The otherwise hackneyed love affair, I am glad we were forced to annotate the book because I’m sure I would have missed half the symbolism hidden between the lines. It may seem clichéd but I somehow enjoyed the relationship between Nick and Gatsby. The fact that they might as well have been strangers, I was slightly taken aback when Nick was able to find such a close connection to the rather mysterious figure. On the other hand, I guess I would have jumped at the opportunity as well just so I could learn more about his puzzling life. That being said, it took me a while to adjust to the fact the love between Gatsby and Daisy was quite shallow. I held my breath till the end of the book, hoping there was another reason as to why he would go to great lengths to impress this girl. I guess I should also consider the fact that this is an angle obscure to most moralist writers, so it may just be a chance to applaud Fitzgerald for delivering a new perspective.
After scavenging the book for quotes a million times, I appreciate Fitzgerald as a writer. He put great thought into both his words and sentence structure when describing a situation/scenery. This book is an annotator’s paradise! Although The Great Gatsby has its merits, I hope to read it again, in the hopes that I will find a deeper meaning.
The lifestyle depicted in The Great Gatsby reminds me of the aristocracy of the French Revolution. The wealthy desired a life of excess and leisure while their surroundings were facing poverty. Gatsby’s house can be compared to the palace of Versailles; in which parties and festivities were the norm. Although Marie Antoinette never actually said, “Let them eat cake!” the sheer blind-sightedness to the poor is mirrored by Nick when he states that he is glad that the mourners at least had a glimpse of Gatsby’s car to brighten up their “somber party.” Gatsby reminds me of Boo Radley, featured in To Kill a Mocking Bird, in that they both have a mysterious quality surrounding them and the neighbors would much rather make up rumors than actually get to know them.
The billboard advertising Dr. T.J. Eckleburg’s optometry in the valley of ashes reminds me of the eyes of the Cheshire Cat in The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland. While the Cheshire Cat provides direction and mischief for Alice, the glasses on the billboard look over town and its poverty. On the other hand, they both symbolize omnipresence over the plot and the main characters in the novel.
“The only completely stationary object in the room was an enormous couch on which two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon. They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house. I must have stood for a few moments listening to the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of a picture on the wall. Then there wan a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room…” (8).
In this passage, the reader is exposed to Nick’s thought process as he enters the Buchanan residency. At first, it seems to be a mix of random observations conveyed to the reader but upon closer examination, one can see that every sentence ends with a prepositional phrase. The whole passage almost immediately becomes a list of Nick’s thoughts as he draws a mental diagram of the setting and the location of people in the room. This syntactical judgment proves important as Fitzgerald conveys a sense of levitation in the room due to the “wind” trapped in it. My providing concrete “locations,” the author is able to create a whimsical setting without it being unrealistic.
“But I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone - 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”(21).
This sentence showcases the use of an asyndeton. By choosing to omit conjunctions, the author strays away from an organized sentence to better imply Nick’s confusion. At first, Nick believes that Gatsby is happy to be alone, but his hasty judgment is contradicted by Gatsby “trembling” and peculiar hand gestures. The structure of this sentence also suggests a series fluctuating thoughts influenced by Gatsby’s progressive actions within the sentence. By employing a syntactical device such as an asyndeton, the author is able to express a lot more than the general plot when describing a situation.
Nick Carraway describes his first party at the Gatsby residence by narrating that the “laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word”(40). From this sentence, it clear that the “Gatsby parties” are dreamlike. Using laughter as a measurement, Fitzgerald subtly communicates the progression of the party by the phrase “minute by minute.” This phrase also suggests an uneasy air at the beginning of the party since many “came without having met Gatsby at all” (41). The phrase “spilled with prodigality” not only depicts the sheer extravagance of these parties but also begs the question of the event being celebrated. Overall, the words denote a whimsical tone in that amidst the laughter and profligacy there is an air of curiosity in their host.
Gatsby takes Nick on an unexpected trip to visit an old friend of his. During their car ride they come across "a dead man…in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by two carriages with drawn blinds, and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at [them] with the tragic eyes and short upper lips of southeastern Europe, and [Nick] was glad that the sight of Gatsby’s splendid car was included in their somber holiday” (69). Phrases such “dead man,” “drawn blinds,” and “tragic eyes” support a despondent tone. Among the lavish parties and scandalous affairs, Fitzgerald provides the valley of ashes as a complete opposite to better convey the vast difference between the wealthy and the poor. Disillusioned by wealth, Nick believes that the mere sight of something extravagant is enough to bring light on their somber day. The author’s connotative diction allows for a clear understanding of the situation while conveying an important message of societal differences.
Simile: “This alley of ashes – a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens” (23).
Repetition: “‘ You can’t live forever; you cant’s live forever”’ (36).
Allusion: “Bleeding fluently, and trying to spread a copy of Town Tattle over the tapestry scenes of Versailles” (37).
Zeugma: “Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume… [and] her personality (30).
Metaphor: “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).
Simile: “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars” (39).
Diction: “I slunk off in the direction of the cocktail table – the only place in the garden where a single man could linger without looking purposeless and alone” (42).
Imagery: “The tears coursed down her cheeks—not freely, however, for when they came into contact with her heavily beaded eyelashes they assumed an inky color, and pursued the rest of their way in slow black rivulets” (51).
Volta: “ A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with compete isolation the figure of the host, who stood on the porch, his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell” (55).
Simile: “ With fenders spread like wings we scattered light through half Astoria” (68).
Onomatopoeia: “[The] blue banners in front of all the houses stretched out stiff and said tut-tut-tut-tut, in a disapproving way” (74).
Personification: “[The] blue banners in front of all the houses stretched out stiff and said tut-tut-tut-tut, in a disapproving way” (74).
Simile: “The clear voices of little girls, already gathered like crickets on the grass, rose through the hot twilight” (78).
Simile: A damp streak of hair lay like a dash of blue paint across her cheek” (85).
Imagery: “Slowly the white wings of the boat moved against the blue cool limit of they sky” (118).
Alliteration: “‘ It’s a swell suite”’ (126).
Simile/ Diction: “ We pushed aside curtains that were like pavilions, and felt over innumerable feet of dark wall for electric light switches” (147).
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, is a formulation of his symbolic style. His implementation of rhetorical devises work seamlessly to provide deeper meaning to the book’s medley of insightful flashbacks and plot evolution. Every character, storyline, and green light has more to offer than its original face value in that it helps evolve one or more of the many themes represented in the book. One of the major thematic concepts that runs thru the book is Gatsby’s association with the “green light.” It is first introduced in chapter one when Nick involuntarily looks “seaward [to see] nothing except a single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock” (21). Since the dock is in direct relation to Daisy, Gatsby’s strange gestures toward the dock can quite literally be interpreted as his “reach for Daisy.” After the long-awaited reunion of Daisy and Gatsby, the distance between them is symbolized once again as Nick states “that [the] light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her” (93). The repetition of the symbolic “green light” exemplifies the progress of their relationship and the proximity of Gatsby’s goal of winning over Daisy.
Another trend in the novel is the repetition of yellows and golds. Most closely aligned with Gatsby’s love of money, it is only fitting for him to consider Daisy as “the golden girl…[who’s] voice is full of money” (120). By shedding this kind of light on Daisy, the reader is forced to wonder if Gatsby only fancies her because of what she stands for. It is also important to note that the car that hit Myrtle was yellow and ultimately symbolized the end of the relationship and his life. In a way, these colors represent Gatsby quite well as it encompasses his need for money/gold and how that leads to his ultimate demise. Fitzgerald’s use of repeating images gives way to his symbolic style.
