· Anaphora: “The apartment was on the top floor̶—a small living room, a small dining-room, a small bedroom, and a bath” (Fitzgerald 29).
· Alliteration: “She turned to Mrs. McKee and the room rang full of her artificial laughter” (Fitzgerald 36).
· Simile: “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars” (Fitzgerald 39).
Throughout The Great Gatsby, the reader constantly encounters repetition such as asyndeton, polysyndeton, and the above anaphora. Nick (the narrator and main character of the book) continually employs this type of repetition to significantly emphasize the scene he is describing and his opinions of it, contributing to the hastily honest and sometimes urgent manner in which he writes. His rapid style seems to reflect upon and draw a parallel to the fast-paced world of the rich he is a part of. Further highlighting his keen observations, Nick often times uses alliteration to make a statement more memorable and to give the reader further thought as to what he is recounting.
This way of writing is heightened through alliterations in that this often flowery diction makes what he is trying to say more difficult to understand yet more intriguing to discover. Through the use of similes, Nick’s melancholy reflections of Gatsby’s life, including the sad lives of all those who are rich, are amplified because the connections he draws paint a picture in the readers mind and make his thoughts more understandable and more unforgettable. The fast, incomprehensible yet haunting style with which Fitzgerald writes—through the use of anaphora, alliterations, and similes—serve to illuminate Nick’s sad recollections and his purpose for sharing them.
This way of writing is heightened through alliterations in that this often flowery diction makes what he is trying to say more difficult to understand yet more intriguing to discover. Through the use of similes, Nick’s melancholy reflections of Gatsby’s life, including the sad lives of all those who are rich, are amplified because the connections he draws paint a picture in the readers mind and make his thoughts more understandable and more unforgettable. The fast, incomprehensible yet haunting style with which Fitzgerald writes—through the use of anaphora, alliterations, and similes—serve to illuminate Nick’s sad recollections and his purpose for sharing them.
I find it very interesting that you have looked at the purpose of the writing through the eyes of the narrator rather than those of the author. It is fascinating to view the writing as characterizing the narrator rather than the author, since the novel is told from Nick's point of view. This strategy, employed by Fitzgerald, is meant to give credibility to Nick's, and therefore his own, arguments and opinions, as the author has already established ethos for Nick in the opening pages of the novel. Because Nick is "inclined to reserve all judgments," it is apparent that any opinions that he expresses are well thought out, rational, and are coming from someone with practiced tolerance. This allows the reader to appreciate these opinions more than they would appreciate those of a stranger, making it so that they really absorb the message of the book.
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