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.