Book Review

The Great Gatsby was not a typical novel in that it is hard to make out clear protagonists and antagonists as well as conflicts and resolutions. Daisy can be said to be a love interest or the conflict of the story entirely. Gatsby is revealed to be a villain of sorts, but still represents the carefree, rich man people like Nick admire. I did not enjoy the story as the time period was hard to connect to as well as the very film-noir style of story never seemed very believable to me. The overall story and dull ending were both pretty bland, though Gatsby’s being involved in a boot-legging business grabbed my attention for a good chunk of the story. While having the occasional plot twist and interesting moment I still would not recommend Fitzgerald’s interesting concoction to the average modern reader.

Text-to-Text

The Great Gatsby describes an unguided youth through society after a battling in a war. Much like Gatsby, Holden from The Catcher in the Rye is a youth placed in a new society with freedom and money. While both characters do not serve as particularly good role models in themselves, their actions pose a point about society’s youth in that it must have some sort of guidance, not simply given everything in the world and are told what to make of it. Gatsby’s life ends tragically, however, Holden’s story ends on much more a cliffhanger than anything. The Great Gatsby serves to prove that unrestrained youth can lead to devastating results both for the youth and others her or she affects. The Catcher in the Rye explains more the ignorance of children and why they should not be treated with the same responsibilities as full-grown adults.

Syntax

In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald uses hasty diction to express the shocked feeling of Mr. Gatz as he learns of his son’s death. “Mr. Gatz opened the door and came out, his mouth ajar, his face flushed slightly, his eyes leaking isolated and unpunctual tears” (179). Both the repetition of “his” and the quick short sentences to describe the amazed father serve to provide a sudden extraordinary situation. The narrator continues with “He had reached an age where death no longer has the quality of ghastly surprise […] mixed with an awed pride” (179). This elongated sentence serves to thoroughly describe the situation in modern words and elaborates on the previous syntactical implications.

Diction Blog

On page 62 of The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald utilizes gloomy diction to develop a lonely, dull tone. When Nick is observing the city people he mentions that “the dark lanes of the Forties were five deep with throbbing taxi cabs” (62). Using the word “dark” to describe the lanes depicts their emptiness in vivacity, as “dark” literally is a word describing the absence of light and the narrator is using it figuratively, and perhaps literally as well, to describe the clear lack of livelihood. Additionally stating that the cabs were “throbbing” further elaborates this sullen tone in that “throbbing” is commonly associated with a heart’s beating, which in this situation suggests Nick’s heart’s lack of liveliness.

Diction

Rhetorical Strategies

• Euphemism “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had” (1).
• Symbolism “You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock” (99).
• Polysyndeton “The bar is in full swing and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside until the air is alive with chatter and laughter and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other’s names” (44).
•  Simile “They were both in white and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house” (19).

Fitzgerald uses various rhetorical strategies to convey his style in The Great Gatsby. The author begins his story with Nick’s father sharing advice, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had” (1). Fitzgerald’s use of “advantages” is a euphemism for the wealth Nick is born into. The application of this device allows the author to reveal his subtle style and to conceal the fact that Nick is wealthy at the beginning so that the reader feels at an equal status to him. Throughout the novel the narrator makes reference to Daisy’s green light on her dock in East Egg, “You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock” (99). The light is symbolic for Gatsby’s future aspirations and assists in displaying Fitzgerald’s subtle style and implications of the American dream of prosperity. At one of Gatsby’s elaborate parties, the bar is described as “in full swing and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside until the air is alive with chatter and laughter and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other’s names” (44). The repetition of “and” is a polysyndeton that allows the author to convey a quick and urgent style of language that implicitly describes the nature of Gatsby’s parties. The narrator describes that Daisy and Jordan “were both in white and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house” (19). This simile contributes to Fitzgerald’s implicit style in that he is describing their light and whimsical personalities. The author’s rhetoric assists in revealing his mysterious, implicit style effectively throughout his novel.

Rhetorical Strategies