RHETORIC IN THE GREAT
GATSBY
TONE VS. MOOD
• MOOD is not intellectual; it is emotional. It is the
emotional feeling you, the reader, gets when
reading a passage.
• What mood does Poe’s work usually, if not always, convey
within his first paragraphs?
• TONE is more intellectual and author-centered. It is
the author’s attitude toward the subject. Discussing
tone means determining now the author uses
language to show that attitude.
• You may know how to describe mood, but you need to
discuss diction, syntax, and other elements to discuss tone.
TONE STUDY – PAGE 12
“We walked through a high hallway into a bright rosecolored space, fragilely bound into the house by French windows
at either end. The windows were ajar and gleaming white against
the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the
house. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one
end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the
frosted wedding cake of the ceiling—and then rippled over the
wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea.
The only completely stationary object in the room was an
enormous couch on which two young women were buoyed up as
though upon an anchored balloon. They were both in white and
their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been
blown back in after a short flight around the house. I must have
stood for a few moments listening to the whip and snap of the
curtains and the groan of a picture on the wall. Then there was a
boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught
wind died out about the room and the curtains and rugs and the
two young women ballooned slowly to the floor.”
TONE + SYNTAX
• How does syntax contribute to tone in this?
• Note the polysyndeton in the last sentence. The repeated
“and’s” simulate the wind dying down, as objects slowly settle
in the room. This device creates the sense that the time it took
for everything to settle back down and deflate after Tom shut
the window was drawn out and long.
• Fitz Gerald also uses loose/cumulative sentences.
• A loose sentence is a type of sentence in which the main idea
(independent clause) is elaborated by the successive
addition of modifying clauses or phrases. Example: I found a
large hall, obviously a former garage, dimly lit, and packed
with cots.
• The number of ideas in loose sentences is easily increased by
adding phrases and clauses.
• This passage contains no periodic sentences, which
develop a sense of tension as the reader waits for
the main idea, the independent clause, by the
period, at the end of the sentence.
• So, a periodic sentence is a long and frequently
involved sentence, marked by suspended syntax, in
which the main idea is not completed until the final
word--usually with an emphatic climax. Example: To
believe your own thought, to believe that what is
true for you in your private heart is true for all men,
that is genius.
• Every sentence in this passage is loose/cumulative,
except for the last sentence which is a series of
balanced independent clauses.
• What is the effect of Fitzgerald’s use of these
loose/cumulative sentences?
TONE STUDY
• Step 1 – List the colors in the passage. Determine
how the colors create a certain effect. Note the
repetition of “white” and the idea of “white,” and
consider its connotative meaning.
• Step 2 – Choose two images which appeal to you
and help you to imagine the scene. Explain how
Fitzgerald creates a certain mood AND tone with
these images.
• Step 3 – List examples of sound devices (especially
onomatopoeia) and explain how this connects with
the tone.
• You may work with a partner to discuss your
answers. One person should record the answers.
• We will discuss your interpretations as a class. Be
prepared to contribute.
• You have 15 minutes!
RHETORIC HOMEWORK
• Based on what we discussed today, revise your
homework (briefly) if you need to.
• We will discuss the answers.
• To consider the impact of Tom’s characterization,
you had to know the terms given to you and be
able to identify them.
TOM BUCHANAN
• Simple – 1 clause (subj. + verb + completed thought). Ex – Joe waited
for the train.
• Compound – 2 complete sentences joined by a conjunction.
• Complex – 1 complete sentence with 1 or more dependent clause
(fragment) connected to it. Ex: Because Mary and Samantha arrived at
the bus station before noon, I did not see them at the station.
• Compound-complex – 2 or more complete sentences and 1 or more
dependent clauses. Ex: Although I like to go camping, I haven't had the
time to go lately, and I haven't found anyone to go with.
• Appositive – A noun or noun phrase that renames another noun right
beside it. Ex: The insect, a large cockroach, is crawling across the table.
• Supercilious (adj.) - Having or showing the proud and unpleasant
attitude of people who think that they are better or more important
than other people
• Fractiousness (noun) – from the adj. fractious - tending to be
troublesome, unruly, quarrelsome/irritable