Symbolism

Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald embellishes his novel through elaborate symbols that add further meaning to the piece and make the work more universal.  He makes note of the fact that, after one of Gatsby’s parties, the people who live in East Egg and possess “old money” leave on horseback, whereas Gatsby would have been driving a car along behind them had the people of East Egg not left without him.  The horses are symbolic of “old money” and the antiquated traditions of those who have had wealth in their families for generations.  Gatsby’s car, however, is symbolic of “new money” and the people who have had to work to earn it.   The horses emphasize how important money was to the society and culture of Americans.  In addition to the horses and the car, Fitzgerald creates a vivid image of Dan Cody, the man who taught and inspired Gatsby to be rich.  Gatsby has a portrait of Dan Cody on his wall, which is symbolic of the American desire to be rich, prosperous, and famous.  Fitzgerald describes Gatsby’s inspirational yet shallow role model, and the portrait on Gatsby’s wall reinforces Fitzgerald’s point that Americans lost their values in the twenties, only caring about themselves and their money.  Another prominent symbol throughout the novel is the weather, which is mentioned many times, generally corresponding to Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship.  When Gatsby and Daisy finally meet again, Gatsby comments, “‘It’s stopped raining’” (89).  The end of the rain symbolizes the end of Gatsby and Daisy’s separation, so when the sun resurfaces, it seems to shine that much brighter. 

Personal Review

Although The Great Gatsby was very well written and realistic for the time period, the plot was uninteresting and the characters’ flat qualities were extremely boring.  Their petty lives and moral deficiency were even offensive at times.  For example, Daisy hits and kills Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s mistress, and no one seems to care.  Gatsby worries that Daisy will be all right, but he expresses no concern for Myrtle or her husband.  In addition, when Mr. Wilson shoots Gatsby, only Nick, his father, and a few others actually show up to his funeral.  This shows his acquaintances’ lack of respect towards him and their own self-absorption.  It was especially appalling when Daisy simply left with Tom after Gatsby—a man she claimed to love—died.  It turns out that she only loved his money, and when that was gone, Gatsby had nothing left for her.  Gatsby was the only one who spent all of his time focused on someone other than himself: Daisy.  Everything he does is done to please her, and all she cares about is his money and reputation.  In this novel, the people have simple lives and concerns; it is frustrating to think how trivial their problems seem when compared to issues like starvation in third-world countries.   

I do not enjoy reading books about shallow people with no values and their petty lives.  Admittedly, the writing was very sophisticated and complex, but it would have been a better book if the subject matter mirrored the way it was written.  

Text Connection

The Great Gatsby is very easy to relate to because of the ample opportunities Fitzgerald gives his audience to make text connections.  Daisy can be related to a more modern image of herself such as Paris Hilton.  Hilton is a famous actress, and her rise to fame can be accredited to her inherited wealth, rather than to her talent.  Like Daisy, money and her image are probably the most important things to Hilton.  In the novel, Daisy’s voice is described as being “full of money” (120).  Daisy’s “inexhaustible charm” is her wealth, as is Paris Hilton’s.  For both of them, beauty will fade over time, but they will always have their money.  Fitzgerald wrote the book during a time when money meant more than almost anything else, and Paris Hilton has showed that some of these values still remain today.  There seems to be a timeless quality of shallowness that accompanies fame and fortune, a quality that will probably continue for many years to come.  

Syntax

•  “She hesitated.  Her eyes fell on Jordan and me with a sort of appeal, as though she realized at last what she was doing—and as though she had never, all along, intended doing anything at all.  But it was done now.  It was too late” (132).

In this paragraph, the author envelops a long sentence with three short sentences in order to draw the readers’ attention to the single, long sentence.  The contrast between sentence length make the short sentences seem shorter and the long sentence seem longer, as if the event occurring in the second sentence happens slower and is more dramatically drawn out. 

• “Her expression was curiously familiar—it was an expression I had often seen on women’s faces, but on Myrtle Wilson’s face it seemed purposeless and inexplicable until I realized that her eyes, wide with jealous terror, were fixed not on Tom, but on Jordan Baker, whom she took to be his wife” (125).

Fitzgerald describes this chaotic scene with chaotic sentence composition to create a frenzied tone.  The dash in the beginning of the sentence makes it feel disjointed from the start.  As a whole, the structure appears unstable or unbalanced by the placement of the dash, making the reader pay more attention to what happens to Myrtle’s “expression” and why it was so “curiously familiar” (125).  Fitzgerald’s abundant use of commas overwhelms the reader with all of the thoughts combined into one long, complex sentence.  In addition, he makes it especially obvious that he places Tom’s name before Jordan’s.  His purpose is to make the audience focus on Tom, to wonder why Myrtle is not paying attention to him, and to create a confusing, frantic tone.  The overall style of this brief passage describes an action and an observation based on passion, rather than on reason, and this passion is paralleled by his syntax.   

Rhetorical Strategies

·         Asyndeton: “Thirty—the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair” (135).

·         Imagery: “A universe of ineffable gaudiness spun itself out on his brain while the clock ticked on the washstand and the moon soaked with wet light his tangled clothes upon the floor” (99).

·         Litotes: “The none to savory ramifications…” (99).

·         Oxymoron: “The unreality of reality” (99).

·         Personification: “The wind had blown off, leaving a loud, bright night, with wings beating in the trees and a persistent organ sound as the full bellows of the earth blew the frogs full of life” (20).

·         Simile: “…but each time I tried to go I became entangled in some wild, strident argument which pulled me back, as if with ropes, into my chair” (35).

·         Tautology: “Gasping moan” (138).

·         Vernacular: “‘There was two cars,’ said Michaelis, ‘one comin’, one goin’, see” (139)?

Fitzgerald’s use of excessive rhetorical devices displays the American, idealistic manner in which he employs his language.  The author uses a great deal of imagery to show the beauty and flaws of the American dream.  He describes Gatsby’s dreams as being in a “universe of ineffable gaudiness,” revealing that all Gatsby cares about is possessing wealth and having the ability to display his wealth—a direct relation to the American Dream and the manner in which Americans thought during the twenties (99).  This manner of thinking is the style which Fitzgerald achieves through his imagery.  As well as imagery, he uses litotes to spark the readers’ imagination about “the none to savory ramifications” of a life of moral turpitude to demonstrate his idealistic style and vernacular to highlight that the narrator is an average American.

Diction

In the beginning of the second chapter, Fitzgerald uses bleak and desolate diction to describe his disgusted tone with the moral wasteland that America had become during the roaring twenties.  He describes an area of land near the railroad tracks as a “valley of ashes,” implying that there is nothing left there (23).  Humans, in his opinion, have lost all of their morality and worth, leaving only a pile of “ashes,” resembling the burnt hopes, dreams, and values of American life.  This valley of ashes is contaminated with “powdery air” that envelops men who “move dimly and [are] already crumbling” (23).  The author is painting an image where a thick, “powdery” air distorts the peoples’ already unclear images of themselves and humanity.  His disapproving tone is revealed when he describes the people who live in the valley of ashes as “crumbling,” suggesting that humanity is descending into a pit of immorality and superficiality with no cleanliness of body or spirit, no vitality, no vivacity, no passion or desire to improve in life.  In addition, Fitzgerald describes the people as picking up spades to create an “impenetrable cloud,” appearing as if the people hide themselves away in the could because they have no desire to improve their hideous condition, nor do they want others to observe them (23).  His use of the word “impenetrable” makes the audience feel that he, as well as the people in the valley, has given up on any hope of recovery, hence his disgusted tone at their lack of desire to be better people.  Altogether, Fitzgerald’s employment of a depressing, bleak word choice creates a tone of disgust directed at the moral decay of Americans who lived for nothing more than themselves.