費茲傑羅《大亨小傳》中的種族與性別他者

Abstract

本篇論文的目的在於揭露費茲傑羅作品《大亨小傳》中種族與性別他者的顛覆性，同時辯證費茲傑羅並非服膺於當代白人意識型態下的作者，而對種族、性別、階段問題皆有所體認。雖然《大亨小傳》長年以來以美國夢破碎主題被視為當代名著，其研究常忽略小說中的種族與女性議題。然而，身為爵士年代的代言人，費茲傑羅實在其邊緣化的角色中，探討當代種族�性別�階級錯綜複雜的關係。藉由對二零年代社會文化之研究，本篇論文希望提供另一種角度，彰顯費茲傑羅對「他者」反動勢力的描繪，而非忽視。 本文第一章重點在於二零年代「白人」此一概念的建立及小說中對種族的刻劃。藉由黑人與猶太人經濟地位的提升，以及富豪蓋茨比的衰敗，費茲傑羅揭露出白人與「非白人」間的抗衡和對於種族他者的污名化。第二章則深入探討小說中的女性角色；即使白人男人試圖以商品來物化女性，女性仍展露其抗拒力量。如伊希德蕊所言，女性在男性主導的社會下被規範為「母親、處女、妓女」的角色；然而，小說中的妻子與職業婦女展現出對男性威權的抗拒與顛覆。因此，藉由對這些邊緣化角色的描繪，費茲傑羅實則呈現出白人男性與種族�性別他者間的權力鬥爭。

This thesis aims at debunking the subversive power of the racial and sexual Others in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby while at the same time recognizes Fitzgerald’s consciousness of the race, gender, and class issues in the twenties instead of submission to the contemporary white ideology. Although The Great Gatsby has been regarded as a masterpiece in its delineation of the disillusionment of the American Dream, the issues on race and women are often trivialized or even ignored in its studies. However, as the spokesman of the Jazz Age, Fitzgerald probes into the race and women issues, intermingled with class distinction, in the depiction of the marginalized characters. Through a socio-cultural study, it is hoped that this study will offer a reading that recognizes Fitzgerald’s contribution to the portrayal of the rebelliousness of the Other in the 1920s instead of his ignorance of it. The first chapter focuses on the formation of the concept of “whiteness” in the twenties and the delineations of races in the novel. Through the blacks’ and the Jews’ rise in economic status and Gatsby’s fall despite of his financial success, Fitzgerald unveils the tension between whites and “nonwhites” as well as the stigmatization of the racial Other. The second chapter will investigate into the rebellious female characters in the novel despite men’s attempt to regulate their desire into commodities in a capitalist society. As Luce Irigaray argues, women are “disciplined” into the roles of “mother, virgin, and prostitute” in a patriarchal society. However, the wives’ and career women’s refusal to stay in the fixed positions in the novel demonstrate the subversive power of women that recognize and resist the oppression from men. Through the rebelliousness of marginalized characters, Fitzgerald presents the power struggle between white male and the racial/sexual Other.