3。 Definition of Impersonality

The concept of “impersonality” originated from Flaubert。 According to Flaubert, novelists should be like God, they never show up in their novels, but in the meantime readers could feel like they were everywhere(Shen 114)。 Henry James, one of the founders of the theory of modernist novel, agreed with this opinion a lot, he thought that “impersonality” includes two aspects: one is to express no emotions or attitudes, the other is to not interfere in the novel(Ibid。, 114)。 James was opposed to traditional novelists’ explaining everything in detail, he promoted an objective way of narrative, which means novelists are required to stay behind the story and, instead, use “point of view” to let readers “see” the story “directly”。 Besides, narrators should hide behind characters, “showing” story through characters’ language, acts and consciousness, conflicts of events, switch of scenes and so on, which, according to James, is called dramatic presentation。 So to this extent, “impersonality” can be interpreted as “objectivity” and “authenticity”。 After James, T。S。 Eliot developed this theory, and applied it into poetry, he considered “The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality”(Eliot), and that “Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality”(Ibid。)。 Since Flaubert and James, more and more modern novelists were greatly influenced by this theory, and the feature of impersonality can be found in most of their works。

4。 Impersonality in The Great Gatsby

The impersonality in this novel is embodied in two sides。 The first side is in techniques, to author Fitzgerald, the use of “point of view” offers him a larger space for creating and makes this novel more “objective”, and Nick Carraway is this narrative point of view。 Apart from this, to Nick, when Nick is narrating, he, as well as an observer, directly “shows” things happening around him without comments and judgments。 

The second side resides in emotion expressing, which means the author doesn’t interfere in to state his viewpoints about any events or his attitudes towards any characters。 In The Great Gatsby, the application of irony deals with the problem of the intrusion of emotions on a large scale。

4。1 Impersonality in techniques 

The way of not intervening in the text for author is to remain silent, in The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald uses a point-of-view character Nick to replace him, through this character’s observation and sensation, Fitzgerald can step behind the curtain to control the story and keep his voice down, which is called “the exit of author”(Booth 25)。 论文网

As to the narrator Nick, we can also find a quality of impersonality in his narration。 And this lies in the way he says and also the point of view he uses。

4。1。1 The author’s relation to the narrator

Narrative point of view (or narrative perspective) describes the position of the narrator, that is, the character of the storyteller。 It can be thought of as a camera mounted on the narrator's shoulder that can capture what is going on around him。 In traditional novels, authors and protagonists tend to unit as one, they exist in the same emotions and ethics, and authors tend to use omniscient point of view, namely, stories are told by omniscient narrators。 Usually under this condition, authors explain everything elaborately, and instead of “showing”, they are “telling”, which implies readers can always find what authors think about certain characters。

However, in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald adopts another approach, he uses Nick as an internal point of view, or as a “narrator-agent”(Booth 153)。 Nick plays not only the role of a narrator but of a participant as he interacts with other people in the text。 This narrative mode shortens the distance between readers and the story, presenting more objectivity and authenticity, which “shows” the story directly in front of readers and allows readers to personally, as it were, witness the events of the plot as if they are actually inside the story。 From Nick’s perspective, we “see” Gatsby’s luxurious mansion and spectacular party, we “see” Tom has an affair with his mistress Myrtle, how Daisy and Gatsby fall in love again, and how people like Tom and Daisy from upper-class treat people like Wilson callously, etc。 But over the course of reading, we cannot find or hear the author, because it is the use of Nick that separate the story and him。 Once Nick exists, Fitzgerald stays far behind and lets the story “show” itself。 And to a certain extent, Fitzgerald imparts the right of controlling the story on Nick。 Just as Booth put it,”By the kind of silence he maintains, by the manner in which he leaves his characters to work out their own destinies or tell their own stories, the author can achieve effects which would be difficult or impossible if he allowed himself or a reliable spokesman to speak directly and authoritatively to us”(Ibid。, 273)。