The Great Gatsby Rhetorical Analysis

This nation was birthed from the hard work of it's pioneers, frontiersmen, and settlers all of who were working towards their vision the American dream. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald takes the pure and noble notion of striving for the American dream and adds a twist. As the characters within Fitzgerald’s novel try and attempt to achieve their version of the American dream, they willingly discard certain parts of their moral code in order to do so. Jay Gatsby was willing to engage in morally dubious actions to get Daisy back. Jordan would cheat in order to obtain the fame and fortune that came with being a renowned female golf professional. And then Fitzgerald gives the character Tom who by all means has already achieved his American dream but

This drive for the oh so lofty goal is critiqued by Nick in this quote, “ There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way.” (Pg 95-96 Fitzgerald) Fitzgerald makes use of the rhetorical device allusion in this quote quite unnoticeably . The use of Fitzgerald’s allusion is seen in the latter portion of the quote mentioning feathers decking out Gatsby's “creation” which is a subtle reference to that of male peacocks. Where the aforementioned flightless bird grow elaborate and decorative feather pieces in order to attract a mate which starkly mirrors the behavior of Gatsby who attempts to gain Daisy's affection back buy showing off his newfound glamorous wealth. Make no mistake this is gatsby reaching for his dream, but in the same quote we see this fail as Gatsby has wound up putting Daisy on a pedestal, idealizing her to a point where as in she can not possible fulfil his aspirations. This stands as imoral for many reasons but to cut it down it demans her as a person. Daisy isn't seen as a human but as something to be obtained with wealth or money and it

Where as the other characters struggle to obtain Tom can maintain and as he tries to do so in vain it reveals to the reader the extent of his moral and in the quote’s case also hyprocosy “"Self−control!" Repeated Tom incredulously. "I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that's the idea you can count me out. . . . nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions, and next they'll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white." Flushed with his impassioned gibberish, he saw himself standing alone on the last barrier of civilization. " (Pg. 130 Fitzgerald) here we see two different things, one a metaphor relating interracial marriage to adultery and second another allusion to a modern debate term called the slippery slope. The two rhetorical devices show readers insight in the workings of Tom’s head, as he relates the black and white marriages with the biblical sin of adultery. The quote also show to us the double standard the Tom exists in as tom was too commenting the very same sin of adultery. He chooses to ignore his own wrongdoing in order to protect the weakening of his achieve american dream. Tom talks about the traditional nuclear family but is actively taking a part in taking said