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How Does F Scott Fitzgerald Use Symbols In The Great Gatsby

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Memory, symbol, and pattern shape how readers interpret literature by allowing them to place the events, characters, and themes of the story into a familiar context and revealing deeper meaning within the author’s words. For instance, a reader who has read or watched Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet will begin to identify the same pattern in many stories and movies, the familiar tale of star crossed lovers, which will often add to their enjoyment of the work and their understanding of the characters. Symbolism also plays heavily into a reader’s experience with a particular work of literature. If they are able to identify the important symbols it can give them a better sense of the important themes of the work. If one were to read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby with no understanding of symbolism, it would be a relatively boring story about a sad man who dedicated his life to the frivolous pursuit of …show more content…

These groupings of four lines are called quatrains, and the first two of the sonnet are similar in meaning, and the third quatrain is linked with the fourth, which is actually just a couplet. This example follows a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, so it follows the usual form of a Shakespearean sonnet. The first two quatrains are linked in meaning because this is where Shakespeare ruminates on how beauty is enhanced by true inward value. He discusses how roses are considered to be more beautiful than they are solely based on looks, because they have such a beautiful scent, but it is not so with the canker blooms, which have as nice a color as roses, but nothing more. Then in the third quatrain he shifts focus slightly, to consider the death of the beautiful flowers. Canker blooms die “unwoo’d and unrespected” while roses are still loved as they are dying, because they still have

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