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Examples Of Figurative Language In The Great Gatsby

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Brennen O’Reilly 5 Fitzgerald´s Imagery According to Coolin Powell ”There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure”(BrainyQuote). Scott Fitzgerald paints a vivid picture of life during the roaring 20s in his novel, The Great Gatsby. From Fitzgerald's novel readers gain an understanding of the setting and life during the 1920s. Along with the history of that time period, Fitzgerald also develops a magnificent story with great literary devices. The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald is an excellent novel developed with superb characterization, beautiful imagery, vivid figurative language, and great themes. First, Fitzgerald´s characterization is fascinating. Characterization is the author´s …show more content…
Figurative language is the use of words in a non-literal sense. One example of figurative language is simile; a simile is a comparison of two unlike things using like or as to give added meaning to one of them. The following line from The Great Gatsby contains one simile, ¨She was a slender, small-breasted girl, with an erect carriage, which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet¨(11). In this sentence Fitzgerald compares Jordan to a young cadet. These two objects have no real similarities, yet Fitzgerald uses the image of a Jordan throwing her body backwards like a young cadet. As a result, the reader gets the impression that Jordan is always throwing her body backward. Another form of figurative language is personification. Personification is giving human characteristics to nonhuman things. In the following passage Fitzgerald makes Gatsby´s house as if it had winked. ¨Only wind in the trees, which blew the wires and made the lights go off and on again as if the house had winked into the darkness¨(81). The lights that were going off and on again made it look like the house was blinking. As a result of Fitzgerald´s personification, the reader senses human qualities of the house. To sum up, Fitzgerald's use of figurative language adds to the color and vividness of his …show more content…
Theme is the insight into life that the author wants to share with the reader. One theme is the American dream. Gatsby´s dream was to get rich and to marry Daisy. ¨What was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do¨(150). It tells the reader that Gatsby doesn't want to do all these great things and have all this money if he can't have Daisy there with him. Gatsby won't stop until he finally gets his dream. It is just like all the other people coming to America hoping to find a better living and get rich. Thus, Gatsby is able to fulfill his dream but only for a short amount of time. Another theme in the novel is that the eyes of God see everything. The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg symbolize the eyes of God, and that they see everything. ¨Standing behind him, Michaelis saw with a shock that he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night¨(159-160). The eyes saw what happened to Myrtle who is Wilson´s wife. Then wilson was going to find the man that he thinks killed his wife Myrtle. Therefore, throughout the novel the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg saw everything. Consequently, the themes the American dream, and God sees everything are well developed in The Great

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