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1、 iThe Contrastive Techniques in The Great GatsbyAbstract The Great Gatsby, with its depiction of “the Jazz Age”, marks the highest point of F. Scott Fitzgeralds artistic achievement. T. S. Eliot once concluded that it was the “first step that American fiction has taken since Henry James”. In this no
2、vel, the author successfully employed the contrastive techniques, which endow the novel with artistic glamour and profound connotation. This paper intends to illustrate the contrastive techniques in terms of scenes, characters as well as dream and reality. The significance of these contrasts lies in
3、 the fact that they help the readers to have a better understanding of the Jazz Age, the personalities of the main characters and the American dream. The careful deliberate employment of contrastive techniques not only testify to Fitzgeralds craftsmanship in planning and developing the novel, but al
4、so contribute a great deal to the reveal of the tragic theme, that is, the disillusion of American dream.Key Words contrast, scene, character, dream, reality1 IntroductionF. Scott Fitzgeralds masterpiece The Great Gatsby shows us a vivid picture of the 1920s with its superficial prosperity and under
5、lying sadness. The failure of American dream and the crisis of value are well reflected in characters and the details of the novel. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald skillfully employed the contrastive techniques in terms of scenes, characters as well as dream and reality. These techniques not only de
6、epen the tragic theme, but also imparted the text a brand-new interpretation and profound artistic glamour.2 The employment of contrastive techniques2.1 The contrast of scenesThe author gives us a vivid description of various scenes in the novel, among which the most impressive are the sharp contras
7、t between Gatsbys parties and his funeral and the strong contradicts between the east and the west. These two pairs of contrastive scenes foreshadow Gatsbys tragical destination.2.1.1 The parties vs. the funeralThe Jazz Age is a time of broken dream, a time of flapper, a time of changes and a time o
8、f financial boom. Its clearly reflected in the description of Gatsbys parties. These parties are fashionable, but pointless. It is only a show-off of Gatsbys riches and material success. The crowds hardly know their host; many come and go without invitation. The music, the laughter and the faces, al
9、l blurred as one confused mass, show the purposelessness and the loneliness of the party-goers beneath their marks of relaxation and joviality. All this is typical of “the Jazz Age”, when many people lose belief in American dream and indulge themselves in drinking and dancing. The great expectations
10、 which the first settlement of the American continent brings vanish, and so despair and doom set in.In his blue gardens, men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city b
11、etween nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. And on Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day with iimops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden-shears, repairing the ravages of the ni
12、ght before. Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York-every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door in a pyramid of pulpless halves.” (Chapter 3, 52)The exavagent life, the noisy people constitute Gatsbys parties. However, the depiction of th
13、e fashionable and meaningless parties serves to highlight Gatsbys tragedy by contrasting the grandeur of his party with his violent death, with the frustration of his dream. Gatsbys funeral is rather deserted and cheerless compared with his parties. Its a record of human coldness. Nick has invited s
14、ome people to come to Gatsbys funeral. These people are all Gatsbys so-called friends. They find a lot of excuses for their absence because they know clearly that Gatsby is no longer useful for them. Gatsbys generous parties have not brought him even one friend. Whats more, Daisy, once Gatsbys lover
15、, the real killer, “hadnt sent a message or a flower”.(Chapter 9, 233)The sharp contrast between the exavagence of the parties and the coldness of the funeral reveals the hypocritical relationship among people and the moral degradation of the Jazz Age.2.1.2 The East vs. the WestIn one sense, the mor
16、al conflict in the novel is resolved into a conflict between East and West-the ancient and corrupt East and the raw but virtuous West. Nick attributes his moral attitude to his Middle Western background. Nicks experience in the East results in his return with relief to the West: “After Gatsbys death, the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes power of correction. So when the blue smoke of brit
