Rhetorical Strategies

Simile: “For a moment a phrase tried to take shape in my mouth and my lips parted like a dumb man’s” (Fitzgerald 111).

Allusion: “He must have looked up at the unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass. A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about…like that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees” (161).

Imagery: “His eyes leaked continuously with excitement, and when I took the bag and umbrella from his hands he began to pull so incessantly at his sparse gray beard that I had difficulty in getting off his coat. He was on the point of collapse, so I took him into the music room and made him sit down while I sent for something to ea. But he wouldn’t eat, and the glass of milk spilled from his trembling hand” (167).

Apostrophe: “But as they drew back the sheet and looked at Gatsby with unmoved eyes, his protest continued in my brain: “Look here, old sport, you’ve got to get somebody for me. You’ve got to try hard. I can’t go through this alone” (165).

Fitzgerald integrates multiple rhetorical devices throughout his novel such as the simile above describing Nick’s reaction to seeing Gatsby and Daisy reuniting. He compares his lips to that of “a dumb man’s” (111), and by doing so it allows for the reader to understand the amount of emotion and intensity occurring between Gatsby and Daisy based on Nicks reaction. Fitzgerald continues to use these similes to depict the characters inner most thoughts and emotions, allowing for the reader to connect and get a deeper understanding of each character. He also incorporates multiple allusions throughout the novel such as the one listed in the second bullet point alluding to the “heavens”. Fitzgerald uses these analogies as a way of connecting with the reader and to give them a more insightful understanding of the ideas he is trying to convey.  Next, Fitzgerald uses vast amounts of vivid and scintillating imagery in order to illustrate the bigger concepts of the story. His selection to detail is significant in that it gets the reader to feel as if they were there experiencing it themselves. Finally, after the death of Gatsby, an apostrophe is used creating a sympathetic tone towards Gatsby. By provoking this sympathy, it allows for a more in-depth analysis of the situation and keeps the attention of the reader.