Tuesday, April 2, 2013

In The Great Gatsby, what words does Fitzgerald use to depict the dead Myrtle as less than a human being?

One way that Fitzgerald presents the dead Myrtle as less than human is by focusing on parts and pieces of her body rather than presenting it in some kind of entirety.  Nick Carraway, the narrator, first references "her thick dark blood" and the way it mingles with and runs through the dust on the road.  Next, he describes the way "her left breast was swinging loose like a flap."  This simile compares one of her body parts to something nonhuman, creating a really disgusting and yet disembodied image.  Finally, he says, "The mouth was wide open and ripped at the corners [...]."  It is telling that he says the mouth instead of her mouth, as failing to refer to Myrtle as the possessor of the mouth further dehumanizes her and separates her from her human body.  All of these descriptions separate Myrtle's personhood from these pieces of her body, each described in isolation, some of them not even referenced as being hers but simply as existing.  This makes her seem less than human.

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Thomas Jefferson's election in 1800 is sometimes called the Revolution of 1800. Why could it be described in this way?

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