《了不起的盖茨比》的叙事风格

李洁

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 Gatsbys 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. Thats 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）“Thats 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.

There are four ways to narrate the story， one is Nick himself describes his own personal experiences with Gatsby. Nick is Gatsbys neighbor， Daisys cousin and Toms classmate in the university. So he can get some information about Gatsby and witness some dramatic scenes， such as Gatsbys behavior and manner of speaking， the lavish party， Gatsbys appointment with Daisy， Gatsbys 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 Gatsbys 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 Gatsbys characteristics. He was forced to visit Toms 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 peoples 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 “Hes 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 night before...I have an idea that Gatsby himself didnt 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 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 Nicks 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 Gatsbys 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 “Toms mistress.”（p.27）George and Myrtle Wilson are symbolic of the lives destroyed by the old rich. Gatsby didnt 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 peoples 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 didnt 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.

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 didnt get recognition.

The suspense about Gatsbys identity arouse readers curiosity to search for Gatsbys 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 Gatsby.Great Britain，England： Penguine Books Ltd.

[2]Brewley，M.‘Scott Fitzgeralds 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.

[7]Tredell，N.（2007），Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby： A Readers Guide，London，England： Continuum.