Rhetorical Strategies

·         Personification: “In the early morning the sun threw my shadow westward as I hurried down the white chasms of lower New York to the Probity Trust” (56).

·         Imagery: “I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night, and the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye” (56).

·         Onomatopoeia/Foreshadowing: “red, white, and blue in front of all houses stretched out stiff and said tut-tut-tut-tut, in a disapproving way” (74).

·         Simile: “Picking up Wilson like a doll, Tom carried him into the office, set him down in a chair, and came back” (141).

Throughout The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses many rhetorical strategies in order to enhance his writing. Generally, most of the rhetorical strategies relate to imagery. For example, when Jordan Baker is describing the first day she saw Gatsby and Daisy together, she states that the flags were “red, white, and blue in front of all houses stretched out stiff and said tut-tut-tut-tut, in a disapproving way” (74). While this may be onomatopoeia, it is also foreshadowing because the flags are moving in a “disapproving way”, leading the reader to think that Daisy and Gatsby should not be together. However, the use of onomatopoeia and foreshadowing illustrates the scene clearly and allows the reader to envision the day that Gatsby and Daisy were first seen together. Also, through the use of a simile, Fitzgerald depicts how weak Wilson was after witnessing his wife’s death. By comparing him to a doll, Fitzgerald portrays Wilson as lifeless and unable to move or think because he is in a state of shock after Myrtle is hit by a car.  F. Scott Fitzgerald’s use of various rhetorical strategies strengthens his writing and allows the reader to look deeper into the book.