Rhetorical Strategies

• Alliteration: “Fantastic farm” (23). “Obscure operations” (23). “Grotesque gardens” (23).
• Simile: “...a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills.” (23).
• Personification: “... a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track” (23).
• Hyperbole: “...drift endlessly over” (23). “...gigantic retinas” (23).
• Imagery: “...the ash-men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud..” (23).

Fitzgerald seems to begin most of his chapters with topics that relate more to the overall picture rather than a continuation of the previous chapter. With his uses of hyperbole, somewhat of disturbing similes, and dismal personification, he is able to create a vague and obscure scene that makes the reader wonder what is going on at the beginning of most of his chapters. This ambiguous style of Fitzgerald contributes to the overall theme of his novel, in which people, like Jay Gatsby, chase vague dreams and whimsical hopes that when realized ultimately lead to their demise and destruction. His use of imagery also bolsters the obscurity of the scenes, as in chapter 2, when he describes the desolate and abysmal land between East and West Egg as a “fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens” (23). This discrepant picture portrays the land between the two places as uninhabitable and ultimately uncrossable, which emphasizes the overall idea that it is impossible for Daisy and Gatsby to be together. Fitzgerald uses this style to keep the overarching idea of the novel relevant throughout.