Conversation Analysis in The Great Gatsby Movie..

1. A. BACKGROUND
I choose the topic “Conversation Analysis in The Great Gatsby
Movie” because I am interested in analysing the conversation in the movie. I
think that conversation or spoken language has some uniqueness than written
language because there are shared situation and two-way interaction in spoken
language so I choose to analyze a piece of conversation in the movie “The
Great Gatsby”. It is based on the novel written by the American author, F.
Scott Fitzgerald. First published in 1925, It is set on Long Island's North Shore
and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922. It has been filmed
seven times. I analyze the third movie in 1974 because it is the most famous
screen version. I am curious to analyze the conversation between the main
characters, Gatsby and Nick Caraway. I want to observe the turn taking,
adjacency pairs and sequences in the conversation of The Great Gatsby movie.
B. LITERATURE REVIEW
Conversational Analysis was developed in the late 1960s and early
1970s principally by the sociologist Harvey Sacks and his close associates
Emanuel Schegloff and Gail Jefferson. Conversational analysts attempt to
describe and explain the ways in which conversation work. CA takes “bottom-
up” approach, starting with the conversation itself; it lets the data dictate its
own structure. CA looks at conversation as a line or ongoing event, that
unfolds little by little and implies the negotiation of cooperation between
speakers along the way, thus viewing conversation as a process. CA takes real
data and then examines the language and demonstrate that conversation is
systematically structured. (Cutting, 2002:28)
Let us now turns to the patterns of CA linguistics find emerge as
interaction unfolds. Typically, these are unwritten conventions about taking
turns, and observable pairs of utterances. In the classic ethnomethodological
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2. way, discourse analysts have observed how participants organize themselves to
take turns at talk. In any piece of natural English discourse, turns will occur
smoothly, with only little overlap and interruption, and only very brief silences
between turns (on average, less than a second). People take turns when they are
selected or nominated by the current speaker, or if no one is selected, they may
speak of their own accord (self-selection). If neither of these conditions
applies, the person who is currently speaking may continue (Sacks et al. 1974).
(McCarthy, 1991: 127)
CA analysts say that there is a relation between acts, and that
conversation contains frequently occuring patterns, in pairs of utterances
known as „adjacency pairs‟. They say that the utterance of one speaker makes a
certain response of the next speaker very likely. The acts are ordered with a
first part and a second part, and categorised as question-answer, offer-accept,
blame-deny and so on, with each first part creating an expectation of a
particular second part. This is known as preference structure: each first part has
a preferred and a dispreffered response. (Cutting, 2002: 30)
Conversation analysts claim that as speakers are mutually constructing
and negotiating their conversation in time, certain sequences, which are
stretches of utterances or turns, emerge. These are can be pre-sequences,
insertion sequences, and opening and closing sequences. Pre-sequences prepare
for the ground for a further sequence and signal the type of utterance to follow.
In the case of an insertion sequence, the pairs occur embedded within other
adjacency pairs which act as macro-sequences. Finally, there are
conversational opening structures and closing structures. (Cutting, 2002: 31)
C. ANALYSIS
The text is taken from The Great Gatsby movie. The conversation
happens at Nick‟s house on Long Island. Gatsby wants to get information from
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3. his neighbour, Nick Caraway after Nick met Jordan Baker. Actually, Gatsby
asked Miss Baker to speak to Nick about his relationship with Nick‟s cousin,
Daisy and to ask Nick inviting Daisy to have tea in Nick‟s house so Gatsby can
meet Daisy. Gatsby wants to know about the tea invitation. This is the script of
the conversation between Gatsby and Nick:
Gatsby: Nick!
Nick : Your place looks like the World's Fair.
Gatsby : I was looking in some of my rooms.
Nick : I spoke to Miss Baker.
Gatsby: Yes?
Nick : I'll call Daisy tomorrow and invite her for tea. What day would suit
you?
Gatsby: What day would suit you?
I don't want to put you to any trouble.
Nick : Come in out of the rain.
Gatsby : No, I have to go back.
What do you...
Nick : What about the day after tomorrow?
Gatsby : Well.
I have to get the grass cut.
Nick : You mean my grass.
Gatsby : Right.
There's that other thing...
Nick : What thing?
Gatsby : Our business relationship.
Nick : Any favours that I do for you don't need any payment.
Gatsby : Well, thank you.
Goodnight.
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4. The first comment to make about this conversation is to emphasize
that the speakers are neighbours (Gatsby and Nick). The relation and the
situational context have a significant influence on how the conversation flows.
They are friends but they have not been closer to each other because they have
met only twice before. The speakers do not know each other well. It can be
seen that Gatsby do not ask directly about what he want to know and Gatsby
thinks that what Nick will do may need payment.
The purpose of the conversation is primarily transactional because
Gatsby wants to get some information from Nick but they do not talk directly
to the important information. They have lips service before they go to the most
important topic. A range of topics are covered, e.g. Gatsby‟s house, the tea
invitation, rain, the day of the invitation, the grass and business relationship.
The first speaker (Gatsby) speaks 9 times and the second speaker (Nick) speaks
8 times. There are 17 utterances and 6 topics in one scene. The topics change
very quickly and in fact one topic is often dealt with in the space of 2
utterances.
The topics are introduced in 2 ways:
statements
- the topic of Gatsby‟s house: Your place looks like the World‟s Fair
- the tea invitation: I spoke to Miss Baker.
- the rain: Come in out of the rain.
- the grass: Well, I have to get the grass cut.
- the business realionship: There‟s that other thing...
question
- the topic of the day of the invitation: What day would suit you?
Even when the form of the utterance looks like a statement, the lowering
intonation at the end of the utterances such as “What do you...” and “There‟s
that other thing...” imply that that the speaker wants to ask or to tell something.
Nick introduces more topics. He introduces the topics of Gatsby‟s house, the
tea invitation, rain and the day of the invitation. The two men build the
conversation together. Nick gives many information by statements and
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5. questions. Besides, Gatsby also answer Nick‟s question. Gatsby allows Nick to
interrupt him. After the interuption, they come to the new topic of the
interuption.
About the turn taking, actually one speaker waits till another speaker
has finished talking before he answer or contribute to the conversation. This is
because they have not known each other well so they still respect each other.
One speaker lets another speaker by the signal of low voice, slowing down and
putting a question. However, the turns also contain overlap and interruption.
The overlap happens in this utterances:
Gatsby: What do you...
Nick : What about the day after tomorrow?
Gatsby: Well... I have to get the grass cut.
Gatsby and Nick speak together at a time but Gatsby then answer Nick‟s
question although there is overlap.
Then about the interruption, it happens when:
Gatsby : There's that other thing...
Nick : What thing?
Nick interupts and take turn from Gatsby but Gatsby allow Nick to interrupt
him although he has not been finished speaking.
Then, let us analyze of the adjacency pairs:
1) Gatsby: Nick!
Nick : Your place looks like the World's Fair. (compliment)
Gatsby : I was looking in some of my rooms. (acknowledgement)
Here, Gatsby calls Nick because he wants to speak with Nick. The second and
third utterances are adjacency pair. Nick‟s utterance is compliment of Gatsby‟s
house because the house is very big and beatiful. There are many people who
have party there so the house is very crowded. Then Gatsby acknowledge it by
saying he was looking in some of his rooms.
2) Nick : I spoke to Miss Baker. (informing)
Gatsby: Yes? (clarifying)
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6. In this two utterances, the adjacency pairs are informing-clarifying. Nick wants
to inform that he has spoken to Miss Baker then Gatsby says Yes to clarify it
because he wants more information and he wants to know what happens next.
3) Nick : I'll call Daisy tomorrow and invite her for tea. What day would
suit you? (question)
Gatsby: What day would suit you?
I don't want to put you to any trouble. (answer)
Here, the adjacency pairs are question and answer. Nick asks about the best
day to have the tea invitation but Gatsby gives the answer with repeat Nick‟s
question to emphasize that he does not want to make Nick difficult to decide
the best day. He will follow Nick‟s decision anytime Nick wants.
4) Nick : Come in out of the rain. (offering)
Gatsby : No, I have to go back. (refusing)
The adjacency pairs here are offering and refusing. Nick offer‟s Gatsby to
come in to his house but Gatsby gives dispreferred response. Gatsby refuses
Nick‟s offer.
5) Nick : What about the day after tomorrow? (offer)
Gatsby : Well. (acceptance)
Here, the adjacency pairs are question and answer. Nick offers the day after
tomorrow as the best day to the tea invitation. Gatsby accepts Nick‟s offer by
saying “well”.
6) Gatsby : I have to get the grass cut. (requesting)
Nick : You mean my grass. (clarifying)
Gatsby : Right.
In the utterances, the adjacency pairs are requesting and clarifying. Gatsby says
like that as a request to cut Nick‟s grass then Nick clarifies it. Gatsby says
“right” as backchanelling to show Nick that his message is understood.
7) Nick : What thing? (question)
Gatsby : Our business relationship (answer)
Here, the adjacency pairs are question and answer. Nick asks what thing that
Gatsby wants to tell. Then Gatsby answers about their business relationship.
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7. 8) Nick : Any favours that I do for you don't need any payment. (clarifying)
Gatsby : Well, thank you. (thank)
The adjacency pairs are clarifying and thank. Nick clarifies that he does not ask
money for any favours that he does for Gatsby then Gatsby says thanks.
Analysis of the sequences of the conversation shows that there are
pre-sequence, insertion sequence, and opening and closing sequences. The pre-
sequence that prepare for the ground for a further sequence and signal the
type of utterance to follow is Nick‟s utterance “Your place looks like the
World's Fair.”. Then, there is insertion sequence that happens in the italic
utterances:
Nick : .....What day would suit you?
Gatsby: What day would suit you?
I don't want to put you to any trouble.
Nick : Come in out of the rain.
Gatsby: No, I have to go back.
What do you...
Nick : What about the day after tomorrow?
They talk about the best day to have the tea invitation, then the insertion
sequence happens when Nick asks Gatsby to come in out the rain then they
continue to talk about the topic of the the best day of tea invitation.
The conversation also has opening sequence. It is opened after Gatsby
calls Nick then Nick starts the conversation about Gatsby‟s house. These are
the utterances:
Gatsby: Nick!
Nick: Your place looks like the World's Fair.
After they finish the conversation, it is closed by Gatsby‟s greeting. Here is the
closing sequence. Gatsby says thanks for Nick‟s help then he says good night.
Look at Gatsby‟s utterances:
Gatsby: Well, thank you.
Goodnight.
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8. D. CONCLUSION
Conversation deals mainly with verbal exchanges of human beings
that share an important part in social settings. Conversation always has some
purposes. It can be interactional purpose (used when people relate to each
other) or transactional purpose (used to pass on real information). We can
know many things by analyzing the key aspects of conversation. Before we do
the analysis, we should know the context of situation and the culture that the
conversation happens. Analyzing the key aspects of conversation through turn-
taking, adjacency pairs and the sequences is important thing to do. By doing
these analysis, we can explore the interaction and the purpose of conversation
in depth and in detail.
E. REFERENCES
Cutting, Joan. 2002. Pragmatics and Discourse: A resource book for students.
London: Routledge
McCarthy, Michael. 1991. Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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