Literary Stylistics in the Context of Analyzing "The Great Gatsby"

Abstract

This article offers a comprehensive analysis of the lexical, grammatical, and phonetic stylistic devices that F. Scott Fitzgerald employs in the novel The Great Gatsby. The relevance of the study stems from the fact that the novel's artistic language provides insight into the social, cultural, and moral realities of American society in the 1920s. The purpose of the article is to determine the functions performed by stylistic devices in revealing the characters' inner worlds and the philosophical issues of the Roaring Twenties. Stylistic, lexical-grammatical, and contextual methods of textual analysis were applied, allowing the different linguistic levels of the novel to be examined in their interrelation. The study establishes that Fitzgerald's artistic language, rich in metaphors, symbols, and sound imagery, serves as a tool for expressing the inner contradictions of the era. The lexical, syntactic, and phonetic levels of the text are shown to form a multilayered artistic space in which the characters' inner experiences correlate with the social background of the time. The scientific novelty of the work lies in treating stylistic devices as a unified mechanism shaping the novel's philosophical concept, rather than as isolated expressive techniques. The conclusions rely on the primary text and on scholarly works devoted to Fitzgerald and literary stylistics. The practical significance of the research lies in the possibility of using its results in university courses on literary studies, English stylistics, and cultural studies, as well as in specialized courses on twentieth-century American literature.