Rhetorical Analysis Of The Great Gatsby

Novelist, F. Scott Fitzgerald, in his novel the Great Gatsby, addresses the demanding lifestyle of Americans in the twenties and the impact it had on art, literature, and culture. Fitzgerald’s purpose was to expose the truth behind this lifestyle and the damage it had on the people living in it. He adopts a glamorous yet eerie tone to convince young adult and adult readers that while their fantasy of fame, money, and glory may seem exhilarating on the outside, it lacks the happiness that the reader craves on the inside. It captures an imperative part of American history and the ways this time period shaped this country into its complexity and uniqueness through jazz, art, and an individual's own intuition. For the first time, people were reading …show more content…
This novel successfully relates to the readers in this time period. People were infatuated with art and money and the things money could buy them, whether or not those things made them happy. The reader can initially relate to the ideologies of the main characters and what they do to be the best they could be in the twenties. The tone shifts from pleasant, though somewhat mysterious, to a noticeably dark and bitter undertone suggesting that her glamorous life is a lie. For example, Daisy Buchanan, a beautiful young girl with friends, a husband, a large house, and enough money to get her whatever she wants. No matter what she buys or what she does, she is not truly happy. Her husband is abusive and cheats on her throughout their relationship and she herself is in love with someone else, Jay Gatsby, who she never thought she would see again. Even though she has everything that is “supposed” to make her happy, she constantly proves her unhappiness without needed to say the words. Many of the readers can relate to her, even if they do not want to admit it, They have created this allusion in the twenties that money and riches equaled happiness. After all of their hard work and obsession with being better than anyone else, they quickly realized that no matter what they did, they were not satisfied. Fitzgerald uses Ethos to make the reader understand that the pity the felt for Daisy was what they should feel for themselves. When the reader wonders why Daisy would allow her life to go on dismally, they are really asking how could they themselves live with constant unhappiness. The same applies to Gatsby, who feigns a smile and pretends he is happy even though his life is not the best. The underlying tone in this book, one of loneliness, depression, and bitterness, made Fitzgerald’s novel so