Style (Rhetorical Strategies)

• Adage: “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages you’ve had” (Fitzgerald 1).
• Metaphor: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 180).
• Symbolism: “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…” (Fitzgerald 180).
• Personification: “No—Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men” (Fitzgerald 2).
• Declarative Sentence: “I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known” (Fitzgerald 59).

Through the use of rhetorical strategies, F. Scott Fitzgerald attains a simplistic, yet classic style in his writing that is filled with honesty and optimism. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald narrates the story of the Great Gatsby through the frank Nick Carraway. He uses a variety of rhetorical strategies to recount the Jazz Age, and the mysterious life of Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald abides by an embellished and elaborated yet honest retelling. Beginning the novel with the adage and a declarative, an insight of Nick Carraway’s upbringing and his overpowering honesty is shown, which naturally draws the readers in. Nick Carraway is given a sense of credibility showing that trust in the story can be put upon him. But throughout the novel, the symbolism of hope is seen in the “greatness” of Gatsby; because Gatsby never gave up on his dream thus polishing his determination. With the personification, Fitzgerald shows the deeper connection that Carraway had with Gatsby and the complex, but vague relationship they had. Also, a metaphorical statement is used to compare the people of the 20’s and time itself, and how the past haunts and eludes, insinuating a hopeless, yet succinct truth. Overall, through figurative language, Fitzgerald accomplishes an emotional yet straightforward story through a realistic and exemplary style that shows optimism in humanity allowing the readers to relate to the characters effectively. 

Diction (Tone)

• Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald’s thoughts and ideas of tone is conveyed through the narration and word choice of Nick Carraway. Nick Carraway is an “honest” man who recounts the story of the Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald 59). By always abiding to what his father said, “Remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages you’ve had” (Fitzgerald 1), Nick is given credibility for his passionate, yet poignant truthfulness. Fitzgerald frames Nick Carraway through a convincing and realistic tone, as seen through Nick’s opinions and decisions.
• Fitzgerald states Nick’s opinions of Daisy and Tom on page 154 when Nick tells Gatsby, “They’re a rotten crowd…You’re worth the whole damn bunch together” (Fitzgerald 154). He also recounts them as “careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…” (Fitzgerald 179). Through these two passages Fitzgerald shows that Nick Carraway has paralleled opinions on Gatsby, Tom and Daisy. By describing Tom and Daisy as a “rotten crowd”, the tone of hopelessness is shown, withering their humanity. Tom and Daisy seem to be “careless people” who only care about themselves; nevertheless, retreating back to what they only have, which is “money”. A condescending tone can also be perceived through Tom and Daisy’s actions, because they always “let other people clean up the mess they made”. Whereas in Gatsby, Nick appreciates his determined personality unlike Tom and Daisy’s. Nick’s true insight of Gatsby is seen when he states that Gatsby is “worth the whole damn bunch together”, admitting that Gatsby to him is nothing like them. This confirms a complimentary tone of Gatsby whereas the other characters are just laconic and obnoxious.

Syntax (Style, Tone, Purpose)

• As Gatsby walked into Nick’s house to meet with Daisy, he accidentally knocks over a clock and it falls on the floor. After apologizing, Daisy suddenly says, “We haven’t met for many years” (Fitzgerald 87). And without hesitation, Gatsby responded with, “Five years next November” (Fitzgerald 87).

The breaking of the clock signifies the symbol of time stopping, almost like a pause button. Gatsby is anxious to see Daisy again after a long time, and Daisy has mutual feelings. However, as soon as the clock falls onto the floor, the clock acts as an icebreaker between the two star-crossed lovers. Nick also narrates the idea as if the clock “had smashed into pieces on the floor” (Fitzgerald 87). This can also suggest the symbol of years being “smashed” or thrown away, the time they were apart. As the clock smashed to the floor, it can signify the years they were apart being forgotten. Gatsby’s automatic answer implies his immeasurable love for Daisy. It seems as if Gatsby has been counting down the days to when he will ever see Daisy again.

• When Klipsinger started to play The Love Nest on the piano, “the expression of bewilderment had come back into Gatsby’s face, as though a faint doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness” (Fitzgerald 95).

Fitzgerald uses a tremendous amount of symbols throughout the novel to represent hidden meanings. For example, when The Love Nest was played on the piano, all was forgotten; Daisy and Gatsby automatically started to dance with each other. The use of this symbolism explains that a simple song on the piano can bring two lovers back together as if they had never left each other. Fitzgerald explains through Nick’s narrations that Gatsby’s expression changed, as if he was back in time with Daisy. The author also mentions that, “No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart” (Fitzgerald 96). This can be interpreted as Gatsby’s determination to win Daisy back, through whatever means possible.

• “I remember the portrait of [Dan Cody] up in Gatsby’s bedroom, a gray, florid man with a hard, empty face—the pioneer debauchee…” (Fitzgerald 100).

Dan Cody’s portrait in Gatsby’s bedroom symbolizes his dreams of attaining numerous amounts of wealth. Ever since Gatsby first met Dan Cody, he’s always wanted to be just like him. Representing his hopes and dreams in a tangible way, Gatsby perseveres and does not give up. Although he lost Daisy because he did not have any wealth, Dan Cody was his leading motivation to achieving both his fortune and true love.

Text Connections (Text-to-Itself)

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, the main protagonist Jay Gatsby is surrounded by an air of mystery drawing the rest of the characters into his spiraling life. Persevering to reach his goal of attaining riches even through illegal means, Gatsby chooses to do all he can to win back the love of his life, Daisy. At the very end of the novel, the narrator, Nick, remembers a particular moment as he “thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock” (Fitzgerald 180). Remembering the first sighting of Gatsby reaching out towards the green light, Nick now realizes that it was as if he was reaching out to Daisy. He genuinely believed that Gatsby’s “dream must have seemed to close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” (Fitzgerald 180). A text-to-itself connection can be made through this realization of Gatsby’s dream, because the green light exists throughout the novel as a symbol. The green light can be assumed as a symbol of Daisy, and Gatsby’s undying love for her as he reaches out into the distance trying to reach her. Also, Nick mentions Gatsby stretching “out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way” as he was “trembling” (Fitzgerald 20-21). As he was still reaching out towards the green light or towards Daisy,  Gatsby did not realize that his dream “was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of republic rolled into one night” (Fitzgerald 180). This imagery describes that his dream was already gone, which can be interpreted as Daisy running away when the death of Gatsby streamed the news. She literally was in the “vast obscurity beyond the city” where she could not be found at all thus showing that she did not want to have anything to do with Gatsby. 

Personal Review

The Great Gatsby has to be one of my favorite books that we have read for English class. I was not looking forward to reading this novel because it seemed like such a typical, and cliché love story. As I began reading, the plot was dry, but one thing intrigued me, the mysteriousness of the Great Gatsby.  The syntax and descriptions of Gatsby had me looking forward to reading the book, waiting to turn the pages as his past was revealed, and how all the characters were somehow connected. His appealing character somehow drew all the characters into his luxurious and mystifying life.

To me, the ending was the best part of the novel, it was the zenith. The twist of the plot created an element that can be related to by all audiences reading this book: the lesson of falling short of a dream. This stood out to me the most, because not all stories should have a happy ending; Fitzgerald’s realism yet emotional retelling shows his sense of being a hopeless romantic. Readers, and myself, had high hopes of Gatsby attaining his dream and being with Daisy, but the ending was so emotional and heart wrenching. My expectations for this novel were not very high, but as soon as I finished the story, I found myself wanting to reread it to catch some of the details I had missed out on. Fitzgerald delivers a heart rendering novel of the Lost Generation’s lost hope. This book is a celebrated and well known story because not only does Fitzgerald create many twists and turns, but he catches the attention of the readers. His effective writing through syntax contributes to the tone and style of the story thus making him ingenious. Not only did he have perfect and endearing descriptions for all the characters, he also had the right details and imagery to set the scene of the story. Reading the book was not like reading the usual boring text with no pictures, it was as if seeing a movie in my head.