Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Rhetorical Strategies


  • Cliché: “Then came the war, old sport. It was a great relief, and I tried very hard to die, but I seemed to bear an enchanted life…” (66)
  •  Hyperbole: “If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away” (2).
  • Imagery: “ Turning me around by one arm, he moved a broad flat hand along the front vista, including in its sweep a sunken Italian garden, a half acre of deep, pungent roses, and a snub-nosed motor-boat that bumped the tide offshore” (7).
  • Symbolism (metaphoric language): “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—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (180).
In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald employs a variety of rhetorical strategies in his verbose writing style allowing him to effectively describe his particular verbiage. Using the cliché, Fitzgerald illuminates the greater qualities that Gatsby possesses. The passage continues with flowery details about Gatsby’s time in the war and his bravery and greatness. He paints him as an ideal man that almost every story includes. The hyperbole compares Gatsby to a seismograph using perplexing prose that is accurate in describing his personality. In this case the hyperbole is not an absolute, but a long detailed sentence revealing his style of writing. The imagery used is compelling because it is so thorough in illustrating the scene. One can imagine them self scoping out this view due to Fitzgerald’s elaborate sketch of the setting. Finally, the symbolism of the “green light” alludes to Gatsby’s desires. In long, intricate sentences the green light is seen as something that is now in the past. Gatsby could once see it on Daisy’s dock across the water on East Egg from his West Egg mansion. The symbolism surely suggests the passion Gatsby procures to be with the love of his life, Daisy. By implementing these rhetorical strategies Fitzgerald establishes his style of writing as being genuinely convoluted.

1 comment:

  1. Fitzgerald does have a very convoluted style. Subtle depictions the author gives often have an underlying meaning. For instance when he describes the billboard of the eye doctor it seems somewhat irrelevant to the story, however, if you really think about it the billboard could be representing an overseer who is watching over the moral decay of the time. The fact that he deliberately writes it was in the “valley of ashes” shows the complete deterioration of society. It is also mentioned as tom is going to see Myrtle, which is an immoral act of adultery. This example further instates your idea of his complicated style.

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