11th – American Literature
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Ch. 7, Syntax Analysis
Syntax: An author’s sentence structure.
Objective: Examine Fitzgerald’s syntax and its effects on the text.
Directions:
1) Humanities: Find 3 sentences from the narration in Ch. 7 that strike you as unique. No
dialogue.
Honors: Find 2 passages from the narration in Ch. 7 that strike you as unique. No dialogue.
Unique means: they are particularly beautiful or clear or repetitive or complex; or perhaps they
are very long or very short; perhaps they juxtapose ideas or images; perhaps they are
grammatically incorrect. Look for passages that are not run-of-the-mill English, but, rather, ones
that make Fitzgerald’s style distinctive.
2) Humanities:
a. On a clean sheet of paper, write down each example sentence with its page number.
b. Then, describe the structure of each sentence.
This is grammar. You need to look at the order of the words, how many parts the
sentence has, and what is in each of the parts. You need to look at what punctuation
Fitzgerald uses and doesn’t use. You need to describe what comes first, second, third,
etc. in the sentence; describe the parts of the sentence. Where does the sentence
pause? Where does it go on and on? Where is bonus information added in? Exactly
what you say depends on the sentence, but, ultimately, you are looking at
HOW Fitzgerald puts words together—NOT what he is saying.
For example, this sentence (this one right here, that started with “For example,”) has
4 major parts: the part before the first comma, the part after the comma before the
colon, the part inside the parentheses, and now the part after the colon.
Honors:
a. On a clean sheet of paper, write down each example with its page number.
b. Then, describe the structure of the sentences within the passage.
Are they all long? All short? All lists? A mix? Do they have many parts? What is
in each part? This requires you look closely at the structure of individual
sentences and compare how sentences within the passage are structured. See
Hums notes on sentence structure.
3) Humanities & Honors: Finally, write a few sentences about what effect that syntax has on the
text. Some questions to get you thinking about effects:
How does the syntax make an impression on you, as the reader?
o Is it long-winded? Quick and to the point? Boring and repetitive? Complex and
hard to follow?
How does the example portray the scene/characters?
o Positive? Negative? Contrasts them with something?
With what idea does the sentence start? With what idea does the sentence end? Does this
create a contrast or a similarity in things?
What punctuation marks are used in the sentence? How are these punctuation marks
used to separate ideas? How are they used to link ideas?
Humanities - Example #1: “I stayed late that night, Gatsby asked me to wait until he was free, and I
lingered in the garden until the inevitable swimming party had run up, chilled and exalted, from the
black beach, until the lights were extinguished in the guest-rooms overhead,” (Fitzgerald 109).
Analysis & effects on the reader: In this sentence, Fitzgerald starts with what seems to be a comma
splice. “I stayed late that night” is a complete sentence, but he sets it apart from the phrase “Gatsby
asked me to wait until he was free” with only commas. This makes it so that Gatsby’s request doesn’t
stand alone, and Nick waiting doesn’t stand alone, but the two ideas are inextricably linked but also
decidedly separate. Fitzgerald could have written “I stayed late that night because Gastby asked me to
wait until he was free,” or he could have written “Gatsby asked me to wait until he was free so I stayed
late that night,” but he doesn’t. Instead, he tacks one piece of information onto the first as an
explanation, but both are still separate events rather than the direct cause-and-effect that words like
“because” or “so” would have indicated. In addition, by putting these chronological events in reverse
order, Fitzgerald makes the reader pause and really take note that Gatsby has requested Nick’s
presence—emphasizing that it is an event of much importance. This sentence is also unique because of
the way Fitzgerald packs so much into the action of Nick staying late. While Nick “lingers” in the garden,
the sentence also lingers on the swimming party that runs up from the beach, pausing for extra
description in the middle of the action. Eventually the party’s over and everyone’s lights are out, but the
sentence implies that in between the swimmers and the lights the party dwindles into nothing. Finally,
by ending the sentence with the images of the “black beach” and the lights being turned out, Fitzgerald
also emphasizes the darkness and aloneness of Nick and Gatsby in this moment.
Honors - Example #2: “His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy’s white face came up to his own. He
knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his
mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment to the tuningfork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch she blossomed for him like a
flower and the incarnation was complete,” (Fitzgerald 110-1).
Analysis & effects on the reader: This passage has several interesting sentence structures. It starts
with a simple sentence about Gatsby’s heart beating quickly, but he emphasizes the anxiousness of that
moment by using the word “faster,” not just “fast” and then repeating the word “faster.” The next
sentence is complex, starting with an introductory clause, then pausing to elaborate on the ramifications
of the action in that clause, until we finally get to the subject of the sentence—“his mind”—and then the
sentence closes with a definitive full stop on the powerful noun “the mind of God.” After this full stop,
Fitzgerald introduces another pause right away with the comma after the three short words, “So he
waited,” and then he goes on to describe what Gatsby heard while he was waiting—thus dragging the
moment of waiting out. Again, Fitzgerald contrasts this longer descriptive metaphor by following it up
with a very short, to the point sentence: “Then he kissed her.” As the most important action in this
passage, it is fitting that Fitzgerald would create a fairly long run-up to this sentence, with a mixture of
long, descriptive sentences, and then the action would be said directly. This variation in syntax
emphasizes what it would be like for Gatsby in that moment—nervously waiting and contemplating his
future, and then finally taking decisive action.