Opening Arguments, Textual Evidence, Citations, and Textual Analysis
(From a paper turned in for Dr. Masters’ ENGL 2130 Class)
In stark contrast to Tom Buchanan’s brutality and superhuman strength as a member of
the upper class is Fitzgerald’s portrait of George Wilson, an emasculated peasant who signifies
the adversity of the American working class. The narrator, Nick Carraway, uses fantastic, surreal
imagery to describe the hellish space George Wilson’s garage, which is “on the edge of the
wasteland” (24). He then describes his first impression of Wilson: “The proprietor himself
appeared in the door of an office, wiping his hands on a piece of waste. He was a blond spiritless
man, anemic, and faintly handsome. When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light
blue eyes” (25). Although Wilson is a business owner, Nick can only see him as an inescapable part of
the larger landscape; he is a piece of waste wiping his hands on another piece of waste. The image of an
“anemic” and “faintly handsome” man implies a slight degree of sympathy for this man whose station has
relegated him to the infertile “valley of ashes” (23), which has deflated his spirit and defeated his resolve.
At the end of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald continues to utilize the poetic ability of his narrator to
move between the fantastic and the real as Nick looks at his recent past in West Egg, and his relatively
distant past in the American West. […]
When writing about literature, always write in the present tense. The only exception occurs when
you write about a character reflecting on the past or in relation to the past. For instance, “When
Vivian thinks back to her childhood, she remembers that her father treated her as a small adult
rather than a vulnerable child.” Notice, however, that the majority of the sentence is still in the
present tense.
Avoid referring to the quotation you’ve cited as a quotation, which is awkward and unnecessary.
Awkward: “In this quotation, Fitzgerald uses images of waste and garbage to symbolize Wilson’s
place in the social order.” Improved: “The pervasive imagery of waste and garbage symbolizes
Wilson’s lowly place in the social order.”
Italicize (or underline) the titles of longer works like novels, films, plays, albums, and short story
or poetry collections, and put short works in parenthesis (short stories, poems, songs, etc.).
