Introduction
Scott Fitzgerald used a variety of literary techniques in his work ‘The Great Gatsby’ to effectively convey his message to his readers about the fall of the American Dream during the early twentieth century, class, the American Dream, love, and marriage. Allusions, symbolism, foreshadowing, metaphors, and similes are examples of literary techniques. The essay’s objective is to give a comprehensive analysis of ‘The Great Gatsby,’ a novel by Scott Fitzgerald’s through examining the literary devices he employs in the text.
Symbolism
To begin, The green light, visible from the West Egg lawn of Gatsby but obscured from the East Egg pier of Daisy, symbolizes the future of Gatsby in terms of hope and his intentions. It is related to Daisy, and Gatsby utilizes it as a guiding light to guide him through the darkness to his destination. Given the famous association between Gatsby’s pursuit of Daisy and the American aspiration, the green light likewise represents that broader ideal (Harvey 14). Nick relates the green light with the view that early settlers could have seen when America rose from the ocean.
Between West Egg as well as New York City, the Valley of Ashes represents an expanse of deserted land resulting from industrial ash disposal (Liu 418). It exemplifies the ethical and societal rot resulting from the wealthy’s unfettered search for money. Furthermore, The valley of ashes stands for the predicament of the underprivileged, similar to George Wilson, dwelling amid the filthy ashes and losing their vitality as a consequence.
Dr. T. J. Eckleburg’s eyes are a faded pair of bespectacled eyes painting onto an ancient advertisement poster facing an ash valley (Liu 420). These might symbolize God looking down on and condemning American civilization as a moral wasteland, but this is not expressly mentioned in the text. Rather than that, Fitzgerald argues throughout the book that symbols only have importance when individuals fill them with meaning (Harvey 12). Only in George’s bereaved imagination is it possible to imagine a connection between Dr. T. J. Eckleburg’s eyes and God. This apparent absence of connection adds to the eerie quality of the image(Liu 419). Thus, the eyes become a metaphor for both the universe’s inherent meaninglessness and irrationality of the process of cognition through which people assign meaning to objects. In Chapter 8, Nick delves into such concepts, seeing last thoughts by Gatsby as a disillusioned examination of symbols and fantasy’s meaninglessness.
Foreshadowing
The Great Gatsby employs a great deal of foreshadowing. In a much more misleading instance of foreshadowing, Nick implies that Gatsby will have a positive ending; the true significance of Nick’s statements is revealed only after the reader has finished the book (Harvey 17). Nick comments in the first chapter that Gatsby turned out great finally; this is what preyed on Gatsby, and whatever filthy dust lingered in the wake of his illusions, briefly extinguishing interest in men’s unproductive tragedies and fleeting excitements. While the first announcement may imply that Gatsby overcomes the narrative or marries Daisy, Gatsby dies at the novel’s finale (Liu 417). When this occurs, the red herring serves to heighten the reader’s surprise. Rereading the passage shows another interpretation: Gatsby is shown to be heroic throughout the book, rather than just a villain. Nick tells us in the second part of the sentence that the tale will end tragically and will have a lasting negative impact on him; this proves to be correct as well.
When we first encounter Gatsby (and Nick), he stands with his arms wide, “trembling,” seeking the green light, which Fitzgerald depicts as insignificant. In this way, he hints that Gatsby’s hunt will be brief (Harvey 16). When Nick reintroduces his sight, Gatsby has fled into the “unquiet night,” a foreshadowing of his ultimate demise at the novel’s finale (Harvey 13). The absence of the green light implies that we should expect a narrative in which the sought object is never attained. Despite their reunion, Gatsby seemed incapable of fully embracing Daisy, despite the fact that the green light would never be within his reach.
Metaphor and Simile
Nick employs the simile, “Instead of being the warm center of the world; the Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe.” The simile is used for the purpose of comparing the Midwest to the distant reaches of the world and to describe how it is that his place of birth could not feel like home anymore following his return from World War I as well as why he felt it necessary to relocate to the East (Harvey 13).
Conclusion
Scott Fitzgerald, through his novel ‘The Great Gatsby,’ communicates to his audience about some concerns such as class, among others. He effectively does this through the aid of literary devices such as symbolism, metaphors, and similes, as discussed above.
Works Cited:
Harvey, W. J. “Theme and Texture in The Great Gatsby.” (1957): 12-20.
Liu, Xiangqi. “Stylistic Analysis of The Great Gatsby from Context Category.” Journal of Language Teaching and Research 1.4 (2010): 416.