A Comparative Study of Female Relationships under Focalization: Taking The Great Gatsby and Family as Examples

The focalization theory aims to classify and categorize narrative techniques in the literature. This paper applies focalization to the female relationships in The Great Gatsby and Family, specifically those arising from a romantic relationship with the same male, as examples to explore the different characteristics of female relationships under different types of focalization. The study finds that The Great Gatsby uses the narrative with internal focalization in which the female relationships are presented as competitive, whereas in Family a combination of the narrative with internal focalization and the narrative with zero focalization is used in which the female relationships are presented as harmonious co-existence. The difference in female relationships is due to the different contexts of the works, the main themes of the works and the influence of the author’s experiences.