The Great Gatsby is my favorite novel that we have been required to read in high school. The
novel was extremely interesting and intriguing, and now I will always wish I could
attend one of Gatsby’s parties. Fitzgerald’s manipulation of syntax and diction
and his employment of numerous effective rhetorical strategies only adds to the
excellence of this literature masterpiece. I found it unique that while the
novel is written in first person from the view of the narrator, Nick Carraway,
the story is centered around another character entirely, Jay Gatsby. In most
other novels, if it is written in first person, the narrator is the main
character and the focus of the plot is usually the narrator’s own struggles or
his dynamism as a character. It was intriguing that this was not the case, and
it makes me wonder why Fitzgerald chose to write the story this way. I would
say it certainly added to the uniqueness of the novel and multiplied Gatsby’s
mysteriousness. Fitzgerald’s use of symbolism further creates an air of
sophistication present in the novel. One can easily detect this sophistication
primarily when Nick and Gatsby speak, for they are the most formal and
grammatically correct out of all the characters’ speech. The Great Gatsby was an interesting read, and would be a something I
would have gladly read on my own at home; however, it was saddening to see
Fitzgerald’s most likely accurate depiction of the 1920’s and the people’s
materialistic, selfish, wasteful, and careless ideals of that time period. I believe
the main purpose of the novel was for Fitzgerald to reveal his disgust for the
true nature of Americans during the Roaring 20’s.
Monday, March 11, 2013
#4: Text to Text Connection
In Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, one of the main
characters and object of fascination is Jay Gatsby. Gatsby can be related to
many characters from other novels, but Gatsby is very similar to the fictional
comic book character Spiderman. Gatsby’s original name is James Gatz and comes
from a sketchy family background, and ends up finding odd jobs to make any
money he can. Similarly, Peter Parker also has a sketchy family background in
that Peter Parker’s parents died when he was young and he lives with his
grandparents up through high school. Peter Parker finds an odd job as a
photographer for a newspaper to make some money. Both James Gatz and Peter
Parker have a hard time fitting into the society they so badly desire to be a
part of. James Gatz creates an alternate alias, Jay Gatsby, in order to
reinvent himself; Peter Parker creates Spiderman, albeit with the help of a
radioactive spider bite. Both characters don ridiculous costumes, Gatsby in his
brightly colored suits, and Spiderman in his, well, Spidey costume. Gatsby and
Spiderman become iconic public figures in New York City, and are loved by the
masses: Gatsby for his lavish parties, and Spiderman for his crime-fighting
skills. However, both characters are held back by a complicated love life.
Gatsby is in love with Daisy who is married to Tom Buchanan. Spiderman is in
love with Mary Jane, who is in love with his best friend Harry Osborn. Gatsby
and Spiderman both meet their unfortunate demise while trying to protect their
loved one. Some people remember Gatsby as a hero, a promoter of the lavish
lifestyle that was popular during the 1920’s, while still others hardly
remember him at all, as evident in his near empty funeral. Spiderman is
remembered by some as a hero for protecting New York City, while others view
him as a deranged costumed vigilante. This is significant because it shows that
both characters could be argued as either heroes or villains.
#3: Syntax
·
“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).
Fitzgerald primarily uses cumulative
or loose sentences in The Great Gatsby.
He uses long, complex sentences with a central idea, but many unnecessary,
dependent clauses to make it seem excessively sophisticated, quite similar to
the way Gatsby lived his life: one central idea of fitting in with high
society, and all his material possessions to give him credibility and
sophistication.
·
“By
seven o’clock the orchestra has arrived, no thin five-piece affair, but a whole
pitiful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and
piccolos, and low and high drums”(40).
Fitzgerald manipulates syntax in this
sentence by utilizing a polysyndeton to create a rushed and hurried feeling
when reading the sentence, as if no pauses or stops are allowed while reading. This
sentence reveals the feeling of crowdedness one must feel at Gatsby’s parties,
strictly because of the sheer number of people that must attend in order for an
orchestra of this magnitude to be necessary. Fitzgerald manipulates syntax to
imply certain elements about the plot or characteristics of a character so as
to create an air of mystery, similar to the one that shrouds Gatsby.
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