His. Choice. Of. Words.

Simile: “This alley of ashes – a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens” (23).

Repetition: “‘ You can’t live forever; you cant’s live forever”’ (36).

Allusion: “Bleeding fluently, and trying to spread a copy of Town Tattle over the tapestry scenes of Versailles” (37).

Zeugma: “Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume… [and] her personality (30).

Metaphor: “Each time I tried to go I became entangled in some wild, strident argument which pulled me back, as if with ropes, into my chair” (35).

Simile: “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars” (39).

Diction: “I slunk off in the direction of the cocktail table – the only place in the garden where a single man could linger without looking purposeless and alone” (42).

Imagery: “The tears coursed down her cheeks—not freely, however, for when they came into contact with her heavily beaded eyelashes they assumed an inky color, and pursued the rest of their way in slow black rivulets” (51).

Volta: “ A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with compete isolation the figure of the host, who stood on the porch, his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell” (55).

Simile: “ With fenders spread like wings we scattered light through half Astoria” (68).

Onomatopoeia: “[The] blue banners in front of all the houses stretched out stiff and said tut-tut-tut-tut, in a disapproving way” (74).

Personification: “[The] blue banners in front of all the houses stretched out stiff and said tut-tut-tut-tut, in a disapproving way” (74).

Simile: “The clear voices of little girls, already gathered like crickets on the grass, rose through the hot twilight” (78).

Simile: A damp streak of hair lay like a dash of blue paint across her cheek”  (85).

Imagery: “Slowly the white wings of the boat moved against the blue cool limit of they sky” (118).

Alliteration: “‘ It’s a swell suite”’ (126).

Simile/ Diction: “ We pushed aside curtains that were like pavilions, and felt over innumerable feet of dark wall for electric light switches” (147).

              F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, is a formulation of his symbolic style. His implementation of rhetorical devises work seamlessly to provide deeper meaning to the book’s medley of insightful flashbacks and plot evolution. Every character, storyline, and green light has more to offer than its original face value in that it helps evolve one or more of the many themes represented in the book. One of the major thematic concepts that runs thru the book is Gatsby’s association with the “green light.” It is first introduced in chapter one when Nick involuntarily looks “seaward [to see] nothing except a single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock” (21). Since the dock is in direct relation to Daisy, Gatsby’s strange gestures toward the dock can quite literally be interpreted as his “reach for Daisy.” After the long-awaited reunion of Daisy and Gatsby, the distance between them is symbolized once again as Nick states “that [the] light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her” (93). The repetition of the symbolic “green light” exemplifies the progress of their relationship and the proximity of Gatsby’s goal of winning over Daisy.

         Another trend in the novel is the repetition of yellows and golds. Most closely aligned with Gatsby’s love of money, it is only fitting for him to consider Daisy as “the golden girl…[who’s] voice is full of money” (120). By shedding this kind of light on Daisy, the reader is forced to wonder if Gatsby only fancies her because of what she stands for. It is also important to note that the car that hit Myrtle was yellow and ultimately symbolized the end of the relationship and his life. In a way, these colors represent Gatsby quite well as it encompasses his need for money/gold and how that leads to his ultimate demise. Fitzgerald’s use of repeating images gives way to his symbolic style.