Syntax Assignment 3

Examples of syntax:

• “The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end” (98).

The syntax that the author uses in this quote influences the purpose and style of this piece.  Nick describes Gatsby’s history by using a comparison between Gatsby and Jesus to illuminate Gatsby’s creation of his identity.  The purpose of this quote is to describe to the reader how similar Gatsby and Jesus are when the subject of their identity comes up.   Gatsby transformed into the person that he created for himself a, “Platonic conception of himself” (98) and he remained committed to that identity, regardless of the attempts to stop him from achieving his dream.  Fitzgerald uses several commas and a couple of dashes in this quote.  This style of writing helps to explain the meaning of the quote and the life of Gatsby.

Diction Assignment 2

The author uses several types of diction in “The Great Gatsby” to create different tones.  An example of diction from Chapter 1 is, “I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (17).  Daisy is describing her hopes for her daughter to Nick and Jordan. The diction in this quote reveals a glimpse of Daisy’s character. Daisy is not a fool, but does not value women intelligence. The older generation values obedience in women, but the younger generation values overexcitement.  Daisy’s remark about her daughter is a bit scornful.  She is referring to the social values of her time, but she does not to challenge them either.  The diction in this quote describes Daisy’s boredom with life, and it also implies that a girl has more fun if she is pretty and naive, which creates a tone of desire.  Daisy wants her daughter to be a fool, but she often tries to act like one herself.  She acts this way due to the social standard of American women in the 1920s, so she can avoid stressful issues, such as her love for Gatsby.  This tone of desire is seen through Daisy’s hope for her daughter, but also through her hopes and dreams as well.

Personal Review Assignment 5

I thought that “The Great Gatsby” was a good book to read.  I think that everyone should read at least once in their life time.  It teaches a good life lesson that greed and money can consume even the nicest of people.  I liked this book very much because it symbolizes the American dream that people had back then.  I liked reading this book because it made me realize that even though our economy is not doing so well today, back then times were horrible.  I would not like to live in a time where money was the most important thing, you were constantly being judged by your peers, and when people were only your friends if you were rich.  I also loved the symbolism in this book.  My favorite symbol was the green light representing Gatsby’s love for Daisy and the American dream for the pursuit of happiness.  I did not like though how there was no happy ending and that there were a couple of innocent people killed.  I also liked how many themes from the story constantly made connections to the American dream.  It is hard to believe that life was like that back in the 1920’s.  I am very glad that I had the chance to read this book.     

Text Connection Assignment 4

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” one of the main character’s, Jay Gatsby, throws lavish parties and shows off his wealth in order to impress the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan.  A text-to-self connection can be made here.  When I was in middle school, you were not cool unless you wore the coolest clothes and hung out with the coolest people.  I would buy the coolest clothes in order to impress the “popular kids” and by doing so, that would make me cool.  Like Gatsby, I wanted to be something I was not, and to be thought of as someone to look up to and someone to envy.  But also like Gatsby, I did not achieve my dream.  Gatsby could not achieve his dream of winning Daisy’s love, no matter how many luxurious parties he threw.  And I could not obtain popularity no matter how well I dressed, and how “cool” I acted.  I did not fit in with the “popular kids” at my middle school anyway because most of them were mean.  This also relates to Gatsby’s life because even though he throws fancy parties, he does not fit in with the “rich” people.  They are uptight, and care about no one but themselves, but Gatsby however does care about others and is nice to people.  Mine and Gatsby’s dreams are lost, but it is most likely for the better, even though Gatsby does not know it.

Rhetorical Strategies Assignment 1

Rhetorical strategies:

·         Symbol: “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).

The symbolism of the green light affects the author’s style of writing by explaining to the reader the American dream of the 1920s.  The green light symbolizes the American dream. Gatsby longs to achieve his dream.  His dream is the pursuit of money and material wealth.  In order to achieve this dream he has created a new identity for himself in order to fit in with all the other wealthy people in New York.  This reflects the combination of initiated individualism and unconstrained greediness that Fitzgerald alleged as controlling the 1920s American life.

·         Imagery: “He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself” (48).

The use of sympathetic imagery used to describe Gatsby’s smile affects the author’s style of writing through the use of descriptive adjectives.  This explains to the reader what Gatsby looks like.  This kind imagery not only describes what Gatsby’s smile looks like, but it also characterizes what type of a person he is.