Rhetorical Analysis Of The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is set in the eyes of Nick Carraway, a bystander in a confusing and flawed world. He quickly befriends a high-class party guy named Gatsby who shows him the happiness riches can bring people. From the time he moves in, to the time Gatsby dies, Nick stands by as he learns new desires and secrets from his friends. Nick notices the corrupt nature of the people as they hide their inner feelings in order to seem happy, although deep down that isn’t what they want. The whole book is based off of hidden meanings and characters hiding their true feelings. Fitzgerald uses a satirical, curious, and caustic tone to convey the central idea of the novel, which was to explain how people get confused on what defines …show more content…
One effective simile being used is “like moths among the whisperings” giving the reader the impression that the people at the party were disliked and has no purpose. The only purpose of them was to create a sense of importance for Gatsby as he didn’t want to feel lonely. It creates the illusion that the party represents the bigger part and the people at the party are only simply a filler part. The readers know that Gatsby didn’t like everyone at the parties and most were people that he didn’t even know, but the party in general was the important part. It made Gatsby feel like royalty, even though on the inside he was only longing for one thing, Daisy. We can also see this comparision of society in the “Rolls-Royce” vs “Station Wagon” comment. The Rolls-Royce, or the rich part of society, partied most of the day, while the station wagon, or poor part of society, had to “scamper like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains,” or in other words they struggled to live under their provided conditions. Just like the split in society you can also relate this comparison to Gatsby as on the outside he was more of a Rolls-Royce who was living the so called “American Dream,” but in reality he was a Station Wagon who just pretended to be the Rolls Royce. Just like the hidden meaning in the car scenario, He also puts it in the change of a pronoun to make you think about what he is trying to say. He explains how the “men and girls came,” purposely excluding the word women. This creates the impression that the girls only came to please the men which degrades the women. Fitzgerald includes this wording to say that women went with these kind of guys only to feel like they were living the American Dream as