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1、 毕 业 设 计（论文）题 目 A Brief Stylistic Analysis on “The Great Gatsby”了不起的盖茨比的文体分析 专 业 英 语 学生姓名 学 号 指导教师 2006年4月29日Abstract: The Great Gatsby is regarded as one of F. Scott Fitzgeralds masterpieces. The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s American as a whole, in particular the disintegra
2、tion of the American Idealism in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. This paper concentrates on the delusions of American dream which is conveyed in this novel, and also attempts to analyze the characteristics of writing devices employed in this novel from the aspects of stylisti
3、cs.Key words: F. Scott Fitzgerald linguistic presentation metaphor simile1. Introduction 1.1 A brief account of the authorScott Fitzgerald was born at the family home on Laurel Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896. F. Scott Fitzgerald holds the franchise. A glittering success as a wr
4、iter when he was just twenty-four, but Fitzgerald died still a young man, at forty-four. Fitzgeralds parents were Roman Catholic, and he was raised in the church and sent to a Catholic boys school on the East Coast before attending college. As a boy, Fitzgerald was anxious to be a popular socialite.
5、 His youthful flirtations with St. Paul girls, the parties he attended, and the private prep school he was finally sent East to attend are the stuff on which his early stories “Basil and Josephine” and “The Rich Boy” are founded. One of his very finest short stories, “Winter Dreams,” encompasses a m
6、ore realistic look at his yearning distance from the country-club, upper-class world, a world to which his mothers family had given him entrance, but of which he never felt comfortably part. He wrote several plays when a young teenager, and staged them with classmates and friends at home in St. Paul
7、. From 1911 to 1913, at the catholic preparatory Newman School in New Jersey, Fitzgerald saw his work published in the school magazine and participated in theatricals. It was at Newman that Fitzgerald met Monsignor Francis Fay, the dedicatee of This Side of Paradise as well as the model for Monsigno
8、r Darcy in that novel. Msgr. Fay encouraged the bright young man to enter the priesthood, but Fitzgerald was never more than briefly interested. Fitzgerald was one of the best known American authors of the 1920s and 30s and is closely associated with the optimism and excesses of that eras Jazz Age.
9、Fitzgeralds stories often featured people like himself: middle-American types infatuated with the wealth and status of upper-crust society. In the mid-1920s he lived in Paris where he was friends with Ernest Hemingway and other literary expatriates. Fitzgerald was a popular celebrity of the day and
10、he and his wife, Zelda, became famous for their extravagant lifestyle, drinking bouts and (eventually) erratic behavior. His major published novels include This Side of Paradise (1920), The Great Gatsby (1925), and Tender Is the Night (1934).1.2 A brief account of the storyGatsby is American Everyma
11、n. His extraordinary energy and wealth make him pursue the dream. His death in the end points at the truth about the withering of the American Dream. The spiritual and moral sterility that has resulted from the withered American Dream is fully revealed in the article. However, although he is defeate
12、d, the dream has gave Gatsby a dignity and a set of qualities. His hope and belief in the promise of future makes him the embodiment of the values of the incorruptible American Dream .1.3 The major theme of the storyThe Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald embodies may themes, however the most salient o
13、ne relates to the corruption of the American Dream. The American Dream is that each person no matter who he or she is can become successful in life by his or her own hard work. The dream also embodies the idea of a self-sufficient man, an entrepreneur making it successful for himself. The Great Gats
14、by is about what happened to the American dream in the 1920s, a time period when the dream had been corrupted by the avaricious pursuit of wealth. The American dream is sublime motivation for accomplishing ones goals and producing achievements, however when tainted with wealth the dream becomes devo
15、id and hollow.2. Stylistic analysis of “The Great Gatsby”2.1 Characteristic traits of the characters are revealed in different ways.In Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, all the characters are, in one way or another, attempting to achieve a state of happiness in their lives. The main characters are divid
16、ed into two groups: the rich upper class and the poorer lower class, which struggles to attain a higher position. Though the major players seek only to change their lives for the better, the American Dream is inevitably crushed beneath the harsh reality of life, leaving their lives without meaning o
17、r purpose.Gatsby is great, because he is dignified and ennobled by his dream and his mythic vision of life. He has the desire to repeat the past, the desire for money, and the desire for incarnation of unutterable vision on this material earth. For Gatsby, Daisy is the soul of his dreams. He believe
18、 he can regain Daisy and romantically rebels of time. Although he has the wealth that can match with the leisured class, he does not have their manners. His tragedy lies in his possession of a naive sense and chivalry.Tom Buchanan, Daisys husband, belongs to the traditional moneyed class; Tom does n
19、ot pursue any particular profession, he simply lives on his wealth. He is a former football-player and physically strong. But the surplus of his physical power contrasts with his limited intellectual capacities. He is arrogant, self-confident and not intellectual. He is also a racist and a totally c
20、areless and brutal person, a heavy drinker and has lack of style and education.Daisy suggests the flower for which she was named. She is fresh and bright, yet fragile. She is a golden girl, beautiful, rich, innocent and pure in her whiteness, which is mixed with the yellow of gold (money). But this
21、is just her outward appearance. In reality she promises more than she gives, like money. She wants to be liked and popular but she is just dishonest, false, artificial and superficial. Her whole behavior is childish and everything is put on like a facade.Jordan, Daisys friend, Jordan Bakers most str
22、iking quality is her dishonesty. She is tough and aggressive- a golfer who is so hardened by competition that she is willing to do anything to win. Jordan is the smart new woman, the opportunist who will do whatever she must to be successful in her world. In many ways Jordan Baker symbolizes a new t
23、ype of woman that was emerging in the Twenties. She is hard and self-sufficient, and she adopts whatever morals suit her situation.She is hard and self-sufficient and does what she wants to do. Her name, body and style are blunt. She is an opportunist who will do what ever she must do to be successf
24、ul in her world, which is the world of the rich and influential people.Myrtle Wilson is Toms mistress. She hates her cheerless and wretched life at the gas station in the valley of ashes and wants to flee into the city full of jollity, money and glamour. She only is able to realize that with Toms mo
25、ney. She is a very sensuous and vital woman therefore Tom loves her.2.2 Lexical featuresIn section (1) and section (2), we can see that there are many differences in choosing lexicon.2.2.1 In section (1) many multi-syllabled adjectives and abstract nouns are used, such as, riotous (adj.)， excursion
26、(n.)，privileged (adj.)，glimpse (n.)，unaffected (adj.)，sensitivity (n.) . besides, there are many formal words used in this part in meaning, such as, exempt，register. Therefore the usages of lexicon in section (1) are formal and gorgeous.2.2.2 In section (2) there are no other multi-syllabled adjecti
27、ves used except the word “curious”, and there are no abstract nouns either. But a lot of verbs are used, such as decide，call，mention，do，give，stretch，sworn. The usages of lexicon in this section are formal and simple.2.2.3 From the lexical features, in section (1) the writer describes Nick Carraways
28、psychology by using a lot of multi-syllabled adjectives to modify the abstract nouns. While in section (2) the writer mainly describes Nick Carraways actions.2.3 Syntactic features2.3.1 Complex sentences are used in section (1) , there are only three sentences which describe the internal complex fee
29、lings and life experiences of Nick Carraway. So in this section a lot of attributive clauses and coordinate clauses are used as the modified components. For example, 1) Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reactionGatsby, who represented every thing for which I ha
30、ve an unaffected scorn. 2) When I came back. If personality is an unbroken, as if he were related to.2.3.2 In section (2) long sentences are used , but they are very simple, only one objective clause and several coordinate sentences are used. For example, .Miss Baker had mentioned him at dinner and
31、that. he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, Therefore, the complex and simple sentences are used in turn, it reflects the writing style of the author and also can make readers easy to understand the novel.2.4 Phonological features and Grapholog
32、ical features2.4.1 There are different points of view in The Great Gatsby. The first person “I” is used in section (1) to show that Nick Carraway recalled what had happened in the past and to express Nick Carraways thoughts and feelings. So it is more subjective to express the effect of the novel by
33、 using complex sentences, while compared with section (1), in section (2) it is more objectives to narrate Nick Carraways meeting with Gatsby from an onlooker - Nick Carraway himself. In a word, some similar points of view are used in the whole novel. At the same time in this novel, there are few di
34、alectal speeches, it uses more formal and simple language, so it can better contribute to reveal the major theme of the novel.2.4.2 In The Great Gatsby, presentational sequencing is used to organize the structure of the novel. For example, in section (3), it describes the situation of the first meet
35、ing between Nick Carraway and Gatsby. It exactly shows that the writer uses presentational sequencing to arrange the story. Using this kind of method is to show the sense art in the novel.2.5 Figures of speech Another some salient features of The Great Gatsby are figures of speech. The Great Gatsby
36、is rich in simile. 2.5.1 In section (4) the writer describes Miss Daisy and Miss Bakers lying on an enormous couch as sitting upon an anchored balloon. their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been back in after a short flight around the house. This simile gives readers a new c
37、uriosity, it also reflects the life of the upper class for those women who did nothing.2.5.2 In section (5), the sentence “ Her voice is full of money” is a metaphor, the usage of metaphor here can give readers an aesthetic sense. It looks as if it were an imagery poem, and it describes the clear an
38、d understandable sound of her singing as the abstract idea - money. This can guide readers into the plots of the novel.2.5.3 Using the simile in this novel can create the unimaginable effect. The writer uses the indirect method to make readers to think, to feel and to appreciate the interesting plot
39、s of the novel. Therefore, it can create a kind of “ feeling of distance” between the readers and the novel, which makes the tragic plots in The Great Gatsby more exciting.3. ConclusionThe Great Gatsby was published in 1925, it reflects the real world in the Jazz Age. It describes the hollowness of
40、the Upper Class at that time. At the same time, it tells us that The Great Gatsby is about what happened to the American dream in the 1920s, a time period when the dream had been corrupted by the avaricious pursuit of wealth. In The Great Gatsby, Fitgerald applied imagism and symbolism to present mo
41、ral history of his contemporary times from the view of Nick. The application of symbolism made his work surpass the narrow individual world, connect the subjective with the objective, and amplify as well typifies individual experiences. As many critics have pointed out, the method Fitzgerald adopts
42、in The Great Gatsby is a brilliant one. He starts the novel in the present in the first three chapters, Having established the characters and setting in the first three chapters, he then narrates the main events of the story in Chapters IV to IX, using Chapters IV, VI, and VII to gradually reveal th
43、e story of Gatsbys past. The past and present come together at the end of the novel in Chapter IX. As the story moves toward its climax, we find out more and more about the central figure from Nick until we, too, are in a privileged position and can understand why Gatsby behaves as he does. Thus the
44、 key to the structure of the novel is the combination of the first person narrative and the gradual revelation of the past as the narrator finds out more and more. The two devices work extremely effectively together, but neither would work very well alone.References:1.Carter, Ronald, 1997, Investiga
45、ting English Discourse, New York: Routledge.2.Garrett, George, 1985, “Fire and Freshness: A Matter of Style in The Great Gatsby”. InMatthew J. Broccoli (ed.). New Essays On The Great Gatsby, New York: Cambridge University Press.3.Leech, Geoffrey N. & Short Michael H., 1981, Style in Fiction, New Yor
46、k: Longman.4.郭鸿，1998，英语文体分析，北京：军事谊文出版社。5.秦秀白，1986，文体学概论，长沙：湖南教育出版社。6.申丹，文学文体学的分析模式及其面临的挑战，北京：外语教学与研究1994年第三期，7-13页。7. 张华鸿，讲义Appendix:Section (1)When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotou
47、s excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reactionGatsby, who represented every thing for which I have an unaffected scorn. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something
48、 gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away. ( P2-3, The Great Gatsby, 上海译文出版社, 1994 )Section (2)I decided to call to him. Miss Baker had mentioned him at dinner and that would do for an introduction. But I didnt call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alonehe stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could