Example of Style Analysis
Below is a passage from The Great Gatsby. The paragraph
that follows is a student's example of how to analyze specific diction and
syntax to prove a larger idea that is not a part of the plot of the story. This
is ultimately what will be expected from students in AP English."The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher. Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out of a cheerful word. The groups change more swiftly, swell with new arrivals, dissolve and form in the same breath; already there are wanderers, confident girls who weave here and there among the stouter and more stable, become for a sharp, joyous moment the center of a group, and then, excited with triumph, glide on through the sea-change of faces and voices and color under the constantly changing light." (Fitzgerald 40).
Fitzgerald uses the rhythm of a huge dance, paralleled with an extended metaphor and imagery of the sea to impart feelings of reckless, excited and sickening movement. He sets the scene at the beginning of the paragraph with the phrase "the earth lurches away from the sun," using "lurch" as a verb that describes drunkenness, implying that this entire world is drunk - the party is the center of the world. Additionally, as the "earth lurches away from the sun, the lights in the house "grow brighter," demonstrating the move away from what is natural to what is increasingly artificial. The lack of individual identity is clearly shown through non-descriptive diction that only names people as "groups," "opera of voices," "new arrivals," "girls," and "faces." Coupled with the sea metaphor, this only enhances the superficiality and lack of substance in both the party and the people. The image of a dance is underscored with the early mention of "music," "orchestra," and "opera;" this imagery is then suggested through words like "weave" and "slide." This is complimented by the sentence structure; long, rhythmic sentences parallel the actions of a dance. These two fluid rhythmic sentences are filled with eight dynamic and active verbs mirroring the motions of the sea: "pilled, tipped...well, dissolve, weave, glide." In particular the final sentence is swirling and hypnotic, changing directions in midcourse with the use of a semicolon, much as would a tipsy and elated partygoer. At the same time, however, there is a feeling of excessive sinfulness and lack of substance through the sickening "yellow" and "prodigality" as well as sea-related diction of "tipped-out...sea-change...constantly changing." As a result we are made to recognize not only the attractions of this society, but also its superficiality and decadence.
For homework, please read the essay by Ernie Pyle and write a paragraph on his use of detail. What is the effect of the detail in the piece and how does it achieve his purpose in writing?
Ernie Pyle WWII Normandy essay
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