Narrative Techniques Of The Great Gatsby

This thesis is a systematic research into the narrative techniques effectively applied in Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece The Great Gatsby. Based on the theory of modern narratology, it gives an overall description of the novel's narrative techniques from the perspective of narrative manners and well-arranged time and space. Fitzgerald's high status in the literary world is largely due to the great success of this masterpiece. In view of the analysis of the narrator according to modern narratology, the narrator Nick is the author's agent. The Great Gatsby is a novel which aims to illustrate the disillusionment of "The American Dream". Nick, who represents Fitzgerald's rational self, chooses to go to East for future initially and determines to leave for West eventually, which implies the theme and value tendencies in the novel. Modern narratology depicts the narrators made into characters who are as vivid as those they tell us about as dramatic narrators. Accordingly Nick is a very typical dramatic narrator. He is both a narrator and an important character with a well-developed personality. In addition, Nick is a reliable narrator because he speaks for and acts in accordance with the norms of the work. The Great Gatsby employs the first-person narrative perspective, with Nick's limited perspective along with the shift of it. The time of the narrative in the novel best supplies the background for the development of the plot, enhances dramatic effects of the plot and is closely related to the themes. Space is often thematized in many narrative texts. By making an issue of the East-West antithesis, Fitzgerald treats East as the place of moral depravity and West the origin of morality to symbolize social spheres. To sum up, Fitzgerald applies modern narratology to serve his illustration of the themes, which is a triumph of artistic craftsmanship.