Literary Devices:
Symbolism is predominating through the novel, The Great Gatsbyand color is the most used means to translate occurrences into a deeper meaning. Gold and Green symbolized wealth but also had very different connotations where Fitzgerald used them for figurative language. Gold was an example of old or a standard tradition of money or power, while green was a newer more unfamiliar source of money. Both have negative meanings like with a gold standard comes arrogance and the feelings that one is better or higher than everyone else because of their legacy and background. Green being new to the game, naïve people have to be even more sure of every decision they make or else than can lose that green as fast as they earned it. The connotations for just about every color has a separate meaning whether its white, brighter colors, dark colors, or green and gold and Fitzgerald uses these colors to hint at the identity of the characters or potential events.
Then one of my favorite sources of symbolism is the sign of Dr. TJ Eckleberg, where this billboard had giant glasses with all seeing eyes behind it representing the omniscient eyes of god. This leap of faith saying that god is always watching and no single character can escape its clutches is very interesting to have and in Myrtle’s case she broke one of the Ten Commandments which is thou shall not covet. Myrtle is the exact definition of a covet-er and in the presence of god, Daisy, and Gatsby was dealt with like a sinner. Symbolism is the corner stone to Fitzgerald’s great writing and without key symbols the book would not be the same.
Style:
Fitzgerald was a writing style where he slow unwinds his plot piece by piece hooking the audience into wanting more. He creates a character and narrator for the story who is completely human in every aspect, I mean in which he doesn’t know the intentions of other characters or can’t hear every little word spoken. Like a person putting together a puzzle Nick and the reader both are being directed by Fitzgerald as he slowly drops more clues and pieces down until finally the puzzle is completed and both can see the whole picture. I would not go as far as to say Fitzgerald is a great mystery novel writer, but I would say he has confusion and suspense to a “T” in The Great Gatsby. The readers are left to assume one thing and something out of nowhere happens like Gatsby’s outbursts about how Daisy never loved Tom and she is going to leave him for Gatsby.
Along with a good sense of giving into the readers inclinations for a good read, Fitzgerald gives wonderful accounts of symbolism. All of this symbolism is a common motif throughout the book especially the bits about color schemes. Symbolism is used very much by Fitzgerald’s writing style, which shows how important symbolism has been in translating Fitzgerald’s thoughts on to paper. A good example of this symbolism is Fitzgerald represented white to do with everything Daisy and Jordan did and wore, meaning that white was a beautiful false front which hid a more corrupt core, because both Daisy and Jordan turned out that way in the end of the novel.
Plot Structure and Organization:
The way Fitzgerald portrays the events that occurred in The Great Gatsbyare what made the novel earn its title as the great American novel. Nick Carraway the narrator of the book gives the audience an inside look to everything that unfolds around him without spoiling the future decisive outcomes. Then Nick is in the perfect position to gain gossip or rumors because he has recently moved to Long Island and he has the friendship of Daisy and Jordan to divulge information if he so chooses. Nick because of his friendship with Daisy gains the attention of Gatsby and he is invited to the inner circle of Jay Gatsby even though the true identity of Gatsby isn’t immediately revealed to Nick. Fitzgerald tells the story brilliantly in the first person speaker because the reader will learn information as Nick does which creates suspense.
The defining moment of the book is where everything falls apart from the seams, and Gatsby is left to wonder the past and ties have been broken. When all of this chaos consumes the characters in the novel, real emotions come out and plot structure comes together and reveals what it has been building up for a while. The need for Nick to realize what has happened and come up unscathed morally was an important step because the audience would not relate to an affair assisting/supporting character that doesn’t live by a set of standards. Fitzgerald combines the wants of the audience to the ending of the plot where all who have wronged Gatsby throughout their lives show their true colors so to speak and become unlikable to the reader.
Theme:
What better theme can be written about than the American dream? Fitzgerald picks on the one thing every person in the world has in common which is a dream. Being more particular an American dream where hard work and the want of something will preserver over the struggles and the dream will then be achieved. But The Great Gatsby is filled with purposeful character flaws that lead them down different paths of destruction and unresolved feelings. Gatsby had a relatively perfect life where he had all the material possessions in the world, but he desperately wanted to rekindle the love between Daisy and himself. Gatsby could only look at the past and liked the memory of his young love over the actual person shown in a short passage where he thought of Daisy instead of talking to her while she was right behind him. One call look back at the past for lessons but only fools try to replicate the past word for word, which Fitzgerald makes a note on in the demise of Gatsby. Then on the other end of the downfall spectrum Myrtle wanted nothing more than to be rich and treated like a princess, but all that becomes of her is she has her nose broken, locked away in her room, and is ran over and killed by an oncoming car. All of these points tie together with the main theme of the novel which can be summed up into two word balanced contentment. Contentment with one’s own identity and possessions and contentment with your achievements is needed but Tom who was content with everything in his life still managed to fall through in Fitzgerald’s opinion.
