the great gatsby, fitzgerald places two suspense: one is the identity of gatsby, and the other is the death of gatsby.3.1. the identiflcation of gatsbythe great gatsby has 9 charters,

26、however, till the third chapter the center character gatsby is present in his luxurious feast. at the very beginning, the readers can only stand far away to examine gatsby and know little about him, only through other characters? talks: gatsby lives in the west egg of long island, extremely rich, an

27、d always holds feasts. that is that. nobody knows clearly about gatsby's identity and his background. surrounding gatsby, fitzgerald makes a mysterious environment, which raises both the charactersand readers5 great interests. fitzgerald controls the readers9 enthusiasm of reading. after several

28、 times review of gatsby's past, the identity of gatsby is shown, and we know him gradually.32 the death of gatsbythe seventh chapter tells that mrs. wilson is struck by a car. a pale well-dressed negro tells that it is a big yellow car, going faster than forty. tom knows whose car it is and expl

29、ains to mr. wilson: “that yellow car i was driving this afternoon wasn't mine-do you here? i haven't seen it all afternoon (fitzgerald 2003:188). the narration about this traffic accident finishes. later, we know that a shoot happens at 4 o,clock in the afternoon the next day, and gatsby is

30、killed in the pool in his own house, at the same time, mr. wilsorts body is a little way off in the grass.how does gatsby die? why does mr. wilsorfs body appear in the grass nearby? if mr. wilson kills gatsby, how does he know gatsby is the owner of the big yellow car and how does he know the adulte

31、ry of gatsby and mrs. wilson? these plots are unknown to both nick and readers. this suspense is shown through nick's memory after two years the poetic languagethe charm of narration not only depends on the narrators and the placement of suspense, but also depends on writers9 ability of controll

32、ing the language. as a successful novelist in 1920s, fitzgerald uses a lot of traditional tactics. he uses symbolism to build a dreamlike world fitzgerald is so creative and imaginative that he can be skillful enough to use symbols to reveal the theme of this novel and the fate of the characters. he

33、 puts symbols in great harmony with the theme, which efficiently conveys his own attitudes and feelings. whats more, the symbolic meanings of those images doift affect the vividness of the images themselves. on the contrary, the author suggests his feelings or ideas to the readers by using objects.

34、on the right way, symbols function a lot as means of representing figures, conveying feelings and making the theme stand out. from the vivid words, we should appreciate fitzgerald ability on using the words.4.1. symbolisms"symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent ab

35、stract ideas or concepts9'. (brian phillips 2003:39) symbolism is what makes a story complete. in the great gatsby, f. scott fitzgerald cleverly uses symbolism anything in the novel can be taken as a symbol- for example, the colors white, yellow, blue and green are used through the book. colors

36、can accentuate the meaning of a story and explain certain actions of a characte匸 in the great gatsby. f. scott fitzgerald applies many important colors that elude the personality of his characters. the colors given are repeated multiple times so that they can be established. to fully understand the

37、characters of the story, one must recognize the associated colors that are given. besides, the moth, east and west egg also have their symbolic meanings.one color that was used frequently is white. the first time nick meets his cousin daisy at tom，s and daisy's home, at that time daisy was dress

38、ed totally in white so as the house and its furnishings are also turned in light shades. this fact might be interpreted as beauty, cleanliness, wealth, and innocence. daisys color is white, and she wears white dresses and recalls her “white girlhood " and this use of color helps her to characte

39、rize her as the unattainable "enchanted princess" who becomes personified as gatsbys dream. the use of white in reference to daisy，s wardrobe also symbolizes her laziness and uselessness within the story. she is completely devoid of knowledge of the outside world. when she is taken into ga

40、tsby's home for a tour, sheis shown gatsby's beautiful imported shirts. daisy begins to cry, saying that these shirts are so beautiful but what she is really expressing is her envy and jealous of gatsby's new riches and all of his elaborate material possessions.another symbolic color is

41、yellow. yellow stands out as symbol of corruption and decay. materialism has corrupted the citizens of east and west egg because they center everything on money when gatsby entertains this wealthy class, the orchestra plays yellow" cocktail music even gatsby believes that he can win daisy back

42、with his money, thus he is described as wearing caramel-colored suit” when he lies about his past to nick. the color yellow was used most frequently when there was a death. one of the first things that fitzgerald wrote about when myrtle died was when they laid her on a table in the garage. he wrote&

43、quot; the garage, which was lit only by a yellow light in a swimming wire basket overhead(fitzgerald 2003:185). wilson her husband was in a dazed state, and kept referring to his car only as "the yellow car” “ that big yellow car" that car led to gatsby's demise. just before gatsby was

44、 shot by wilson, gatsby decided he was going to take a swim in his pool he had not used it all summer. the chauffeur helped gatsby fill up a mattress he was going to use in the pool. "gatsby shouldered the mattress and started for the pool. once he stopped and shifted it a little, and the chauf

45、feur asked him if he needed help, but he shook his head and in a moment disappeared among the yellowing tress."(fitzgerald 2003: 216) perhaps it is another sign of his demise.in the great gatsby, the author uses blue symbolizing melancholy and calmness in order to make a contrast with the yello

46、w symbolizing the state of clamo匚 all of this manifests the author's critical attitude to the contemporary tendency - ostentation, pursuit for material enjoyment and money worship. first, in the valley of ashes, there is an advertisement board of great size on which paints the blue and gigantic

47、eyes of doctor t. j. ecklburge in many days under sun and rain, this pair of eyes is dimmed and seems to be tearing, looking at the valley of ashes and also the people there. the symbolized meaning of the blue eyes was not revealed until the eighth chapte匚 when george wilson talked to michaelis abou

48、t his wife's disloyalty to him, he said, "she might fool me but she couldn't fool god/xfitzgerald 2003:214) standing behind him, michaelis saw with a shock that wilson was looking at the eyes of doctor t, j. ecklburg.after understanding the symbolized meaning of this pair of eyes, we co

49、uld move onto the symbolized meaning of the color of the eyes. god has been seeing everything, and he knows that gatsby's dream will be doomed to be shattered he knows the wilsons，tragedy, tom and daisy's coldness and mercilessness- so his eyes looked sorrowful and melancholy. the author ing

50、eniously designed a vivid detail that on the advertisement board paints the enormous blue eyes of doctor t. j. ecklburg sadly looking at marts world all of this shows the author's critical attitude towards the people's life and idealism of that time.green is a very strong color in this book.

51、 it symbolizes hope. “to be great in america is to have plenty 4green5 which is symbolized by daisy buchananm(cervo nathan 2005) the image of green lamp appeared three times respectively at the crucial points of development, and played an important role in the process of modeling the protagonist gat

52、sbyt characte匚 the green lamp first appeared at the end of chapter one, where nick went back home in the evening and saw that gatsby stared at the green light hung at the clock of daisy，s house under the moonlight. this green light means something special to gatsby, for it has something to do with d

53、aisy; gatsby has cherished a dream, that is, to marry daisy who is an emblem of beauty and fortune to him. later on, daisy married tom, but gatsby still firmly believed that he could seize her back as long as he could own enough money. thus, that green light became the dream and hope in gatsbys hear

54、tthe second mention of the green light happens in chapter five. when they met at nick's house, gatsby invited daisy to visit his magnificent mansion. during that visit, daisy was deeply attracted by gatsbys great wealth and cried in excitement. at that moment, gatsby thought that he had realized

55、 his five-year dream and talked with her of that green light hung at the dock of her home. "if it wasnt for the mist we could see your home across the bay.” said gatsby, “you always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock： (fitzgerald 2003:124) for him, daisy was near at

56、 hand, so gatsby thought that the dream represented by that green light had already come into reality.the third appearance of the green light is arranged at the end of the novel. after gatsbys death, nick reminded us of him and that green light. gatsby adhered constantly all his life to the pursuit

57、of one dream and sought hard for that, yet he was totally unaware that dream was bound to be smashed. his personal cult is none other than money, in other words, he doesnt realize what he pursues is something mediocre. so his dream will be necessarily shattered. but on the other hand gatsby possesse

58、s stand fast belief for his own dream and pays his life long effort to realize it. this spirit is worth recommending, for which that time lacks and which the author admitted. the image of the green light helps to establish the theme of the work and functions right as a banne匚at the beginning of chap

59、ter two, the author depicted a certain desolate area of land that located between west egg and new york and which was named by the author the village of ashes. " this is a valley of ashes-a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridge sand hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke5xfitzgerald 2003:30) the valley of ashes represent a modern world, which is like a grotesque hell created by modern industry. factories and trains produced in the manufacture of wealth, and have polluted america with its wastes. it is a physical