Personal Review

The American dream, parties, affairs, past-loves, and death together all produce a very intriguing storyline. The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of my top five favorite books that I have yet to read in high school. The novel began very slowly for me and it was difficult to really become interested in it. The moment that I was captured by the book though, was when Gatsby called Jordan into the house at one of his parties where they talked for an hour. Rumors were always spread about who Gatsby was, where he had been, and what he has done, and at that moment I knew I would find some truth in him. As love interests grew between characters, the book became more interesting as well as quite scandalous. The plot never really reached a suitable conclusion. Although it was a tragic ending, the alternative would have been too predictable. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald does an impressive job of painting pictures and implementing many rhetorical strategies that unfold every aspect of each character and their thoughts.  Surprisingly, my favorite part was not about the story at all. The fact that Nick Carraway was the narrator made the book seem more like I was watching a movie. I was entertained because at some points he would directly speak to the reader. This was a unique approach, but I truly enjoyed reading this book

Text to World

The American Dream is a major theme discussed throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby. The concept of the dream is the ambition and ability that applies to any one and everyone as their chance to accomplish their goals in life. The novel gets its title from the main character Jay Gatsby, who actually is not as great as he seems. He is wealthy, successful, and surrounded by friends. All of these material and social aspects though, were not just handed to him. Gatsby worked hard to become wealthy, going from rags to riches, which was not easy to accomplish in the 1920s. Every Saturday night he throws extravagant parties that many people attend, half of which he does not even know. He has the company of a few close friends, but his true desire to be happy, and for him to accomplish his own American dream, is to have the love of his life embracing his success with him. Gatsby’s neighbor, close friend, and also narrator of the story Nick Carraway, just happens to be the cousin of the love of his life, Daisy. Gatsby goes through great lengths to impress Daisy, and Nick admires him. His hopefulness and ambition show Nick that everyone can be as successful and happy as they strive to be.

“They were able to have a very successful life and business and family. They were surely what I would call the American Dream story,” stated Kevin McCarrick. This quote is an example of the world relating to the story of The Great Gatsby. People in the United States are here to do just those things. Aspirations are numerous and large, but there is endless opportunity in the world. The novel teaches everyone that when things are not going according to plan, there is always hope and happiness. The pursuit of happiness is the American dream and Fitzgerald portrays it in many ways using many different characters throughout the duration of his novel.

Syntax

• Cumulative Sentence: “I spent my Saturday nights in New York, because those gleaming, dazzling parties of his were with me so vividly that I could still hear the music and the laughter, faint and incessant, from his garden, and the cars going up and down his drive”(179).

Also known as a loose sentence, this is how most of The Great Gatsby is laid out-elaborate and intricate sentence structures. This sentence in particular has the independent clause at the beginning followed by many add-ons to enhance its meaning. After Gatsby was killed this is how Nick lived his life, and even by this length the message is well delivered in the one sentence. 

• Telegraphic: “And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy” (49).

A large majority of Fitzgerald’s sentences are long and flowery or involve an abundance of dialect. In this conversation between Jordan Baker and Nick Callaway, short, pithy sentences are exchanged. By using these terse statements it shows the frustration encompassed by Jordan. She reveals her aloneness even amongst an enormous group of people.

• Rhetorical Question/Parallel Structure: “Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it”(11).

Syntactically, the structure of the second sentence mirrors that of the first. Daisy appears to be hurried while asking these questions. Because of the hurriedness she does not intend to have an answer, let alone allow time for one to be heard, but the structure of the interrogative sentences gives a variety to Fitzgerald’s convoluted writing style.

Diction

          In the classic novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses mellifluous diction in expressing Gatsby’s loving tone toward Daisy Buchanan. Coincidentally, Nick Carraway is Daisy’s cousin, which allows Gatsby to ask a huge favor of him in order to potentially fulfill his longing to be with her. When Daisy arrives at Nick’s house Gatsby is there waiting anxiously to see her. When she is in his presence “He literally glowed”(89). Fitzgerald chose to describe Gatsby as “glow[ing]” to display both the inner and outer excitement in which seeing Daisy rekindled within him. Later in the book he addresses “her sweet, exciting laugh” (116). Every characteristic and quirk Daisy has is attractive to Gatsby. Therefore, the words “sweet” and “exciting” exhibit his undoubted love he has carried for more than five years. Being a man of wealth, Gatsby was always motivated to impress Daisy with his riches. When she attended one of his well-known extravaganzas, all he could think about was her. While they were dancing together he could feel “her warm human magic upon the air”(108). Her “warmth” and “magic” suggest such a positive connotation in which he speaks so highly of her, manipulating words as if he means she is an angel. The devoted prose that Fitzgerald utilizes reveals the true longing and infatuation for Daisy that Gatsby has harbored within himself for  last five years and which during this night has let slip due to overabundance that has built up and reached a climax.

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.