Syntax

    Within the novel, The Great Gastby,  author F. Scott Fitzgerald artfully weaves syntax throughout the novel to affect the style and tone in a passage. For example, when narrator Nick Carraway is describing the two eggs, he says that “They are not perfect ovals-like the egg in the Columbus story, they are both crushed flat at the contact end-but their physical resemblance must be a source of perpetual confusion to the gulls that fly overhead,”(5). Fitzgerald commonly uses dashes in order to help further describe the imagery that he is creating. In order to eloquently paint the picture of the two eggs and the considerable difference in society between the two, dashes and other noted forms of syntax are necessary. Fitzgerald continues with the use of dashes in the next paragraph by stating, “I lived at West Egg the- well, the less fashionable of the two,”(5). Again, the dashes aid in the explanation of these two different towns. However, this syntax also creates a tone of familiarity in that the author connects with the narrator. They both share the experience of living in the “less fashionable” districts, and so this sentence really allows the audience to connect with the concept of having highs and lows in life. Later in the novel, after the party at Gatsby’s house that Daisy and Tom attended, Nick is whether or not to accept the invitation of dinner at Daisy’s house. As he is wondering, “Half an hour later Daisy herself telephoned and seemed relieved to find that I was coming. Something was up. And yet I couldn’t believe that they would choose this occasion for a scene,”(114). In this statement, Fitzgerald uses varying sentence sizes to catch the attention of the reader, and emphasize that a pivotal moment was soon to occur. He starts off with his usual use of long sentences, followed by the short, simple sentence “something was up”. The sudden shortness of the statement catches the audience off guard, and causes them to pay close attention to the foreshadowing of the sentence.