Monday, March 11, 2013

#1: Rhetorical Strategies



·         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.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Ryan sorry its late at night.
    I 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!

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