This paper explores to what extent the communication dynamics in "The Great Gatsby", published in 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald, are key for understanding and reinterpreting the novel, considering its contextualization in the period of Modernism. What does communication in literary texts reveal? Which kind of information do communication dynamics in literature provide? To what degree does communication in literature function as a window to the past?
"Communication is key." This phrase is well known all over the world and applies for every social interaction. It does not matter if you are a parent, a best friend, or a businesswoman to agree with this statement because communication is so important every day in every kind of relationship. It could be argued that communication is the basis of just about everything in our modern world.
"The Great Gatsby" was published in 1925 and has become one of the most popular novels in the world. Before its fame and popularity though, the novel was virtually forgotten for twenty-five years. Its revival in the early 1950s was part of the rediscovery of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel represents an era of excitement and is about the glamour and moral bankruptcy of the Jazz age. The title refers to a mysterious millionaire, named Jay Gatsby, who gets involved in the materialism and corruption of a mercenary society without feelings or human concerns. He struggles with the impossible task of trying to recreate his past.
At a glance
- Grade: 1.3 (1.0 is the best grade)
- Applies Bronwen Thomas’s account of modernist dialogue to Fitzgerald’s novel
- 21 sources in the bibliography
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Overview
2.1 Modernism
2.2 F. Scott Fitzgerald
2.3 The Great Gatsby
3. Theory: communication in modernist literature
4. Analysis: communication in The Great Gatsby
4.1 Communication between characters
4.1.1 Ordinary dialogue
4.1.2 Poetic dialogue
4.1.3 Miscommunication
4.1.4 Lack of communication
4.2 Communication between narrator and reader
4.2.1 Reliability
4.2.2 Stream of consciousness
4.3 Tools for communication
4.3.1 Language
4.3.2 Telephone
5. Conclusion
Objectives and Themes
This paper asks to what extent communication dynamics provide a key to understanding and reinterpreting F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby in the context of modernism. It examines dialogue, narration and communication technologies alongside scholarship on modernist literature.
- Modernist approaches to language and fictional dialogue
- Ordinary and poetic exchanges between characters
- Miscommunication and silence
- Narrative reliability and the relationship between narrator and reader
- Language and the telephone as communicative devices
Excerpt from the Book
3. Theory: communication in modernist literature
Communication has always been dynamic. Simply because our communication is linked to language, our ways and possibilities to communicate with one another may change every day by adding and using new words in conversation. In the early twentieth century the subject of language began to take on an unprecedented centrality in European and American literature (cf. Berry 2006: 114). Some critics even derided Modernism for abandoning the social world in favor of its narcissistic interest in language and its processes. Since this paper aims to investigate to what extent communication is key for understanding and reinterpreting the novel and the significance of the time period it was written in, this theoretical chapter will introduce common characteristics of communication in modernist literature from the early twentieth century. As previously mentioned, modernist literature is famous for its breaks with tradition and drive for innovation. This revolution also concerns communication.
While many writers experimented with language in new ways, others experienced the problem of or even incapacity to ever fully communicate meaning, especially after World War I. T.S. Eliot, who for many is synonymous with Modernism, coined a nowadays famous line in his poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock which puts the problematic of communicating meaning in a nutshell: “That's not it at all, that's not what I meant at all”. The problematic of struggling to communicate meaning is distinctive for modernist literature and will therefore be thoroughly analyzed in this paper.
The stream of consciousness is one characteristic outcome of the experimentation with narration in literature during Modernism. It describes a unique technique in which various thoughts and impressions of a character are relayed to the reader in a way that captures the suddenness, spontaneity and often inconsequence of those thoughts and impressions. This new way of expressing thoughts influenced the communication in literature of the twentieth century, since writers had found new ways to communicate with their readers. According to Hooti and Omrani “the stream of consciousness helped several original minds who had been working, […] towards a new method of writing fiction and prove their isolation and originality in the depiction of their loneliness and lack of communication.” (Hooti, Omrani 2011: 256). In fact, lack of communication and miscommunication are other popular features in modernist literature.
Chapter Summaries
1. Introduction: The paper sets out its research question and explains its approach to communication in the novel.
2. Overview: This chapter introduces modernism, Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby as background for the analysis.
3. Theory: communication in modernist literature: The theoretical chapter outlines modernist approaches to dialogue, narrative, miscommunication and technology, drawing particularly on Bronwen Thomas.
4. Analysis: communication in The Great Gatsby: The analysis examines exchanges between characters, the narrator’s relationship with the reader, and language and the telephone as means of communication.
5. Conclusion: The conclusion brings together the analysis and considers how communication informs an interpretation of the novel and its modernist context.
Keywords
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, modernism, communication, fictional dialogue, miscommunication, silence, narrative reliability, stream of consciousness, language, telephone, literary analysis
Frequently Asked Questions
What is this paper about?
It examines communication dynamics in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby in the context of literary modernism.
What are its central themes?
The paper addresses dialogue, miscommunication, silence, narrative reliability, language and the telephone.
What is the main research question?
It asks to what extent communication dynamics are key to understanding and reinterpreting the novel within its modernist context.
What method does the author use?
The author closely reads selected passages and dialogues from the novel in light of scholarship on communication in modernist literature.
What does the main analysis cover?
It considers communication between characters, communication between narrator and reader, and the roles of language and the telephone.
Which keywords characterize the paper?
Key terms include modernism, fictional dialogue, miscommunication, silence, narrative reliability and literary analysis.
How does the paper approach Nick Carraway’s narration?
It examines his first-person perspective, his relationship with Gatsby and questions about his reliability.
Why is the telephone included in the analysis?
The telephone is examined as a technological means of communication and as a device affecting scenes and conversations in the novel.
What role does Bronwen Thomas’s work play?
Her study of fictional dialogue is the main reference for the theoretical chapter and informs the analysis of modernist communication.
- Quote paper
- Anonym (Author), 2021, Communication Dynamics within F. Scott Fitzgerald’s "The Great Gatsby". Communication in Modernist Literature, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1008391
