F. Scott
Fitzgerald in the novel, The Great Gastby, proves that holding onto the past is
not efficacious and causes the person to lose sight of the future. Fitzgerald
supports his claim by contrasting the glamour of Gastby’s ostentatious life
with the internal struggle he endures daily: his love for Daisy. The author’s
purose is to use Gatsby’s life story to allow the audience to see the fallacies
in Gatsby’s thoughts in order to convey, in Fitzgerald’s social commentary,
that displays of oppulence masked the difficult times that people faced. The
author writes in an informative melancholy tone for an international audience,
who have an interest in the truth of the ‘20’s.
The Great
Gatsby is a complex novel with much symbolism. A rhetorical precis is a useful
tool to “ensure the reader {you} will be involved in the text”. A precis is a
four sentcnce rhetorical summary that answers the questions how, why, what, and
who. This specialized summary is used to summarize the piece in the most clear
and concise way. For the Great Gatby the precis helps the reader understand
Fitzgerald’s true motives. A first, prefunctory read may lead the reader the
reader to believe that this is a tale of true love and the beauty of excessive
wealth. Rather Fitzgerald uses irony, aphorisms and flashbacks to show that he
does not approve of surplus wealth and Gatsby and Daisy’s love is far from
“true”.
Through the poem "The Negro Speaks of
Rivers", Langston Hughes fosters verisimilitude by using allusions and
first person to convey the hardships of a universal experience of oppression. When
Hughes uses the pronoun "I" he demonstrates that he embodies the
troubles and experience of a variety of people. It is apparent that a single
person could not have lived to experience such a plethora of problems but
because of the conviction Hughes speaks with, one is likely to sympathize with
what he says. Hughes speaks of the troubles faced at Euphrates at the
"dawn" of civilization all the way to the anguishes of the slaves in
New Orleans at "sunset". The vast time between these events helps
convey the message that human issues have been a recurrent problem. Just like
one wizens with experience, Hughes's "soul has grown deep" with the
pain and knowledge of what he has had to witness. Hughes various examples of
hardships are presented like events in a day. This represents how, even though
many people have had to endure the struggle, it is still noteworthy. A person
"bathed", "built", "looked" and "heard"
at what has been occurring around him. Eventually he has "known" or
understood what is happening. He comes to a deeper understand with himself. He understands
what these experiences mean to him, they are like a "dusky" river
clouding his "flow of blood". But, he acknowledges that this experience
is common. He encourages the audience to take action, now that we have endured
and understood the societal pains. 
