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What Is Araby's Use Of Light In The Great Gatsby

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F. Scott Fitzgerald presents his character’s opulence, shining in the daytime yet reveals their masked desires during the night; modeled after James Joyce who employs a light and dark contrast to emphasize the split between adolescence and maturity. In “Araby” from Dubliners, Joyce uses shade with the addition of darker colors to indicate a heightened sense of maturity and reserves the brighter colors and light for when he wants to indicate a more adolescent attitude. The first example of this is clearly seen as the kids who play on North Richmond Street hide in the shadows until their mature guardians retreat back into their homes, averting their gazes from the windows. This situation essentially repeats as the boy hides in the shadow of a window …show more content…

He makes himself appear unconcerned with issues that may arise with some of his discreet phone calls but this is all part of his façade. Gatsby constructs the personality to be the spectacle of the daytime in order to hide his true objective of winning Daisy from Tom. His actions in the daytime are calculated and precise in order to remain and belong in the class of society he currently resides in. This is certainly not the case when Nick finds Gatsby essentially stalking Tom’s house one night from the front lawn to ensure Daisy’s safety. Daisy and Tom are other main characters where this difference in attitude can be easily identified. During the day, especially when Nick first meets with them, they seem to be a loving couple. Well, as loving as the times would allow considering Tom made almost all large decisions himself and paraded Daisy around like a trophy he’s won. Nick sees two compatible and responsible parents on their first meeting partially because they mentioned their three year old daughter and partially because he hasn’t had a chance to spend much time with them so far. By night, though, the two go very separate

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