Ironic Art Analysis in The Great Gatsby《伟大的盖茨比》中的反

Ironic Art Analysis in The Great Gatsby《伟大的盖茨比》中的反讽艺

术探析

Abstract：In The Great Gatsby，Fitzgerald mainly constructs the ironic effect by using verbal irony，situational irony and structural irony. Through the employment of irony，Fitzgerald gives a clear presentation of the characters’duplicity and the plots’incongruity，which helps to highlight the theme and reinforce the novel’s aesthetic tension.

Key Words：New Criticism; verbal irony; situational irony;structural irony; The Great Gatsby

1、Introduction

New Criticism is a formalist movement in literary theory that dominated American literary criticism in the middle decades of the 20th century. The New Critics argue that the meaning of a text is intrinsic and should not be confused with the author’s intentions nor the reader’s responses. According to the theory of irony in New Criticism，the text can be analyzed from four aspects：verbal irony，situational irony，structural irony and mode irony. The author attempts to analyze the novel from the first three aspects. The Great Gatsby has strong ironic implication in its language，rhetoric，character shaping，plots and structure. Fitzgerald employs verbal irony，situational irony and structural irony to create strong contrast effects，which helps reinforce the aesthetic tension of the novel and deepen the theme.

2、The Reflection of Irony in The Great Gatsby

2.1 The Reflection of Verbal Irony in The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald adopts verbal irony to criticize the money-oriented society. Nick Carraway pays a visit to his cousin Daisy’s house. From the moment Nick enters the house，Daisy’s husband Tom begins to brag about his house，“It belonged to Demaine the oil man.” [1] 10 And Daisy looks radiant，“I’m paralyzed with happiness.” [1] 11 In the Jazz Age，people worship money，they exaggerate the role of money and blindly believe that money can bring happiness. Tom and Daisy brag about their abundant material life. However，they actually suffer from empty spiritual life. Tom’s fortune declines because of his squander and mismanagement. Daisy marries Tom to maintain her status and rich life. However，Tom has an affair with another woman. Beneath the glossy veneer，their life is empty，depressed and hopeless. Their words are ironic on the so-called upper class，who seem like enjoying a wealthy life but in fact suffer from spiritual emptiness. Verbal irony mainly serves a rhetorical function，which makes the novel’s language present implicit and

complicated features and intrigues the reader’s imagination.2.2 The Reflection of Situational Irony in The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald mainly uses sarcastic plots to criticize the social reality in the Jazz age. At that time，people are fascinated with getting worldly success. Nick comes to the East in order to find opportunities of getting rich. He admires Gatsby because Gatsby started from scratch. He depicts Gatsby as a man who is generous and persistent in love. However，through analyzing Nick’s later narration，the readers can find out that the facts are totally different from Nick’s words. Gatsby makes his fortune through doing illegal business. In spite of the fact that Daisy is married and has a daughter，Gatsby still wants to win Daisy back. He is money- worship，vainglorious，dishonest and irresponsible. Fitzgerald uses the contradiction of plots to criticize the social reality which distorts human nature. Situational irony helps Fitzgerald express his profound understanding of the absurdity of reality.

2.3 The Reflection of Structural Irony in The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald also infuses irony into the structure of the novel，which makes the novel produce continuous ironic power and expand its social significance. Fitzgerald adopts the unreliable narrator Nick. Nick believes that Gatsby is a successful representative of the “American Dream”. Because of his pursuit of material success and worship of Gatsby，his narration about Gatsby is partial. He despises Tom because Tom has a mistress. But when Gatsby asks for his help to meet Daisy，he agrees without a second thought. The money-oriented society distorts people’s judgement. Through Nick’s unreliable narration，Fitzgerald intends to remind people to find truth under the appearance. Nick’s unreliable narration is also a symbol of Gatsby’s disguise which will be seen through eventually.

3、Conclusion

In The Great Gatsby，Fitzgerald manifests his superior writing skills and talent in sarcasm. Fitzgerald employs irony in the novel’s language，plots and structure. Fitzgerald criticizes poignantly the money-oriented society’s destructive effect on human nature. Through depicting the characters’duplicity and the plots’incongruity，Fitzgerald successfully highlights the theme and reinforces the novel’s aesthetic tension.

Works Cited

[1]Fitzgerald，F.Scott，The Great Gatsby[M]，Penguin Group（CA），2005

[2]郭海玲，《淺析<了不起的盖茨比>中卡洛维叙述的不可靠性》[J]，牡丹江大学学报，2017.26（09），81-83.