Stylistic Analysis of The Great Gatsby from Lexical and Grammatical Category

Abstract

The thesis tries to adopt the method used by Leech and Short in their book Style in Fiction to make a relatively overall and objective analysis of the novel’s language from lexical and grammatical Category. As far as the lexical features are concerned, the author employs special lexical items and lexical clusters. The lexical deviation and word connotations are mainly used for characterization and theme revelation. In terms of the syntactical aspects, narrative sentence type and the contrast of registers are employed, and the author’s sentence endings with elaborate appositions and prepositional phrases provide an effective way to describe the surroundings and evoke moods, serving to generate suspense as well as to create interest and expectation on the part of the reader.