UDK 821.111.09-31 Conrad J. :821.111(73).09-31 Fitzgerald F.S. 
INDIRECT NARRATION: A CASE STUDY OF CONRAD'S HEART OF 
DARKNESS AND FITZGERALD'S THE GREAT GATSBY 
MajdaSavle 
Abstract 
Joseph Conrad's narrative style has influenced many writers, including F. Scott Fitzgerald. The 
objective of my study on verbs used in discourse in Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Fitzgerald's The 
Great Gatsby was to confirm the speculation that besides Conrad's innovative technique of indirect 
narration there were other techniques (such as careful selection of imagistic detail) Fitzgerald learned 
from Conrad. 
INTRODUCTION 
All art appeals primarily to the senses, and the artistic aim when expressing 
itself in written words must also make its appeal through the senses, if its 
high desire is to reach the secret spring of responsive emotions. 
(Conrad 2003: 2) 
Conrad knew from the very beginning of his writing career what he wanted to 
express; it was how to express it that concerned him most. His search for such "artistic 
perfection" as stated in his preface to The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (1897) forced him 
into constant experimentation. The introduction of Marlow - narrator meant a turning 
point in Conrad's writing and offered his successors, F. Scott Fitzgerald being among 
them, a powerful narrative device. 
The objectives of my study on indirect narration in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby 
and Conrad's Heart of Darkness was to find answers to some ofthe questions the students 
of the Littoral Grammar Schools arose during their study of Fitzgerald's novel for the 
"matura exam" and to confirm the speculation that Conrad's influence on Fitzgerald's 
The Great Gatsby goes far beyond the use of "indirect narration and disrupted chronol-
ogy" (Moore in Stape: 227). 
CONRAD'S INFLUENCE ON FITZGERALD 
Fitzgerald was a very keen reader since his youth and Conrad was among his 
favourites, so even though Conrad's works were not yet taught at Princeton when Fitzger-
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ald was a student there (1913 to 1917), he studied them closely (226). It is already in 
Fitzgerald's first novel This Side of Paradise (1920) that we come across Conrad: 
Amory was alone; he had escaped from a small enclosure into a great 
labyrinth. He was where Goethe was when he began "Faust; he was where 
Conrad was when he wrote ''Almayer's Folly". 
(Fitzgerald 2005: 25) 
We learn about Fitzgerald's acknowledgement of his debt to Conrad from his 
private correspondence. In a letter to his friend H. L. Mencken Fitzgerald listed not only 
The Great Gatsby (1925) but also Eugene O'Neill's play The Emperor Jones (1920) 
and Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence (1919) as works written in imitation 
of Conrad (Thrnbull: 482). In another letter Fitzgerald warned Hemingway against the 
influence of Conrad in dialogue: "Like me you must beware of Conrad rhythms in direct 
quotations from characters, especially if you're pointing a single phrase and making a 
man live by it" (300). On the other hand it was Conrad's innovative use of the first person 
narrator-protagonist that offered Fitzgerald the chance to introduce a character "through 
whose eyes and mind the central protagonist is gradually discovered" (Biscay: 2). 
He smiled understandingly - much more understandingly. It was one of 
those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may 
come across four or five times in life. It faced - or seemed to face - the 
whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an 
irresistible prejudice in your favour. 
(Fitzgerald 1994: 54) 
INDIRECT NARRATION 
Generally writers choose between the first person narrator, the third person 
omniscient narrator and the third person limited narrator. The third person omniscient 
narrator allows the writer to give an overall view of the story, its characters, its setting, 
and its background. The reader gets the information the main character cannot or may 
not know or notice. The first person narrator, on the other hand, brings greater focus 
on the feelings, perceptions, and opinions of a particular character in the story. The 
reader sees how the first narrator views the world and discovers through them how the 
other characters in the story view it (Harper: 3). Stanzel makes the point that the most 
important difference between the first person and the third-person narrator is their 
motivation to narrate: 
For an embodied narrator, this motivation is existential; it is directly con-
nected with his practical experiences ... For the third-person narrator, on 
the other hand, there is no existential compulsion to narrate. 
(Stanzel: 93). 
What is more, the first person narrator may be conscious of telling the story to a 
given audience, (in the case of Marlow to his audience of one time sailors), at a given 
place and at a given time. 
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The traffic of the great city went on in the deepening night upon the 
sleepless river. We looked on, waiting patiently - there was nothing 
else to do till the end of the flood; but it was only after a long silence, 
when he said, in a hesitating voice, 'I suppose you fellows remember I 
did once turn fresh-water sailor for a bit,' that we knew we were fated, 
before the ebb began to run, to hear about one ofMarlow's inconclusive 
experiences. 
(Conrad 1994: 10) 
Many writers, especially at their first arms, prefer to use the third person narrator 
to the other two. Such was the case with Conrad too. In his first novels Almayer's Folly 
(1895), An Outcast of the Islands (1896), and The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (1897) 
Conrad narrated in the conventional manner. We come across Marlow for the first time 
in Conrad's short story Youth (1898) but it is in the succeeding novels Heart of Dark-
ness (1899) and Lord Jim (1900) that this character's function can be fully appreciated. 
Conrad employed the same narrative technique, i.e., "the story within the story or the 
frame story technique" in other works too (Weiss: 23). Where Marlow is not used, there 
is often an equivalent narrator (e.g. the teacher of languages in Under the Western Eyes 
(1911) or Davidson in Victory (1915)). 
CONRAD'S NEED FOR MARLOW I FITZGERALD'S NEED FOR NICK 
CARRAWAY 
So what does Marlow offer Conrad? He is the one that unveils the mysteries 
surrounding the main figure of his story, in the case of Heart of Darkness- the contro-
versial Kurtz, but it is his interpretation of what he saw, heard, sensed, and imagined 
that matters for the readers and helps them to make the distinction between Conrad, 
the author/reporter and Marlow, the interpreter (Weiss: 65). The readers trust Marlow 
because even if he is a sailor, he does not represent his class, he is not typical. He is a 
wanderer, accounting his experiences with mature and objectified attitude, yet "using 
the forceful and idiomatic expressions of ordinary conversation" (Newhouse: 90). He 
often interrupts his narrative to take a drink, a smoke, or to remark something. 
There was a pause of profound stillness, then a match flared, and Marlow's 
lean face appeared, worn, hollow, with downward folds, and dropped 
eyelids, with an aspect of concentrated attention/ .. ./ 'Absurd!' he cried. 
'This is the worst of trying to tell.' 
(Conrad 1994: 68) 
Although the reality of the story is in Marlow's head, in his words, in his obser-
vations, the reader is made perceptive to the meanings transpiring from his narration 
thanks to Conrad's ability to "force his audience to try to penetrate beneath the mere 
surface level of the narrative" (Rathburn and Steinmann: 65). 
I listened, I listened on the watch for the sentence, for the word, that 
would give me the clue to the faint uneasiness inspired by this narrative 
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that seemed to shape itself without human lips in the heavy night-air of 
the river. 
(Conrad 1994: 40) 
Fitzgerald's narrator Nick Carraway, on the other hand, "becomes a voice of 
what Fitzgerald called 'selective delicacy'- filtering sensations and impressions/ .. ./, 
presenting a landscape of complex images" (Ruland and Bradbury: 299). Kathleen Par-
kinson also observes that Nick Carraway' s "blend of imaginative excitement and ironic 
detachment hold in balanced tension the two ways of perceiving the world through which 
the narrative is structured" (Parkinson: 119). A different perspective has been provided 
by Biscay, who warns the readers to differentiate "between the separate views of Nick 
Carraway as the narrator and Nick Carraway as the character" (Biscay 1). He alleges 
that Nick Carraway's character can be seen as dishonest and hypocritical (readers can 
nevertheless relate to him as a person) but that "we learn to trust him as narrator, because 
of all the pieces of information he gives to us, received through symbolism, imagery, 
or personal reflection" (ibid.). 
The instant her voice broke off, ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, 
I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said. It made me uneasy, as 
though the whole evening had been a trick of some sort to exact a con-
tributory emotion from me. 
(Fitzgerald 1994: 24) 
Trilling believes that in Fitzgerald's work "the voice of his prose is of the essence 
of his success" (Trilling in Mizener: 18), while Weiss concludes that what has made 
Conrad one of the most difficult (and most appreciated) of writers in English is not "the 
complexity of his thought, which appears difficult enough, but his rhetoric or language 
style" (Weiss: 9). 
CONRAD'S /FITZGERALD'S LANGUAGE STYLE 
As an artist Conrad "conspired to lift his prose to the level of eloquence" as Weiss 
puts it (ibid.); and he succeeded in doing so with his narrative devices, among which 
the most important are considered to be: symbolic presentation of the theme, imagery, 
point of view, and remarkably rich vocabulary. In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby we 
come across the same techniques: chronological looping, a central symbol, careful 
selection of imagistic detail, an indirect narrator, and indirect and interrupted handling 
of interviews and dialogues. 
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'There's another little thing,' he said uncertainly, and hesitated. 'Would you 
rather put it off for a few days?' I asked. 'Oh, it isn't about that. At least-' 
He fumbled with a series of beginnings. 'Why, I thought- why, look here, 
old sport, you don't make much money, do you?' 'Not very much.' 
(Fitzgerald 1994: 89) 
'Anything since then?' asked the other, hoarsely. 'Ivory,' jerked the 
nephew; 'lots of it- prime sort- lots- most annoying, from him.' 'And 
with that?' questioned the heavy rumble. 'Invoice,' was the reply fired 
out, so to speak. 
(Conrad 1994: 45) 
So why do we come across dialogue in Marlow's and Nick Carraway's indirect 
narration so often? The answer might be because it is one of Conrad's and Fitzgerald's 
most powerful writing tools. Newhouse claims that all serious novelists use dialogue 
for a large number of purposes - "to reveal and differentiate character and motive, to 
slacken or quicken the action, to provide contrast or humour, or to pin-point a moment" 
(Newhouse: 89). But there is more to Marlow's and Nick Carraway's narration. It is 
also characterized by a very rich vocabulary, used to impress and persuade the readers 
the way Conrad's most known phrase clearly indicates: "to make you hear, to make you 
feel-it is, before all, to make you see" (Conrad 2003: 2). 
The earth for us is a place to live in, where we must put up with sights, 
with sounds, with smell, too, by Jove- breathe dead hippo, so to speak, 
and not to be contaminated. 
(Conrad 1994: 71) 
On the muresuperficial-level,-unecou1d-speculate-thatMarlow's and Nick Car-
raway' s story is a record of things seen and done- of their experience in Congo and New 
York and the knowledge they gain by it. But a more close analysis of one of Conrad's 
and Fitzgerald's greatest talents- their very careful choice of words shows that by means 
of vivid, exact, diverse description of selected details they achieve their purpose of 
seducing the reader into perceiving and understanding the novel's ambiguous imagery 
and symbolism too (Weiss: 75). 
At first I thought it was another party, a wild rout that had resolved itself 
into 'hide-and-go-seek' or 'sardines-in-the-box' with all the house thrown 
open to the game. But there wasn't a sound. Only the wind in the trees, 
which blew the wires and made the lights go off and on again as if the 
house had winked into the darkness. 
(Fitzgerald 1994: 88) 
CASE STUDY AND ITS RESULTS 
In order to find confirmation to these assertions I focused on Conrad's and Fitzger-
ald's choice of verbs for Marlow's and Nick Carraway's narration about their commu-
nication with the others, that is, on discourse. Douglas Biber analyzes several types of 
discourse, the major ones being "involved, informational, narrative and non-narrative" 
(Harris-Bosselmann: 2); all to be found in the two novels too. The study was carried out 
on the basis of three lists of verbs: the control list, Conrad's list, and Fitzgerald's list. 
The control list of single-word verbs (no multi-word verbs such as bring out, run on, 
sum up, etc. were taken into consideration) included: standard reporting verbs to show 
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direct speech in writing (e.g. say, tell, ask), most common reporting verbs or phrases 
occurring in indirect speech (e.g. note, observe, remark), frequently used verbs to "in-
terpret" direct speech (e.g. beg, object, wonder), and frequently used verbs to denote 
non-verbal communication (e.g. listen, see, swear) (Alexander: 224). The same system 
of selection was applied to the texts of The Great Gatsby and Heart of Darkness. In 
addition to verbs there were other parts of the speech (e.g. nouns, adjectives, adverbs) 
analysed in order to get an overall picture of the most characteristic features of Conrad' s 
and Fitzgerald's narrative techniques. 
The results of the study are presented in charts and tables. The control verbs are 
labelled as "common" while those used by the two authors but not included in the control 
list as "additional". There are about a hundred verbs (96) in the control list. Marlow's 
(269) and Nick Carraway's (254) lists are nearly three times longer. 
300 
250 
200 
-150 
100 
50 
0 
Verbs used in discourse 
jmAIIverbsj 
HOD GG Common verbs 
Graph 1: All verbs used in discourse 
Interestingly enough, Conrad and Fitzgerald did not employ all the verbs listed as 
"common". Neither of them for example used such verbs as: boast, claim, demonstrate, 
estimate, guarantee or teach, but preferred verbs like: confess, hint, inquire, protest, 
suspect. 
Common verbs in HOD Common verbs in GG 
Graphs 2 and 3: "Common" verbs 
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There are many motives behind such a large number of different verbs used by 
both narrators. Besides their primary motive to express their own attitudes, thoughts, 
and feelings, and those of the other characters, Marlow and Nick Carraway also portray 
different social classes, nationalities or regional speeches of people they communicate 
with. 
'Wha's matter? He inquired calmly. 'Did we run outa gas?'/ .. ./ 
'Wonder'ff tell me where there's a gas'line station?' 
(Fitzgerald 1994: 61, 62) 
'Been living there?' he asked. I said, 'Yes.' 'Fine lot these government 
chaps - are they not?' he went on, speaking English with great precision 
and considerable bitterness. 
(Conrad 1994: 21) 
Another reason for so many verbs can be found in Conrad's and Fitzgerald's 
intent to offer their readers very detailed descriptions of nonverbal communication 
which is an important feature of involved discourse too. It is perceived and accepted 
or received with separate or individual senses or several senses contemporaneously. 
Wordless messages can be communicated through gesture; body language or posture; 
facial expression and eye contact; intonation and stress; voice quality, and speaking style 
(Leech and Svartvik: 134~ 152);- -
At first I couldn't find the source of the high, groaning words that echoed 
clamorously through the bare garage -then I saw Wilson standing on the 
raised threshold of his office, swaying back and forth and holding to the 
doorposts3 with both hands. 
(Fitzgerald 1994: 144) 
In addition to reporting what the speakers say Marlow and Nick Carraway provide 
extra information to the reader by reporting about acts that were performed by saying 
something or as a result of saying it. There are 19 % of such verbs (labelled in graphs as 
"manner and noise" verbs) used by Conrad and 16% by Fitzgerald. Marlow and Nick 
Carraway most frequently use verbs like mutter, sigh or whisper but we also come across 
such less common verbs as:flinch, gabble, grow, jabber, snort, whimper, or wince. 
81'16 
Manner and noise verbs in HOD 
1996 
m Manner and noise \erbs 
•Other~ 
Manner and noise verbs in GG 
16'16 
Graphs 4 and 5: "Manner and noise verbs" 
m Manner and noise ~rbs 
•Other\erbs 
123 
Besides confirming Conrad's and Fitzgerald's careful choice of a whole variety 
of reporting verbs, the results also show a very frequent use of such nouns as silence, 
mouth, lips, ears or voice instead of the verbs to hear/listen or say/speak. 
Noun HOD GG 
Ears 6 9 
Lips/Mouth 5 18 
Silence 19 10 
Voice 41 68 
Table I: Nouns denoting senses 
At this point we may hypothesize that these narrative devices offer Conrad and 
Fitzgerald the possibility to show their mastery in cumulative use of powerful adjec-
tives and adverbs in order to present "a psychological and moral reality, rather than an 
external naturalism" (Weiss 10). 
The volume of tone he emitted without effort, almost without the trouble 
of moving his lips, amazed me. A voice! A voice! It was grave, profound, 
vibrating, while the man did not seem capable o~a whisper~ 
(Conrad 1994: 86) 
His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of frac-
tiousness he conveyed. There was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even 
toward people he liked - and there were men at New Haven who had 
hated his guts. 
(Fitzgerald 1994: 13) 
Such a rich vocabulary as encountered in Conrad's and Fitzgerald's works can 
sometimes be quite demanding for a "common" reader or a reader whose mother tongue 
is not English. On the other hand, their preference for using simple verbs, instead of 
prepositional or phrasal verbs (there are only about 15% of such verbs in both texts) is 
of much help to such readers, especially if they are somehow acquainted with Latin or 
French, as 60 - 65% of the analysed verbs originate from these two languages. 
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Verbs ofFrench/Latin origin in HOD 
rn French/latln origin 
• Other origin 
Verbs ofFrench/Latin origin in GG 
Graphs 6 and 7: Verbs of French/Latin origin 
m French/Latin origin 
• Other origin 
I was particularly interested in verbs that developed from French, wondering how 
much was Conrad's and Fitzgerald's choice of vocabulary influenced by their personal 
connection with the language. Conrad started to learn French as a child and left Poland in 
1874 to become a sailor in Marseille, while Fitzgerald first moved to the French Riviera 
(where he completed The Great Gatsby) in 1924. It is not very clear why Conrad chose 
to write in English, since Polish was his mother tongue, he was equally proficient in 
French, and learned English relatively late (he joined the British navy in his twenties); 
yet it is well known that he preferred French in oral expression and personal correspon-
dence. Conrad's friend and novelist H.G. Wells observed that "he would supplement 
his vocabulary-- especially when discussing cultural or political matters-with French 
words" (Baines: 233). It would be interesting to investigate whether this was the case 
with Conrad's written English too. 
He was becoming confidential now, but I fancy my unresponsive attitude 
must have exasperated him at last, for he judged it necessary to inform me 
he feared neither God nor devil, let alone any mere man. 
(Conrad 1994: 40) 
Fitzgerald, on the other hand, did not speak French very well. Callahan observes 
that during his childhood spent in his native St. Paul, Fitzgerald was surrounded by 
French names. He became fascinated with the sounds of the language and they had 
significant consequences for his writing. "French became for him a language of dreams 
expressing fantasies of glamour, elegance, sexual conquest, and upward social mobil-
ity" (Callahan: 2). 
'What do you think?' he demanded impetuously. 'About what?' He waved 
his hand toward the book-shelves. 'About that. As a matter of fact you 
needn't bother to ascertain. I ascertained. They're real.' 
(Fitzgerald 1994: 51) 
In Heart of Darkness there are 39 % of verbs that developed through Middle 
English via French in all three categories- all verbs, "common" verbs and "additional" 
verbs. Among verbs used only by Conrad there are such uncommon ones (at least for an 
average reader) as, for example, assent, conceal, expound, regard, etc. 
161'16 
Allved>s in HOD 
Dl9l6 
m French origin 
•OtherOOgin 
'Common' verbs in HOD • Additionar verbs in HOD 
161'16 
Graphs 8, 9 and 10: Verbs of French origin in Heart of Darkness 
m French origin 
•otherorign 
125 
The Great Gatsby shows a slightly different picture. The percentage of verbs of 
French origin among all the verbs is the same as by Conrad (39) but it varies in the other 
three categories: "common" verbs ( 43% ), "additional" verbs shared with Conrad (38%) 
and distinct "additional" verbs (e.g. append, defer, dispute, interpose, etc.) (36%). 
1161% 
1162% 
All verbs in GG 
"Additional" verbs shared with 
Conrad 
38% 
111 French origin 
11 Other origin 
Ill French origin 
11 Other origin 
"Common" verbs in GG 
43% 
1157% 
Distinct"additional" verbs 
36% 
El French origin 
11 Other origin 
m French origin 
11 Other origin 
Graphs 11, 12, 13 and 14: Verbs of French origin in The Great Gatsby 
The results of the study make it clear that nearly every second simple verb we 
come across in Conrad's and Fitzgerald's indirect narration is of French origin. The 
questions whether and to what extent these characteristics of Conrad's and Fitzgerald's 
narrative contribute to a better perception and understanding of the two novels by the 
readers, whose mother tongue is not English, still need to be answered, though. 
CONCLUSION 
Discussing about Conrad's and Fitzgerald's writing style is a great challenge not 
just for contemporary scholars but for generations to come too, I believe. Every single 
characteristic of their art offers countless possibilities of investigation. Even though I 
restricted my study solely on indirect narration I hope I succeeded in calling the readers' 
attention to some of the less discussed aspects of Conrad's and Fitzgerald's language 
style (e.g. choice of verbs) and stimulated their curiosity into finding out more the next 
time they intend to reread these two novels. 
University of Primorska, Slovenia 
126 
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