Rhetorical Analysis Of The Great Gatsby

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man 's needs, but not every man 's greed.” As humans, we work hard in order to have the greatest opportunity to succeed in life, which will fulfill our wants. F Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, utilizes effective language and punctuation in the text, which helps him accomplish his purpose: Illustrate what material goods does to a society. From a rhetorical standpoint, examining logos, ethos, and pathos, this novel serves as a social commentary on how the pursuit of “The American Dream” causes the people in society to transform into greedy and heartless individuals. The Great Gatsby is a novel narrated by Nick Caraway, who ends up being Jay Gatsby’s true lone friend. Jay Gatsby is an

Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and means to convince one of the persuader’s credibility. Fitzgerald sets the stage with “the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg above the grey land.” The eyes from the billboard looking over the valley of ashes, the area between New York and West Egg, allude to those of God. All of the lies, dishonesty, and thievery that happened along the way to achieve the status that Gatsby and the Buchanan’s have, are all seen by God. The hard-working, loyal car repair man George Wilson “look[s] at the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg [in] the dissolving night” knowing that “God sees everything.” His wife cheated on him and he feels as if there is nothing more to live for, so he decides to accept the fact that God knows that him murdering Gatsby is a sin, but he disregards it. Gatsby ends up getting murdered and at his funeral, it seems that Nick Caraway is the only person who truly cares about Gatsby’s death, while the greedy, heartless Buchanan’s shelter themselves with their riches. “The American Dream” caused them to lose their moral values and only fixate on material items because that is what they are accustomed to

The Roaring Twenties revived “The American Dream,” as the last decade was struck with World War I. More Americans lived in cities, people had extra money, and the freedom to do what they wanted. That mentality is definitely evident with Daisy. As a large group was out drinking one evening, Caraway notes that they “drank in long greedy swallows.” Much like their personality, people during this time period could never settle because they always thought that more is better. Most of their decisions are based off personal benefit. The Great Gatsby contains rhetorical queues, such as logos, ethos, and pathos, that validate that the pursuit of “The American Dream” transforms society into greedy, heartless people. At this time, people only thought about social status because that determined who you partied with and how much money you had. Since World War I caused such a disruption in the world, it could easily be said that is why people developed this type of mentality. “Real riches are the riches possessed inside,” which is a characteristic that all of these people in West Egg