Lit Analysis #2

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott. Fitzgerald
 

1. Summarize the plot of the novel, explain how the narrative fulfills the author’s purpose.

It was forbidden love in which a man set out all of his time and heart on a woman who moved on. But it was a love like no other. With so many affairs and parties and even a death, you can tell this story was set around its era, where standards held true and who you are or what you wanted to do all depended on where you were placed in the hierarchy.

2. Describe the theme of the novel.

One theme of this novel was the hollowness of the upper classes. West and East Egg symbolize the difference between the new era of wealthy and the old traditional wealth. Or example, Gatsby lives in an overly ornate mansion and throws huge parties to show of his wealth and popularity. Meanwhile the Buchanan’s live in a well off neighborhood but one where everyone keeps to themselves.

3. Describe the author’s tone. Include 3 excerpts.

The author’s tone seems to be factual, almost as if he has to make sure you know every detail about every little thing. For example, at one of Gatsby's parties it is stated that "In addition to all these I can remember that Faustina O'Brien came there at least once and the Baedeker girls and young Brewer, who had his nose shot off in the war, and Mr. Albrucksburger and Miss Haag, his fiancée, and Ardita Fitz-Peters and Mr. P. Jewett, once head of the American Legion, and Miss Claudia Hip, with a man reputed to be her chauffeur, and a prince of something, whom we called Duke, and whose name, if I ever knew it, I have forgotten." Or another example includes Gatsby waking up Nick like such, "At nine o'clock, one morning late in July, Gatsby's gorgeous car lurched up the rocky drive to my door and gave out a burst of melody from its three-noted horn." And finally another example includes "His house had never seemed so enormous to me as it did that night when we hunted through the great rooms for cigarettes. We pushed aside curtains that were like pavilions, and felt over innumerable feet of dark wall for electric light switches-once I tumbled with a sort of splash upon the keys of a ghostly piano. There was an inexplicable amount of dust everywhere, and the rooms were musty, as though they hadn't been aired for many days. I found the humidor on an unfamiliar table, with two stale, dry cigarettes inside. Throwing open the French windows of the drawing-room, we sat smoking out into the darkness."

4. Describe a minimum of 10 literary elements/techniques, with textual support. 

·        Attack ad hominem

- "Through this twilight universe Daisy began to move again with the season; suddenly she was again keeping half a dozen dates a day with half a dozen men (not lady like)"
-"They're a rotten crowd," I shouted across the lawn. "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together." (Hates people)
-" Probably it had been tactful to leave Daisy's house, but the act annoyed me, and her next remark made me rigid."(Annoying woman)

·       Pathos

- "Jay Gatsby had broken up like glass against Tom's hard malice." (Pathetic man (in story))
- " It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy-it increased her value in his eyes. He felt their presence all about the house, pervading the air with the shades and echoes of still vibrant emotions."(Can't stop thinking about her)
 -"His gorgeous pink rag of a suit made a bright spot of color against the white steps" (Pink suit suggested a feminine man)

·       Red Herring

- "It was dawn now on Long Island and we went about opening the rest of the windows down-stairs, filling the house with gray-turning, gold-turning light. (Distracts you from the horrible events with the day)"
- "The track curved and now it was going away from the sun, which as it sank lower, seemed to spread itself in benediction over the vanishing city where she had drawn her breath." (Distraction from dialogue)
-"When I passed the ashheaps on the train that morning I had crossed deliberately to the other side of the car" (Distraction from previous events)

·       Appeal to emotion

- " I can't describe to you how surprised I was to find out I loved her, old sport. I even hoped for a while that she'd throw me over, but she didn't, because she was in love with me too. She thought I knew a lot because I knew different things from her. . . . well, there I was, 'way off my ambitions, getting deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I didn't care. What was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do?" (fell in love)
- " It was a cold fall day, with fire in the room and her cheeks flushed. Now and then she moved and he changed his arm a little, and once he kissed her dark shining hair." (held her)
- "Most of those reports were a nightmare-grotesque, circumstantial, eager, and untrue." (Story after Gatsby's death)

·       Appeal to authority

- "I thanked him for his hospitality. We were always thanking him for that-I and the others."  (received appreciation)
- "old sport." (used this as a view of being looked down upon)
- I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. (too cool for others)

·       Imagery

- The author is very descriptive with the details of the scene and setting, “At nine o'clock, one morning late in July, Gatsby's gorgeous car lurched up the rocky drive to my door and gave out a burst of melody from its three-noted horn."

·       Simile

- The author compares many things, such as "In his blue garden men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars."

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Characterization

1. Describe 2 examples of direct characterization and 2 examples of indirect characterization.

Two examples in The Great Gatsby of direct characterization include when they describe what Daisy and Gatsby are wearing and how they look. But it becomes indirect when we find out their thoughts and what their character is like mentally rather then physically. The author definitely uses the direct characterization to give more detail to the indirect. The characters almost seem stereotypical. The way they look is very relative to the way they think. For example Daisy's blonde hair with fancy clothes makes her seem materialistic. Which it turns out she is.

2. Does the author’s syntax/diction change when he focuses on character?

The author states the story from the view of one of the characters. So his diction and syntax only changes when the character is faced with another character in which his own views and opinions are brought into play. Other then that he stays stable through most of the novel.

3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic? Flat or round? Explain.

I think Nick is a fairly static character, he doesn’t grow as a person. The only thing that really changes about him is his view of other characters. I think Fitzgerald did that on purpose. Instead of focusing on the protagonist and his changes, the reader uses Nick more as a tour guide through the book to better understand everyone else.

4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you’d met a person or read a character?

I definitely feel like I was near the characters. A very realistic story. For example, "And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer." I feel like Fitzgerald did a good job of making the characters pop off the page and into the room I was in. I didn’t like Tom and I thought Gatsby was a loon in love, I didn’t look at them as words on a page, I looked at them like actual people.