- “His eyes would drop slowly form the swinging light to the table by the wall, and then jerk back to the light again, and he gave out incessantly his high, horrible call....” (138).
This sentence is carefully written in order to evoke a sense of utter realization of what had just taken place. The compound complex sentence instates the complexity of the situation, while the simple clauses that make up the sentence, prove how George Wilson mind has resorted to simple methodical thoughts as he tries to cope with the idea that his wife, Myrtle, has just been brutally murdered. How “his eyes would drop slowly.. then back to the light again” reveals that Wilson has already gone into a sate of shock, where thoughts are being constantly repeated which then are mirrored by his repetitious actions.
- “Thirty -- the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair” (135).
The parallel syntax of this sentence lends itself to demonstrate Nick’s thought process. He begins with abstract ideas and a morose concept of this decade of age, and ends withs the frank reality “thinning hair”. Due to the smooth, subtle transition, the reader is taken to their imaginations and then abruptly brought back to reality. This exemplifies Nick’s personality in that he sometimes gets caught up in the glamour of having rich friends and a fast pace life style of living in New York City, but yet always seems able to reign himself back to the real world he lives in.
This essay is well written and shows how Fitzgerald uses syntactical devices to enhance his novel, The Great Gatsby. This essay describing the syntax uses well chosen examples to show how descriptive Fitzgerald makes his writing. I feel the first paragraph didn’t state why he used this syntactical device to enhance the tone of the novel, but instead says what is happening in the story. Although the first paragraph doesn’t talk about tone it still is well written and shows Fitzgerald’s intelligent use of writing devices. The second paragraph does the same as the first paragraph but also demonstrates Fitzgerald’s way of writing. Even with the few grammar mistakes, this essay is still well written and shows strong examples of Fitzgerald’s syntactical devices.
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