Technique identification (1 Viewer)

jathu123

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So I know this is really annoying but I found a really good quote for my paragraph and since I totally suck at English, I need help on identifying what technique is in this quote (if there are any in the first place). The quote: "I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." The person who says this is also a female, if that helps somehow

This is from The Great Gatsby and I'm trying to link it to the role of women during the 1920s context of the novel. Would really appreciate any help
 

sida1049

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The author is using the connotations associated with 'fool' to depict women as the inferior, powerless sex in society.

If it suits your interpretation, you can bring it further and assert that there is a juxtaposition between 'beautiful' and 'fool' (in the sense that beauty is significant and powerful yet being a fool is not), which highlights the contradictory expectation of society on women in that they're romanticised as being 'beautiful', yet otherwise remain as insignificant, powerless fools.

You can probably say something about the character's dialogue being reflective of their own role and purpose in the novel, i.e. being "beautiful" yet a "fool". (Because that's exactly what Daisy Buchanan is, and what she chooses to remain as at the end of the novel.)
 
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jathu123

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The author is using the connotations associated with 'fool' to depict women as the inferior, powerless sex in society.

If it suits your interpretation, you can bring it further and assert that there is a juxtaposition between 'beautiful' and 'fool' (in the sense that beauty is significant and powerful yet being a fool is not), which highlights the contradictory expectation of society on women in that they're romanticised as being 'beautiful', yet otherwise remain as insignificant, powerless fools.

You can probably say something about the character's dialogue being reflective of their own role and purpose in the novel, i.e. being "beautiful" yet a "fool". (Because that's exactly what Daisy Buchanan is, and what she chooses to remain as at the end of the novel.)
This is really helpful, thank you very much
 

tonto

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(First Post!)

I have no idea what I'm saying, and I'm no expert in this - Class of '17 anyone?
But one thing about English is that there's a word that relates to almost anything.
And there's a word for everything English related, so much so that there's an Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms that I fancy referring to every-so-often.
And your quote happens to be an example of (I think) Antimetabole, defined as a 'Figure of speech in which a pair of words is repeated in reverse order'.

Now wouldn't that be a nice thing to see in an essay?

And you can complement that with the lovely things sida posted, how this use of antithetical statements reveals the perception of women in society etc. (I'm not doing that book though, so my help ends there)

BUT: It can't be stressed enough that clarity is key to a good essay. Whilst BBB does work to an extent (B*llsh*t Baffles Brains), teachers can often tell; merely regurgitating polysyllabic esoteric terms that obfuscate ('wot?') can work counter, frustrating the marker rather than impressing...

Hope that helps
 

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