Clothing and Body Narrative Strategies in The Great Gatsby

Abstract

Body became the generative center and presentation of narrative meaning in modern fiction; it is not only the physiological existence, but also the collection of ideas and the signifier of meaning. In modern novels, the signifying meaning of characters will be revealed by the presentation of private body. Description of clothing is significant in body narrative, while paradoxically，clothing is，in one way the medium of meaning construction and expression of body, and in another way the cognitive obstacle covering the body and delaying the revealing of truth. Fitzgerald, taking full advantage of this paradox, adopted different strategies to depict the clothing of the two groups of main characters in The Great Gatsby, constructing a contrast between the visible body and the invisible body，thus to disclose the different body representations of American Dream and their respective failure.