A Way with Words

Being that this week I have the opportunity to reflect on any aspect of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novella, “May Day”, I would like to take the chance to share my favorite passage in the narrative, and explain why it pleased me to the extent that I am now shedding some light on it. The passage appears on page 39.

“She thought of her own appearance. Her bare arms and shoulders were powdered to creamy white. She knew they looked very soft and would gleam like milk against the black backs that were to silhouette them tonight. The hairdressing had been a success; her reddish mass of hair was piled and crushed and creased to an arrogant marvel of mobile curves. Her lips were finely made of deep carmine; the irises of her were delicate, breakable blue like china eyes. She was a complete, infinitely delicate, quite perfect thing of beauty, flowing in an even line from a complex coiffure to two small slim feet.”

This passage is a stunning description of the novella’s main female character, Edith. The author is able to slow down time, in this description; he is able to romanticize the woman’s shoulders, her small figure, her ginger-colored strands of hair, her red lips and delicate eyes. For a moment, it is almost as if the setting fades into nothingness, and the only thing that matters is this mistress of the Gamma Psi dance. I believe that the combination of Fitzgerald’s attention to detail and his descriptive abilities make this passage a very strong and beautiful moment in the narrative, and it also makes the reader gain an appreciation to Edith’s character.