The Blossom Of Life In The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald is a famous American novelist in the20thcentury. He is thespokesman of the Jazz Age. He is not only a chaser indulged in enjoying food and champagnein the Jazz Age but also a great writer who uses rigorous ethical standards and brisk eyes toexamine life ad society. The Great Gatsby is one of the most representative novels written byhim. It is a genuine portrayal of people’s life at that time. Because of its brilliant plots andprofound social implications, this novel becomes the focus of study of literary critics at homeand abroad. In the previous literary criticism, domestic and foreign scholars mainly interpretthis novel from perspectives of the theme, narration and writing techniques, but few scholarsuse Bakhtin’s carnival theory to research it. Therefore this thesis attempts to apply the theoryof carnivalization to interpret the carnival characters and the carnival spirits reflected bypeople’s carnival acts in The Great Gatsby.This thesis is mainly divided into six chapters.Chapter one briefly introduces F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby. It also pointsout the creativity and importance of interpreting this novel from the angle of carnival theory.Chapter two generalizes the research condition of this novel both at home and abroad.Foreign scholars research it from multiple perspectives of the theme, narration, writingtechniques, images and social cultures. Domestic scholars mainly focus on areas of the theme,writing techniques, images and comparative studies to study it.Chapter three is the theoretical foundation. It mainly discusses Bakhtin’s carnivaltheories including the origin of carnival, carnival rituals, carnival collective and carnivalsenses of the world, which provides a foundation for discussing the carnival characters andcarnival spirits.Chapter four and chapter five are main parts. Chapter four analyzes the representativecarnival characters (carnival king, carnival queen, carnival tricksters, carnival fools andcarnival clowns) in the novel. It also discusses how these carnival characters realize theblossom of life in carnival life.Chapter five discusses carnival senses of the world—carnival spirits, and profoundlyexplores the essence behind carnival acts. Characters in the novel, through a series of carnivalacts of crowning, decrowning, death, cheating, etc, display carnival spirits of freedom,equality, renewal, subversion, joy and ideal which Bakhtin is always in favor of, demonstratetheir longing for a liberal, equal and happy utopian life and also convey the author’s stronghumanistic spirits of affirmation of people’s personalities and values. Chapter six is the conclusion part. Despite that people experience temporary blossom oflife in the carnival world, but finally the carnival king Gatsby and the carnival queen Mrs.Wilson still can’t change their fates. They become victims on their roads of chasing freedom,equality and happiness, the narrator Nick firmly determines to give up his dream and return tohis stable hometown. The ending of the story demonstrates that the ideal of carnival life isdoomed to be a daydream and it can not be realized at that time in American society.