An Analysis
of
Plot Structure and Narrative Discourse
of
The Great Gatsby
and
Martin Eden
A
Thesis
Submitted to
The College of English Language & Literature
Shanghai International Studies University
In Partial Fulfillment of
The Requirements
For the Degree of Master of Arts
Registration Number: 01110
Field of Research: Literature (English)
Tutor: Professor Zhang Dingquan
Acknowledgements
In writing a thesis of this length, I have acquired many an unpayable debt.
My chief debt is to my supervisor, Professor Zhang Dingquan, under whose
guidance my interest in this field was first sparked and for whose valuable
suggestions I have been enlightened and constantly grateful. Without his painstaking
efforts in revising and polishing my drafts this thesis could have been impossible.
I should like to extend my further gratitude to all the professors whose lectures have
broadened my horizons.
My thanks are also due to family, who give me much support when I work on this
thesis.
Abstract
Based on Todorov's theory on narrative grammar and Genette's theory on narrative
discourse, this thesis examines the plot structure and narrative discourse of The
Great Gatsby and Martin Eden. Through the step-by-step reduction of the stories
into abstract propositions, the conclusion is reached that the plot of both stories
comes down to three verbs, to perceive, to pursue and to procure in the proposition:
X perceives, pursues, yet does not procure Y. After analyzing the moods of such
predicates and the types of the proposition in the sequence, the thesis holds that the
expression of tragedy lies in this proposition. With both quantitative and qualitative
analyses of the exhaustive materials from both novels, this thesis displays their
differences and similarities, concerning narrative duration, frequency, mood and
voice. In Martin Eden the central narrative movement is summary; this novel
frequently uses iterations of various kinds; events in the narrative are based on the
cultural phenomena of personal development in American tradition; various forms
of inner speech abounds; the focalization is zero one; this .novel is a form of
subsequent narrating and a heterodiegetic narrative. In The Great Gatsby the central
movement is scene; it is composed of singulative narrative; characters' speeches are
in the form of reported speech; the focalization is internal one; it is also a form of
subsequent narrating and a homodiegetic.
Key words: plot structure, narrative discourse, duration, frequency, mood, voice
中文摘要
通过运用 Todorov的叙事语法理论以及 Genette的叙事话语理论，本文研究了《了
不起的盖茨比» (咀Ie Great Gatsby)
和 《 马 丁 · 伊登 » (Martin Eden) 两篇 小
说的情节结构以及叙事话语的特征。经过逐步地将二者的故事抽象化为语句
(proposition) ，本文认为二者在情节上可以归结为三个动词: perceive, pursue
以及 procure，进而推出两部小说的情节可以表达为该语句: X perceives,
pursues, yet does not procure Y 。 在分析 了 该三个谓 词 的语气 以及该语句在语段
中 ( sequence )的类型的基础上，本文认为该语句表达了两部小说悲剧性。通
过对两部小说中话语材料详尽的定性定量的分析，本文描述了两部小说在叙事
节奏 ( duration )、叙事频率(企equency )、叙事语气( mood) 和叙事语态 ( voice)
等方面的具体差异和类似之处。
叙事节奏和叙事频率考察叙事和故事之间的关系。叙事节奏考察故事中事件的
延续时间和它在文本中的长度之间的关系。从快到慢分为:省略 ( ellipsis )、总
结 ( summ町)、场景 ( scene )和停顿 ( pause )叙事。其中总结叙事的节奏是
在省略叙事和场景叙事之间变化的。叙事频率考察故事和叙事中事件出现的频
率之间的关系。形式有:对应叙事〈也e singulative) 、 重复叙事 ( 由e repeating) 、
法代叙事 ( the iterative) 。 对应叙事指事件发生几次叙述几 次， 重复叙事指多 次
叙述发生一次的事件，而迭代叙事则相反，一次性叙述发生多洗的事件。迭代
叙事是最为复杂的，除了同对应叙事之间构成一定的相互关系外，它还有复杂
的定界标记 ( determination )和频率标记( specification) ，即用来确定迭代叙事
的起迄点和频率的时间短语，复杂之处在于它们相互作用构成了迭代叙事的多
样性。叙事语气考察叙事距离和叙事聚焦手段对叙事中信息的调控形式，即考
察叙述行为同叙事之间的关系。叙事距离考察事件和人物言语 ( speech )的叙
述形式。叙事聚焦分为三类，主要依据是叙事者与人物对故事了解的多寡，零
11
聚焦 ( zero )，内聚焦 ( internal )和外聚焦 ( external )。本文涉及前两者，零聚
焦指叙事者所知比任何人物都多，内聚焦指叙事者只叙述某一人物或某些人物
所知的信息。叙事语态从叙述行为入手，考察它同故事之间的关系，涉及叙述
和故事之间时间先后关系，本文中只涉及后叙述( subsequent narrating) 。 另 外 ，
还涉及叙事层次的分析，即外叙事层 ( extradiegetic )和内叙事层 ( intradiegetic ) ,
简述了两个层次之间的关系。在考察叙事人称 ( person )的类别时，按照叙事
者是否出现于所叙故事中，将叙事分为异位叙述 ( heterodiegetic )以及共位叙
述 ( homodiegetic ) ，共位叙述指叙事则以人物的身份出现于故事中，如果是主
角，则是本位叙述 ( autodiegetic )。最后涉及叙事者的功能分类。
《马丁·伊登》的叙事节奏以总结叙事为主，迭代叙事较普遍，叙述的事件根
植于美国个人自力更生的追寻传统，人物风格化语言的运用突出，内心独自形
式多样，总体采用零聚焦叙事，叙述时间属于后叙述，叙事人称属于异位叙述。
《了不起的盖茨比》的主要叙事节奏是情景叙事，叙事频率以对应叙事为主，
叙述事件也是根植于个人追寻传统，直接引语占主要篇幅，总体采用内聚焦，
它也是后叙述，叙事人称属于共位叙述。
关键词 z情节结构，叙事话语，叙事节奏，叙事频率，叙事语气，叙事语态
III
Contents
Introduction
1
Plot structure.......................•............... 5
Features of narrative duration
11
Features of narrative frequency .••.........•..28
Features of narrative mood ......•..............39
Features of narrative voice .........•.........••.55
Conclusion
64
Bibliography
66
Introduction
1
Introduction
First, I have to address the question why I put Martin Eden and the Great Gatsby
together. Here I would like to cite Earle Labor's comment on them. Earle Labor
considers that there is an analogy between Martin Eden and Jay Gatsby. The
following is Labor's comment'. Martin and Gatsby are destroyed ultimately by the
delusions that an ideal goal may be attained through material means and that success
is synonymous with happiness. They share the vague confusion of the Dream with
the decadent avatar of Courtly-Love mythology - the notion that the true knight may
achieve blessedness simply by winning the princess. Similar are their inability to see
that the girls of their dreams, Martin's Ruth and Gatsby's Daisy, together with the
world of which the girls are a representative product, are not golden but gilded. They
fail to understand that in that world image matters more than substance, and
furthermore, that in America the value is in the process, not in the product.
Labor's comment here best expresses my original idea of conducting a comparative
study of Martin Eden (ME) and the Great Gatsby (GG), two typical versions of
American quest story. But I do not want to do so in a random way, simply putting
similar details of their life together and interpreting their meaning. I want to know
what makes Labor and me regard GG and ME in such a way and yet to know what
makes them different. To do so I need to fall back on some theoretical systems. In
the process of my research, I gradually incline to Todorov's theory on narrative
grammar and Genette's theory on narrative discourse. They provide me with an
apparatus to discern and describe the forms of plot and discourse. Such forms are the
carrier and support of the meaning we readers might drive at. These map-like forms,
I
EarleLabor, Jack London, P. 122.
Introduction
2
I presume, can guide me to the truth.
I start my study with the observations of the plot structure of GG and ME. I apply
Todorov's narrative grammar in my analysis. Lois Tyson once conducted a similar
study on the narrative grammar of the former novel in this respect. He deduced one
verb, seek, from Fitzgerald's authorial hints in the text, that is, seek, find and lose
(Chapter 8). To some degree, this is acceptable but he ignored the importance of
"perceive" in the plot. There are also defects in his propositions: X lacks y, X seeks Y
and X lacks Y. They are too broad to describe some important stages in the plot
structure. This formula fails to show those three states, necessary in Todorov's
narrative grammar, from one equilibrium to another with a disequilibrium
in-between, and confuses the passages between such states with those states. I will
attempt to use different verbs and different formulae to expose the plot structure in
GG in the process of deduction and, what's more, I will discuss the identical plot
structure in ME.
Then I conduct my study primarily on their narrative discourses. This part is the
main body of my paper. I intend to observe the differences and similarities between
two narrative discourses sharing the same plot structure. Therefore, I follow
Genette's systems of discourse analyses in my description of both. Up to now there
is no such thorough and exhaustive analysis of both novels with the application of
Genette's systems. His overall system includes order, duration,frequency, mood and
voice. In the present case, the considerations of both narrative order and narrative
levels concern roughly the same parts in both novels, so I only mention some
relative features regarding order in the part on narrative levels, without setting aside
a section special for its discussion.
Introduction
3
Here I will clarify in sequence some of the terms I will use in my thesis. Duration
defines the connections between the variable duration of the events or story sections
and the length of text of their telling the narrative. In this section, we will find
ellipsis, with the narrative time (NT) absolutely less than story time (ST), summary,
with NT less than ST, scene with NT equal to ST and descriptive pause with NT
absolutely more than ST.
Frequency, defines the relations between the repetitive capacities of the story and
those of the narrative. The singulative, narrating n times what happened n times, the
repeating, narrating n times what happened once, and the iterative, narrating once
what happened n times. The discussion involves determination, the diachronic limits,
defining the iterative series of events, and specification, the rhythm of recurrence of
the constituent units of the series.
In the part of narrative mood, we will find narrated speech, transposed speech and
reported speech, three forms of characters' speech. Only the last one is in direct
form. The first one is so indirect that the narrator replaces the character to articulate
the speech. Transposed one, though closer to reported one, is still indirect in form
with narrator's presence perceptible. Here we will come to terms: zero focalization,
where the narrator says more than any of the characters knows, internal focalization
where the narrator says only what a given character knows.
In the part on narrative voice, we will discuss first the time of narrating and meet the
term, subsequent narrating and interpolated one. The subsequent one refers to the
narrating subsequent the occurrence of the story. If the narrating time has some
duration and becomes entangled with the moments of the actions in the story we
have interpolated narrating
Introduction
4
We will also meet extradiegetic, intradiegetic and metadiegetic narrating, defining
relationships between different levels. The narrating of the first narrative is the first
level, that is, the extradiegetic narrating. The second level is the intradiegetic
narrating and the third one is the metadiegetic narrating.
In the same part, we will find the heterodiegetic narrative and homodiegetic
narrative. They are designated to study the narrator's absence or presence in his
narrative. The heterodiegetic one refers to the narrative with the narrator absent from
the story, and the homodiegetic one the narrative with the narrator present in the
story. The latter one has a variant, that is, autodiegetic one with the narrator as the
hero of the story.
5
Plot Structure
Plot Structure
He had committed himselfto thefollowing ofa grail.
He leftfeeling that if he had searched harder, he might havefound her - that he was leaving her
behind...andhe knew that he had lost thatpart ofit, thefreshest and the best,forever.
-- Chapter 8, The Great Gatsby
According to Tzvetan Todorov, the minimal complete plot consists in the passage
from one equilibrium to another, both of which are stable situations'. In an ideal
narrative, the first equilibrium, disturbed by some force, changes into a state of
disequilibrium and, then again disturbed by the opposite force, changes into another
equilibrium, but always different from the first one. So the ideal plot is composed of
five sections:
equilibrium -( passager-r disequilibrium -( passager-r equilibrium
The sections of both equilibrium and disequilibrium are static and can be designated
with a type of proposition composed of the agent (proper noun) + the predicate (a
narrative adjective), but the sections of passages are dynamic and can be designated
with the other type of proposition composed of the agents (proper nouns) + the
predicate (a narrative verb).
In order to extract propositions corresponding to the actions in these two stories, I
would like to present the plots of ME and GG in the form of summary. First, in ME,
Martin, a sailor, was poor both in worth and in education. But Martin met Ruth and
was attracted to her and her life of knowledge and wealth. They fell in love. He
studied hard and wrote deligently for wealth. But he was not successful, unable to
enter her life. He cannot reconcile his conceptions of life with that of Ruth's family,
Plot Structure
6
which belonged to the bourgeois class. Then Martin was made so publicly notorious
as a socialist that Ruth broke up with him. Martin lost his interest in life, but became
successful and rich; Ruth wanted to renew their relationship. But he refused her and
committed suicide.
Then, in GG, Gatsby, a penniless soldier from a poor family, met Daisy in her house
and was attracted to her and to her beautiful and fancy house. They fell in love. Then
Gatsby was drawn away into the First World War. After the war Gatsby' return was
delayed beyond Daisy's patience. She chose Tom out of his person and his position.
Five years after he met Wolfsheim, Gatsby became as rich a person as those in
Daisy's life. He bought a house at West Egg near Daisy who lived at East Egg and
managed to be reunited with her. He tried to win her back in an open confrontation
with Tom. But Gatsby failed, notorious for his suspect wealth. Gatsby was murdered
by Wilson after a hit-and-run traffic accident in which Daisy ran down and killed
Mrs. Wilson.
These two summaries contain two pairs of agents, subject and object: Martin vs.
Ruth and Gatsby vs. Daisy. Such summaries will lead us to the generalization of all
the actions with four verbs: to perceive, to pursue, to procure and to repudiate. "to
perceive" is very important in the series. Both Martin and Gatsby "knew women
early" and were not pursuing any woman until Martin found the woman in Ruth near
him and Gatsby found "the first nice" and "excitingly desirable" girl in Daisy. Both
Ruth and Daisy lived in their elegant house, striking Martin and Gatsby profoundly.
So it was "perceiving" their existence and their existence in that elegant house that
worked forcefully the change within both men and led to the disequilibrium. In this
way the summaries can be further condensed as:
1'. Martin was poor and loveless;
Plot Structure
2'.
3'.
4'.
5'.
6'.
7'.
7
Martin perceived Ruth and that that is wealth';
Martin was poor but full of love;
Martin pursued Ruth and that that is wealth;
Martin was poor but loved;
Martin was repudiated by Ruth, but procured that that is wealth;
Martin was rich but loveless.
Propositions 2 and 4 might be incorporated into one proposition, but I list them
separately to emphasize their distinction. The pair of Gatsby and Daisy can replace
this pair, only Propositions 4, 6 and 7 should be revised so we can get another list as
follows
1".
2".
3".
4".
5".
6".
7".
Gatsby was poor and loveless;
Gatsby perceived Daisy and that that is wealth;
Gatsby was poor but full of love;
Gatsby pursued Daisy;
Gatsby was poor but loved;
Gatsby was repudiated by Daisy;
Gatsby was poor but loveless.
In this case, the story' continues to another stage, so we can surely find more
propositions, which can be regarded as another minimal complete plot".
I"'. Gatsby was rich and loveless;
2"'. Gatsby perceived that that is the address of Daisy, now Tom's wife;
3"'. Gatsby was rich and full of love;
4"'. Gatsby pursued Daisy;
5"'. Gatsby was rich and loved;
6"'. Gatsby was repudiated;
7"'. Gatsby was rich but loveless.
It goes without saying that four verbs: perceive, pursue, procure and be repudiated,
recur in the above three plots. For the sake of the consistency of expression, we can
substitute notprocure for "be repudiated by". Therefore, if we incorporate all similar
actions and hypothesize X = Martin and Gatsby, and Y = Ruth, Daisy and that that is
Here it means the story of Gatsby's life not in the sense of the novel. Actually, this plot is the main body of the
novel.
4 Somemay say that a subplot here can be inferredthat Gatsbypursued and procuredwealth.Though it is not
included in the list it still conformsto the followingformula. Another similarone is the youngGatsby's pursuing
of wealth before meetingDaisy.
3
Plot Structure
8
wealth or the address of Daisy, we may rewrite these propositions roughly in this
way.
I.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
X was poor and loveless, or X was rich but loveless;
X perceives Y;
X was poor but full of love, or X is rich and full of love;
X pursues Y;
X was poor but loved or X is rich and loved;
X procures Y or X does not procure Y;
X was rich but loveless, or X is poor and loveless.
Here propositions I, 3, 5 and 7 are the characters' properties. And propositions 2, 4
and 6 are their actions. The two states of equilibrium consist of the narrative
adjectives in propositions land 7, whereas the one of disequilibrium consists of
those in propositions, 3 and 5. The narrative verbs describe the passages from one
state to another. This last list of relatively abstract proposition can facilitate our
further study of the narrative predicates. So if we single out propositions 2, 4 and 6,
we get two formulae of actions: X perceives andpursues but does notprocure Y, and
X perceives andpursues andprocures Y.
We have a further look at those two different pursuits of Martin and Gatsby and we
can see how both novels, or the life of both protagonists, are built on the contrast of
reality and ideal. Such a contrast comes down to the moods of such propositions'.
Todorov defmes indicative mood, moods of will, obligative or optative, and moods
of hypothesis, conditional or predictive. The indicative mood, standing for reality,
can be expressed as: X procures Y according to the tradition of American quest. In
addition to such fictional personages as Martin Eden and Jay Gatsby, in both novels
we can find a list of several successful real personages, for example, J. P. Morgan,
James J. Hill, Andrew Carnegie, and Abraham Lincoln. Outside the fictional world
such a list can be very long. Their life experiences created the social context for such
Plot Structure
9
a proposition to be indicative. But both novels do not write X procures Daisy or
Ruth or simply love, though X procures wealth. So "Xprocures Y" will always be a
potentiality, which will never be performed in both novels. In contrast to reality thus
expressed, both novels are based on predictive mood of the proposition: if X
procures wealth X will procure love. Moreover, both novels develop on the narrative
transformation' of this proposition: X expects that if X procures wealth X will
procure love. To Martin to be famous an wealth was only a means to procure Ruth.
And to Gatsby showing Daisy around that fantastic house and especially his "piles"
of shirts would win her back. Both men cared nothing, when repudiated, the wealth
in their hands or even life. The fatal thing was that they were repudiated by their
dreams rather than by those two women. But this is unreal and the source of the
contrast.
From the perspective of the sequence', the types of propositions can also shed light
on such a contrast. In a sequence, there are alternative, optional and obligatory
propositions. Both novels are based on the changed types of the proposition: X
procures Y. In social or traditional context, it is an obligatory proposition that "must
always appear at a specific place". But in both novels it changes into an alternative
proposition X either procures Y or not. So the plot structure can be expressed as: X
perceives, pursues, either procures Y or not. Together with the above-mentioned
transformation of supposition of the proposition, the ultimate structure is: X
perceives, pursues, yet does not procure Y.
Other than Martin and Gatsby, other characters' stories also reflect this formula or a
portion of the formula. Ruth in ME perceived, pursued her womanhood in the form