Literary Devices in F. Scott Fitzgerald´s The Great Gatsby

Daisy’s superficiality and ephemeral qualities are achieved largely by Fitzgerald’s use of diction in Daisy’s conversations and descriptions of her physical characteristics. Much of Daisy’s dialogue is utterly devoid of substance, is often repetitive and its sole purpose for inclusion in the text is to demonstrate her, and indeed the upper classes’ lack of direction and purpose in life, and the resultant restlessness that originates from a life of inactivity and ease that; qualities that are perfectly encapsulated in the line on page 17; “‘Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.’”. Fitzgerald constantly undermines the character of Daisy to demonstrate that she is the unworthy object of Gatsby’s dream, as is the social class that she symbolises. Her immorality is subtly on display through much of the novel; she treats her own daughter with indifference, objectifying her as yet another material accessory; “‘That’s because your mother wanted to show you off.’”, she remarks in Chapter VII, displaying an apparent lack of emotional connection one would expect a mother to hold with her child. Additionally after betraying Gatsby at a crucial moment and

F. Scott Fitzgerald uses imagery and symbolism to represent bigger ideas in his stories. For his novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald was able to do something most authors aren’t. He was able to approve of the cover of his book. The cover selected was a painting of a nightly city, being watched over by celestial eyes. The eyes stand out in juxtaposition of the rest of the dark blue sky due to their sickly yellow color as a teal tear travels down from the left. However, a closer look at the eyes in the cover show that they irises are blue, and inside the eyes are two women. The surreal art piece has as much symbolism in it as the pages it protects, especially the eyes in which the painting is named for. The women within the eyes on the cover

The “curtains” have human-like qualities, for they are making “whip and snap” sounds. Also, the “picture” has human-like qualities of “groan.” Fitzgerald adds these sounds to show the awkwardness setting in the Buchanan’s house. Just walking in the hallway of Tom Buchanan made Nick feel unease; it was so quiet that Nick can hear the cry of a picture and the lash of the curtain moving.

“The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart,” was said by Maya Angelou. Many authors strive to write books that have a purpose, including the author of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald. The author strives to display multiple purposes to readers through strong, sophisticated writing. The purposes Fitzgerald shows in The Great Gatsby include that substance in relationships matters, the truth is important, and that actions have consequences. Fitzgerald executes the purposes successfully by using rhetorical choices such as irony, homilies, simple dialogue, similes, and syntax

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby focuses on the corruption of the American dream during the 1920‘s. For the duration of this time period, the American dream was no longer about hard work and reaching a set goal, it had become materialistic and immoral. Many people that had honest and incorruptible dreams, such as Jay Gatsby, used corrupted pathways to realize their fantasy. People’s carelessness was shown through their actions and speech towards others. Fitzgerald uses characterization and symbolism from different characters and items to convey the corruption of the American dream.

[OPENING STATEMENT] The Great Gatsby does not clearly yield to either poem or prose causing it to be considered as a lyrical novel rather than the more common narrative. Poetic devices and techniques used by author F. Scott Fitzgerald are more commonly seen with poetry. Yet it is these techniques that give meaning to his work of fiction; how Fitzgerald states his ideas becomes more important than the ideas themselves. Poetic devices he uses are called litotes, which express a positive statement by using its opposite negatives. To say “the ice cream was not bad” would be an intentional understatement, when instead one could say the ice cream was “good.” Litotes are used for irony, which is “using words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning.”1 Also commonly found throughout the novel, litotes are used for emphatic effect to benefit setting, plot, and character development.

Mangum, Bryant. "THE GREAT GATSBY, by F." THE GREAT GATSBY, by F. London and Chicago: Fitzroy-Dearborn, 1998. Web. 1 July 2015. .

Through the literary device of language, Fitzgerald has positioned the reader to view myrtle in a certain way through the voice of Nick. However, unlike Nicks description of Daisy, where he concentrates on her voice, mannerisms and beauty and unlike his description of Jordan which were he emphasises on her posture and athleticism, Nicks description of Myrtle focuses entirely on her body. This can be shown when Nick says, “She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can. Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine, contained no facet or gleam of beauty but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smoldering” (Fitzgerald, 2016). Fitzgerald has done this to emphasise that nick has described her this way as she is Tom’s mistress and it speaks to the strong physically attraction between tom and myrtle which undergirds their affair. This attraction serves as a halt to the deep emotional attraction that daisy and Gatsby share.

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896. He was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and his parents were both born in Maryland and Irish. You could say he grew up very lower middle class. Fitzgerald’s views of relationships began at an early age. It was interesting because many of his best books came from the idea that women & men relationships is just a game with one person ending up being a winner. He claimed to forever have a jazz-age attitude that would stick with him for life, and it worked. F. Scott Fitzgerald died December 21, 1940 at the young age of 44.

The Great Gatsby has been around for ages; it is a story of a young man in the 1920’s who is thrown into a new world made up of the new and the old rich. He is confused by the way these people act and in the end cannot stay another minute in this strange, insensitive, materialistic world. The author, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses many techniques to help the reader understand how Nick Carraway (the narrator) is feeling throughout the story. In the book The Great Gatsby, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald uses effective language to make his writing successful. He uses the techniques of imagery and irony to display this message.

Qualities like absolute moral perfection are even less attainable than world peace, and they have no place in quality literature. No one relates to the main character that never lets his emotions get the better of him once in a while. Truly powerful characters require at least some degree of moral ambiguity. Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby engages in illegal liquor sales and business with the man who rigged the World Series, which combine with his purest of intentions and virtually universal kindness to create some definitely ambiguous morals. Due to that ambiguity, Gatsby’s character remains imperfect and one whom readers can entirely relate to, while promoting the prominent theme in the novel of the American Dream’s

Not to mention that Daisy is seen as a beautiful, innocent, pure idol like figure with a luxurious and materialistic life.The perception of Daisy's character can be seen through imagery; " ..the last sunshine fell with romantic affection upon her glowing face; her voice compelled me forward breathlessly as I listened - then the glow faded, each light deserting her with lingering regret, like children leaving a pleasant street at dusk." ( Fitzgerald 15) this shows how Daisy is looked at by other characters in the book. Likewise, a daisy represents the symbolism between the colours white and yellow; White represents purity and innocence while yellow represents corruption. This gives insight into the dynamics of Daisy's character and what she is really like instead of how she is seen to

Another technique Fitzgerald uses to achieve a growth in my admiration is his style. “The Great Gatsby” is full of imagery and symbolism. The most powerful image of Gatsby would be that of his death, it is the first day of a new season and the end of summer, the end of his dream of being with daisy. His death symbolises the death of his love and his hope. The image of the inflatable

A few symbolisms in novels are as memorable as the green light in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Shining at the end of Daisy’s dock, it is close enough to be seen, but too far away to be reached. Still, Gatsby, an eternal optimist, stares at it at night, as if it showed him that all his far-away dreams were about to come true. The green light in The Great Gatsby is symbolic of hope, a source of inspiration, and a representation of the American Dream to Gatsby and to the novel’s readers.

What is intertextuality? Intertextuality is a word that introduced by Julia Kristeva, a philosopher, literary critic, feminist and a novelist. Kristeva defined Intertextuality as a “mosaic of quotation”, which means that all texts that are derived from the natural process and transformation of other type of content (Martin, 2011). It is also called referencing an original idea that has previously been produced. In essence, it is to take an original work of art and turn it into a whole new idea or artistic style. The following essay will explore of how intertextuality is used in Baz Lurhmann’s “The Great Gatsby”.