·
Symbolism: "See!" he cried
triumphantly. "It's a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me.
This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness! What
realism! Knew when to stop, too - didn't cut the pages. But what do you want?
What do you expect?" (45).
·
Foreshadowing: “In the ditch beside the road, right
side up, but violently shorn of one wheel, rested a new coupé which had left
Gatsby’s drive not two minutes before… ‘See!’ he explained. ‘It went in the
ditch!’ The fact was infinitely astonishing to him, and I recognized…the man—it
was the late patron of Gatsby’s library. ‘How did it happen? Did you run into
the wall?’ [said Nick] ‘Don’t ask me,’ said Owl Eyes, ‘I know very little about
driving—next to nothing. It happened, and that’s all I know… You don’t
understand,’ explained the criminal [Owl Eyes]. ‘I wasn’t driving. There’s
another man in the car’” (54).
·
Asyndeton: "I was a guide, a pathfinder,
an original settler" (4).
·
Antithesis: “I was within and without,
simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life”
(35).
In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald employs many rhetorical
strategies to illustrate his style to the reader. His numerous rhetorical
devices aid him in suggesting that the 1920’s was a period of materialism,
selfishness, and wastefulness. Fitzgerald utilizes symbolism many times
throughout the novel, for example in chapter three, Fitzgerald describes Gatsby’s
library, which is full of books with uncut pages. "See!" he cried
triumphantly. "It's a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me.
This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness! What
realism! Knew when to stop, too - didn't cut the pages. But what do you want?
What do you expect?" (45). This exemplifies that everything about Gatsby
is a façade; his house, his clothes, his car, even his books, are all to
impress “high society” figures and to fit in. Gatsby’s books are obviously just
for show, because he has never read them, indicated by the uncut pages; thus,
Gatsby epitomizes Fitzgerald’s view of the 1920’s: materialistic, selfish, and
wasteful. Fitzgerald also uses foreshadowing, when Owl Eyes crashes into the
wall when trying to leave one of Gatsby’s parties. Owls are generally used to
symbolize wisdom and sometimes death. Owl Eyes stumbles out of the car and
explains to Nick that another person was driving, foreshadowing when Gatsby
allows Daisy to drive his car and they kill Myrtle, and also foreshadowing
Gatsby’s eventual death. This shows the carelessness of the people of the 1920’s
and further exemplifies Fitzgerald’s view. He also employs asyndeton and
antithesis to develop characteristics of the narrator, Nick Carraway. Both
reveal Nick’s thoughts on life in the 1920’s and, therefore, implicitly reveal
Fitzgerald’s thoughts as well.
Hi Ryan sorry its late at night.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your analysis! I had no idea that owls symbolized death or harm so that was extremely interesting. You did an excellent job recognizing the rhetorical strategies and how they shows that the 1920's lifestyle was all for show. One thing I personally found interesting, is that as Nick narrates, it is through the various rhetorical strategies that we get to see his opinions on the lavish lifestyle. While Nick is somewhat distant from the extravagant lifestyle, the further into the book, we see that he is really connected. Clearly the author despises the alluring factors of the high society life style, as exemplifies through the fake books. Great analysis and understanding!