Personal Review

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of my favorite books that I have read in awhile.  In the first chapter I found it to be slightly hard to understand with its overly sophisticated sentences, but once each character was clarified and dialogue was included I was drawn in.  The way that Fitzgerald worded some of Nick’s narrations was beautiful, and there are definitely a plethora of quotes that will stick with me from the book.   The descriptions of Jay Gatsby’s lavish Saturday night parties helped me to realize the gaudy display of wealth that the rich people of the 1920’s had, even though in Gatsby’s case it was to get Daisy to notice him.  However once it is apparent that Gatsby is involved in dishonest works, it shows that the American Dream both in previous years and even now has been corrupted by the love for money.  I think that the way Fitzgerald displayed the consequences of greed and Gatsby’s desire to recreate the past was perfectly displayed in Gatsby’s death.  Although his death surprised me, I realized it was necessary to effectively get Fitzgerald’s point across about the unlikeliness in achieving success while running after happiness.  The ending paragraphs as Nick is on the beach describing how Gatsby lost his life in his pursuit of past love is one of my favorite endings to any book that I have ever read.  Fitzgerald definitely had a way with words to add emphasis and passion to his writing that helped me to understand the characters and the major themes he wanted to portray. 

Text Connections

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald included many text-to-world connections in order to help his readers to better understand the actions of society and the consequences that they cause.  Gatsby was consumed with recreating the past.  All that he wanted was for Daisy to find him and fall in love with him again so that they could live happily ever after.  Unfortunately this mindset was not practical because Daisy had already moved on and was married to another man that she claimed she loved.  Today people are consumed with relationships past, present, and future.  After a breakup, many times the person that got hurt only wants to go back to a time when the relationship was perfect.  Unfortunately that rarely happens since as we can see humans jump around from person to person, unable to decide on a specific person to stay with and marry, and even after they have decided on someone half of those relationships end in divorce.

There are many consequences to being consumed with greed, and in Gatsby’s case it was his own death.  The American Dream is personified as material prosperity, which almost everyone hopes, but rarely succeeds, in achieving.  A popular quote today is, “Some people are so poor that all they have is money,” showing that those who end up with wealth usually do not have much else.  They do not realize until it is too late that pursuing only money instead of family, friends, serving others etc. will not lead to happiness.

Syntax

·      “But with every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up, and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the room” (134).

Fitzgerald uses multiple commas in this sentence to effectively display the detachment that Daisy and Jay are feeling.  As Gatsby finally has the reality that Daisy loves Tom hit him Nick Callaway breaks apart what is happening piece by piece.  The commas separating the words are used to leave the reader with a sense of desperation as Daisy and Gatsby move apart, their love forever gone.

·       “And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy” (54).

As Jordan Baker is standing with Nick Callaway at one of Gatsby’s parties, Fitzgerald uses telegraphic sentences to add emphasis to Jordan’s dialogue.  Jordan has just told Nick that she thinks Gatsby killed someone, but uses the above statement to quickly change the subject.  This adds an abrupt tone in the passage makes the reader not only ponder her statement but also why she changed the subject, as if she may have had something to hide.

Diction

Jay Gatsby is devoted to finding Daisy, his long lost love, and recreating the love that they once had.  When he finally got to see her for the first time in years, “he literally glowed” (89).   This outward showing of his excitement at seeing Daisy is evident that on the inside he is bursting with happiness.  Fitzgerald portrays this Gatsby’s passion for Daisy in an infatuated tone, which causes the readers to understand the total amount of his adoration for Daisy.  Throughout most of the book though Gatsby will not come forward with what he exactly does for a living, however it can be inferred that it is illegal and dishonest.  During a day trip to the city Tom Buchanan tries to figure who Gatsby truly is and eventually explodes as he explains his knowledge of Daisy and Gatsby’s love, and as Gatsby replies at the end he calls Tom an “old sport” in a sarcastic and fake tone of amiability (120).  While most associate “old sport” as a friendly term, here it is used as the exact opposite.  Gatsby and Tom are extremely upset with each other because of their fight to keep Daisy for themselves, with Gatsby hoping he will win Daisy without the enragement of Tom.  Fitzgerald uses this tone in contrast to the loving tone Gatsby has with Daisy to show the many sides of Gatsby, but also to better portray just how desperately he wants to have Daisy as his own again.  He wants to feel “her warm human magic upon the air” and Fitzgerald continually expresses those desires of Gatsby through a loving tone (108).

            

Rhetorical Strategies

·      Metaphor: “’Her voice is full of money,’ he said suddenly” (120).

·      Imagery: “ Turning me around by one arm, he moved a broad flat hand along the front vista, including in its sweep a sunken Italian garden, a half acre of deep, pungent roses, and a snub-nosed motor-boat that bumped the tide offshore” (7).

·      Symbolism (metaphoric language): “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (180).

Fitzgerald uses rhetorical strategies in order to effectively develop his style.  In the first example, he uses a metaphor when describing Daisy.  Daisy both is literally and figuratively full of money, she has a very sophisticated voice and she is also extremely wealthy.  With her voice she has the ability to get what she wants, and Fitzgerald describes her with two meanings in order to convey to his readers a more rounded view of who she is.  Fitzgerald also has a way with elegantly describing each scene in the book, and when describing the “Italian garden, a half acre of deep, pungent roses, and a snub-nosed motor boat” it gives a clear picture to the readers of the view from Tom and Daisy’s house, as well as showing how wealthy the people in the Eggs are to afford such a view.  The green light that Nick sees as he lays on the beach is symbolic of the dreams that Gatsby had in his desire to recreate the past.  His love for Daisy and his foolish pursuit of past happiness led him to his demise, and the green light is a reminder that the American Dream is rarely reached with success and real happiness.   Much of what Fitzgerald writes about has deeper meanings that can be explored with careful analysis.