Monday, March 11, 2013

The Great Gatsby: Syntax


Syntax in the Great Gatsby

·         “But there wasn’t a sound” (81).

The terse sentence reveals a sense of mysteriousness and confusion as to what is happening when Nick is looking at Gatsby’s glowing house. By using a short sentence in the midst of long sentences, Fitzgerald makes the mystery appear to be sudden and important.

·         “The Dancies came, too, and S. B. Whitebait, who was well over sixty, and Maurice A. Flink, and the Hammerheads, and Beluga the tobacco importer, and Beluga’s girls” (62).

The repetition of “and” helps the author to convey the fact that a lot of people are with Gatsby at this time. The endlessness of the sentence creates a feeling that a lot of people are going to Gatsby’s party.

·         “After two years I remember the rest of that day, and that night and the next day, only as an endless drill of police and photographers and newspaper men in and out of Gatsby’s front door” (163).

The repetition in the beginning of chapter 9 reveals the endless monotony and significance of that day to Nick. After the death of Gatsby, Nick remembers every long second of those days, but this is revealed through the syntax of the sentence rather than the actual words.

 

 

2 comments:

  1. I agree that with the use of polysyndeton Nick enumerates the many people that go to Gatsby’s parties and shows how Fitzgerald wrote this novel as if he was in Nick’s shoes. Conveying the idea of mystery in a short sentence, allows Fitzgerald to draw extra emphasis and as you mentioned its unexpected. The unexpected short sentence makes the fluidity of the paragraph to stop and cause the emphasis on the sentence.

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  2. For the first quote, the analysis of the mystery involved is intriguing. By adding in that little statement, Fitzgerald is able syntactically enhance the mystery implied. I never saw it that way before. The strong insight is apparent here. In the analysis for the second quote, the vocabulary is not as strong as it could be. Using words and phrases like “a lot of people” multiple times forces the reader to imply that you have a limited vocabulary and a simplistic one at that. Seeing the endlessness of the list was exceptional and a great example for syntax.

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