Rhetorical Analysis Of The Great Gatsby
Ashley Chang
Mrs. Saddler
AP English Language
26 October 2015
Rhetorical Analysis Essay on The Great Gatsby
In society, it can be difficult to classify individuals based on their social status, however their behaviors and their interactions with others can be clues to determine where they fall on the social ladder. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a variety of rhetorical devices to convey his observation that in the 1920s America the higher people are on the social ladder, the more troubled they were. He portrays his message using relationships and judgmental diction.
In the beginning of the passage, Fitzgerald displays Tom “frowning into the windows of a jewelry shop”. The use of the diction “frowning” stood out, as if Tom is troubled with himself. By portraying the jewelry shop as the American Dream, Tom is frowning upon the dream, as if he isn’t fully achieving the dream; having lots of money and being powerful. He felt a sense of something lacking, and he wanted more. Toward the middle of the passage, the use of the diction “defiantly” stood out. In this paragraph, Tom is
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In the beginning of the passage, Nick refers to Tom as being “crazy”. The repetition of the word indicates the relationship between the upper and lower class in the 1920s. The lower class in the 1920s thought of the upper class as crazy and resented them. They would abuse their powers and then use their power to make lower classes clean up after the mess. Later on in the passage, Nick concludes that Tom and Daisy were “careless” people. The repetition of the word “careless” supports the idea that the upper class during the 1920s were not cautious of their actions, which lead to innocent people taking the blame; in this case, it was the death of Gatsby and Wilson because of Tom’s incompetence. The repetition also emphasizes the carelessness of the higher class in the
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