After the suffering of World War I in the 1920s, many of the upper class Americans focused on filling their lives with endless joy and concentrating their energies on their own pleasure and comfort to forget about wartime memories. The 1920s era was were money had become the foundation of society due to the American dream, where everyone left behind their horrible past and centralized on becoming wealthy and being the most superlative. As a result, in The Great Gatsby through many rhetorical devices, Fitzgerald uses Nick Carraway as his persona in order to portray that money became too powerful and people became extremely selfish and greedy in the 1920s.
This passage describes how Nick does not know what to make of Gatsby because of all the misconceptions and rumors that have been made towards him.
Chapter seven of The Great Gatsby is memorable due to its strong concentration of rhetoric. Rhetoric gives the audience a deeper read into a story, and in this case the story of Nick Carraway and his friendship with Jay Gatsby, a man who seeks to be reunited with his past lover Daisy Buchanan. Using characterization, figurative language, and concrete diction, Fitzgerald highlights the events of chapter seven to create a lasting impact to the audience.
Fitzgerald utilizes many rhetorical strategies throughout his novel. Specific to the excerpt the rhetorical strategies metaphor and personification are found to be used to strengthen Fitzgerald’s key themes of dreams and reality. Ultimately though, the rhetorical strategies and themes contribute to creating the effect that Gatsby is truly above the average man and that Gatsby, at least to Nick, is some amazing creature that grew from his dreams. The first instance of personification to be used in the passage is in the line, “I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever: I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart” This use of personification has the effect of
Fitzgerald used various different examples of figurative language throughout the novel. For example, Fitzgerald writes, “The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosting wedding cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea,” (Fitzgerald 8). Fitzgerald uses imagery to have the readers experience the event that is happening as if the readers were looking at it through their own eyes. Another type of figurative language that is used to enhance the novel is symbolism, when Nick says, “...he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling.
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man 's needs, but not every man 's greed.” As humans, we work hard in order to have the greatest opportunity to succeed in life, which will fulfill our wants. F Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, utilizes effective language and punctuation in the text, which helps him accomplish his purpose: Illustrate what material goods does to a society. From a rhetorical standpoint, examining logos, ethos, and pathos, this novel serves as a social commentary on how the pursuit of “The American Dream” causes the people in society to transform into greedy and heartless individuals.
In the last three paragraphs, Nick explains the disillusionment of Gatsby’s dream, “He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” (162). Gatsby has always strived for his ambition and dream. Even when he was a boy, he made a strict schedule which is similar to Benjamin Franklin’s “Thirteen Virtues” to
Social responsibility is the act of maintaining a balance between the society so that every individual should be treated equally and individuals should act in a way to benefit the society in a whole. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, follows Jay Gatsby, a rich young man who finally reunites with the love of his life after five years. During those five years she gets married to Tom, so Gatsby tries to win her love back, which ultimately brings him death. Fitzgerald uses literary devices such as foreshadowing, dialogue, and characterization to establish that the characters are socially responsible. Fitzgerald establish the theme through the use of foreshadowing, dialogue, and characterization, that social responsibility is a requirement
Throughout the passage, Fitzgerald adds depth to Nick’s character, establishing motivation for his actions, for example, now Nick’s motivation to accompany Tom to meet Myrtle even though he didn’t want to, was because the trip meant he had something to do and that someone, in this case Tom, wanted him. The passage also provides insight, which explains why Gatsby, a self-centered man who initiated contact with Nick for personal gain, and Nick, a shy, socially awkward man who wants to be wanted and desires an effort-free companion, are
Author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, in his novel, The Great Gatsby, recounts the story of two love-struck people through another character called Nick. Fitzgerald’s purpose is to show how different characters change throughout the story by using many rhetorical elements like descriptive imagery, the choice of strong diction, and metaphors/similes. The author focuses on the characterization of three main characters which are Gatsby, Daisy, and Nick because they are seemingly connected. These characterizations relate back to the themes of achieving the American Dream that is to be rich and powerful but still have love and a family to come home to every night. Even though many of the characters have changed and evolved throughout the story, some of them
The American Dream suggests that every American citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work. One of the major ways that Fitzgerald portrays this is by alluding to outside events or works of literature specifically from that time period. Another major relationship that develops in The Great Gatsby is between Tom and Daisy. F. Scott Fitzgerald alludes to things such as the World’s Fair and “The Love Nest” to display the eventual dismantling of Tom and Daisy’s relationship. Both of these separate plots consolidate under the idea of Gatsby trying to become the epitome of the American Dream, as seen through his strive for a “perfect life.” Throughout The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses allusions to portray Gatsby as a representative of the “American Dream” and to foreshadow the eventual collapse of the relationship between Daisy and Tom, which, in turn, presents Gatsby’s desire
Greatness is showed by the choices we make in life. From how we see the circumstances and how we react to them. Gatsby is not as great of a man as Nick claims that he is. Gatsby makes foolish, childish and delusional decisions and not at all great.
Scott Fitzgerald uses a larger part throughout this book is similes. This type of figurative language is also used quite a lot in order for the reader to better understand and grasp Fitzgerald 's idea for this book. By the comparisons being made it makes it easier for the reader to understand the books concept and the meaning of the book. “ Men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.” this gives the reader a clear idea of the type of parties there were in this area. During these parties there would be the people that were invited and there would also be a large sum of people that weren’t invited that showed to the party and a large part of that did not even know who the host was. “ While his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains.” This simile is used to symbolize and represent Gatsby’s wealth and this also represents the type of lifestyle and difference between gatsby and nick even though they are neighbors. Fitzgerald uses similes to represent and better explain the lifestyle of the people during this time period. Similes are used in this book to have the reader better understand the concept of this
F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway are among the most prominent exponents of literature of the twentieth century. Forming part of the Lost Generation, these authors not only develop similar themes throughout their works, but heavily influenced each other. The Great Gatsby being Fitzgerald’s magnum opus, serves as a prime illustration of the staples of contemporary literature. In the novel The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, the author depicts himself through a character, Nick Carraway, conforming to other self depiction common in the Lost Generation, such as Hemingway in the Nick Adams stories.
The text also shows, reflects and focuses on revealing and showing Nick’s character in the play and viewing his thoughts about other characters like Gatsby, Daisy and Tom. Moreover, the text also draws my interpretation of Nick’s character in the novel.