Syntax

            Fitzgerald exposes the lavish lifestyles of wealthy characters primarily through their short and choppy speech. As Nick tries to converse with Daisy, she bursts out, “How gorgeous! Let’s go back, Tom. To-morrow!”(9). The quick, terse sentences, transitioning from exclamatory to imperative, then exclamatory again, represent the every day lives of the aristocratic elite groups hailing from “old money.” One minute, they are lounging at a casual luncheon, the next they are busy working,  and the next they are participating in wild, drunken, nighttime escapades. Throughout the novel, the characters’ speech is choppy, as if they are constantly indecisive about what they want to do next. Their syntactical way of speaking represents their confused everyday lives, which is later enforced when Nick explains, “It was sharply different from the West, where an evening was hurried from phase to phase toward its close, in a continually disappointed anticipation or else in sheer nervous dread of the moment itself”(12).

            Fitzgerald also uses syntactical devices to represent significant events. As Daisy’s dinner party comes to a close, and Nick notices that, “for a moment the last sunshine fell with romantic affection upon her flowing face; her voice compelled me forward breathlessly as I listened-then the flow faded, each light deserting her with lingering regret, like the children leaving a pleasant street at dusk”(14). Nick is not truly discussing the sunset. The hyphen in the sentence separates the beginning of the sentence-which is predominantly good- from the end of the sentence-which is when the “flow faded.” This sentence introduces the phone call from Tom’s mistress. It cuts off something of such beautiful measure, to an impending doom at the end of the sunset.

           

Rhetorical Strategies

• Simile: “She was extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless, and with her chin raised a little, as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall”(8).
• Asyndeton: “Slenderly, languidly, their hands set lightly on their hips, the two young women preceded us out onto a rosy-colored porch…”(11).
• Parallelism: “Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it”(11).
• Colloquialism: “I understand you’re looking for a business gonnegtion”(70).
• Volta: “But there was a change in Gatsby that was simply confounding. He literally glowed; without a word or a gesture of exultation a new well- being radiated from him and filled the little room”(89).
• Juxtaposition: “For a while these reveries provided an outlet for his imagination; they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality, a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on  fairy’s wing”(99).

      By employing an assortment of different rhetorical devices, Fitzgerald is able to create a distinctive style that is casual, and solely American. He gives each character an idiosyncratic personality using rhetorical strategies. Similes and asyndetons are prevalent to emphasize the fragility and regal air given to aristocratic American women. Parallelism gives character to the manner in which the shallow women speak, while colloquialism builds the character of people from other non-American regions, such as Mr. Wolsheim. Fitzgerald effectively utilizes voltas and juxtaposition especially to distinguish Jay Gatsby’s aspirations of the American Dream and his personality aside from the other characters. The author enforces idealistic American values and personality of the time period by highlighting his casual writing style through rhetorical devices.

Diction

                When first meeting Daisy’s friend Jordan Baker, Nick refers to her as the “balancing girl”(8). This gives insight to Nick’s sarcastic humor and genuine opinion of the upper class society. Instead of simply referring to her as “the girl on the couch,” he appoints her a much more snobbish title. Upon his encounter with Jordan, Nick remarks that she appears to have her chin lifted in the air as if she were balancing an important object. Usually this action is associated with the pretentiousness and haughtiness of the wealthy class. By Nick’s establishment of such a title, it divulges Fitzgerald’s harsh and bitter tone that he generated during the materialistic and corrupt world of America during the 1920’s.

            While Nick and Daisy are conversing, Daisy “added irrelevantly”(9) that Nick should see her baby. By throwing in such an inconsequential statement, Daisy absentmindedly changes the topic, making the conversation as a whole, meaningless. It possesses absolutely no depth, just as the shell of the person stating it. Daisy’s “irrelevant” comment reveals how the materialistic society in which she has integrated herself into has taken over every aspect of her being; therefore, she cannot even hold a conversation with any meaning behind it. Out of all people, Daisy should know what depth is, for she hides her love for Jay Gatsby. She puts on façade by appearing shallow to meet the standards of the people in her social group. This enforces Fitzgerald’s biting tone of disapproval of the robotic, hollow people the affluent society had created.

Personal Review

              The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was an entertaining novel full of drama, romance, and tragedy. The majority of the characters were too shallow for my taste, such as Jordan Baker and some of the others who attended Gatsby’s luxurious parties. Preferably, I enjoy reading about characters that have meaningful dispositions. Gatsby, on the other hand, was a fresh of breath air for me because being the main character, he was the most complex, and he stood out from the jejune people surrounding him. I felt like I was trying to solve a great mystery when Gatsby’s past life and the repetition of being an “Oxford man” was discussed among gossipers. Also, I thought it was unique that the narrator was not Gatsby, but his friend instead. It gave more depth to both characters, as it allowed me to discern Nick’s personality and opinion on matters, as well as Gatsby’s life through Nick’s narration.

            Not only were the two main characters intriguing, but the warped and twisted relationships and societal values were too. Tom and Daisy had an odd abusive relationship, in which Tom was physically, mentally, and verbally abusive. It was well- known that he was cheating on Daisy, and that he was harmful, yet everyone, even Daisy’s closest friends, chose to ignore it. In the end, Daisy chose Tom over her true love, Gatsby, which I found disappointing. Fitzgerald accurately represented the skewed values of “Roaring 20’s.” The main motive for Daisy’s marriage to Tom in the first place was due to his “old-money” title. When Gatsby finally gained money, the relationship between he and Daisy would not work out because he represented “new-money.” It is sad to think that money and warped values could be the ultimate downfall of true love.

Text Connections

            In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is a purposive man, whose goal in life is to acquire wealth, and-more importantly-the love of his life Daisy. Although five years have passed and Daisy is married, Gatsby constantly turmoils over trying to win her back. Gatsby loses his equable composure when he invites Daisy and Nick to his mansion. Nick observes, "[Gatsby's] head leaned back so far that it rested against the face of a defunct mantelpiece clock, and from this position his distraught eyes stared down at Daisy, who was sitting, frightened but graceful, on the edge of a stiff chair"(86). The narrator proceeds to comment that Gatsby almost knocks the clock over, catching it before it falls and they, "believed for a moment that it had smashed in pieces on the floor"(87). To mention the clock multiple times is notable because it possesses the underlying meaning of the preservation of time. A similar event occurs in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye when Holden Caulfield visits a museum he loved as a child. Holden explains that he wishes life was like the glass displays in the museum: unchanging and frozen in time. He was forced to grow up at a young age when he suffered the tragic loss of his little brother. Now he dreams that his life as he knew it before the death would have stayed forever preserved. Like Holden, Gatsby was forced to move forward in life, despite his loss. By catching the clock, Gatsby is essentially freezing time.