The fragments and the hyphen interrupting the flow of thoughts created by the fragments serve to reveal the middle-aged man excitement and incredibility at discovering the books are real. His excited tone, shown through sentence structure, suggest that stocking real books in a library is not the norm during this time; then it can be inferred that most of the wealthy have libraries stocked with fake books in order to create the appearance of sagaciousness or academic intelligence. From this, it discloses that Gatsby is not like the other wealthy people who put up a front in order to hide something underneath.
Gatsby’s smile is an extended metaphor for a person. His smile contains human qualities such as “concentrated,” “it faced,” and “eternal reassurance.” These key phrases chalk up the image of a person smiling reassuring at Nick. The smile seems to radiate hope due to the language usage used to describe it such as “rare smiles” and “eternal reassurance.” However, the hyphen interrupts the smoothness of the imagery suggesting that his smile has two sides to it. It appears that his smile faced the “whole external world” but it also “seemed to face” revealing uncertainty.
The first sentence is an independent clause which can stand alone because it is contains everything a sentence should have-subject and predicate. Thus, it parallels Gatsby’s isolation from the rest of his guests. The repetition of the word “no” at the beginning of the sentence and “Gatsby” at the end of the sentence supports Gatsby’s declination to participate in his own parties or mingle with the guests making him The shining moon contrasts the emptiness from the house in a light vs dark kind of way. Emptiness suggest a void which dark. This light and dark contrast, therefore, reveals that the outside of the house appears to be happy, but, really, it is just a front; as soon as the people leave, the house is dismal, paralleled by the lonely figure of Gatsby standing by himself on the front porch. In addition, since the emptiness flows from the windows, it implies that the emptiness originates from within the house; thus, the house itself is void which reflects on Gatsby’s character since it subtly reveals the fact that Gatsby’s cultured behavior is actually fake. aloof. Fancy car juxtaposition between good and bad; monstrous and triumphant. The car is described as having a “monstrous length” suggesting that is bad because monstrous has a negative connotation to it; however, the accessories inside the car such as the “hat-boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes” are described as “triumphant” contrasting monstrous thus making the gadgets or materials of the car seem as a necessity. It also creates the image of a box because of the repetition of “box.” When paired with the “labyrinth of wind-shields,” it starts to give the impression of entrapment. Because Gatsby is sitting behind the wind-shields that cover the front, in a large car, with boxes surrounding him, with the seats made of fancy “green leather,” it implies that he is trapped by materialism.
His ability to balance on the car’s dashboard is said to be an American quality that comes through hard work, but this is ironic because there is no movement. If he’s balancing on a surface, then he is stationary. The American dream is built around the idea of hard work will yield equal opportunities and success, which means moving in a direction that will accomplish this. With Gatsby, it is the opposite, he is not moving yet he has this fancy car implying that he did no actual “hard work” to achieve his American dream thus revealing that the American dream is false.
As Gatsby travels over the bridge, the sun shines through on them. The city is portrayed as this picturesque white sugar suggesting it is untainted and pure, supported by the “non-olfactory money” which means not bad money. When looking at this passage as a whole, it paints the city with infinite possibilities that are bright and shining. However, it does not show any of its flaws, just its exterior appearance like Gatsby. While Gatsby is traveling on the bridge, the sunlight “flickers upon the moving cars” therefore hinting that Gatsby is shrouded by shadows with only the occasionally tiny ray of sunlight that does not last. This establishes that Gatsby is not what he appears to be and neither is the American dream. It appears enticing and hopeful, but its corrupted. She is the reason why he became wealthy and throws all those extravagant parties so, in a sense, Daisy is materialistic as well thus is just another object for Gatsby to chase after. Nature, here, agrees with Gatsby’s successful reunion and rekindling of an old spark between Gatsby and Daisy because the sun came out the same time Nick when went in and saw that Gatsby was “literally glowed.” The rain, therefore, is the conversation between Gatsby and Daisy since it “seemed like the murmur of their voices, rising and swelling.” The American dream is the abstract idea that there is equal opportunity for those who work hard, and since Gatsby’s “American dream” includes Daisy, his is completes at this very instance.
Gatsby is taking the occupants inside his car back to his house, the biggest single materialistic object there is. However, the movement toward his house has not been described in a negative way; it is, instead, been described in a positive way due to the light, positive connotations of the words “sparkling” and “frothy odor.” The inclusion of the “plum blossoms” adds to the light, tranquil tone because flowers are portrayed as delicate objects that bring about hope and happiness. In addition, the “pale gold” combined with the “kiss-me-at-the-gate” softens the materialistic poison because the word pale in front of gold softens the materialism that comes from gold since gold is associated with rareness, rare objects in this case. Thus the movement toward Gatsby’s house is the final step to completing his American dream.
The couch appears again in chapter 5. This time, the couch in is Gatsby’s house, and Gatsby’s house is the biggest materialistic item there is in West Egg. Once again, the light is on the “gleaming floor,” implying that its upside down thus suggesting that Gatsby’s and Daisy’s lives are upside down. Since the couch is in Gatsby’s house and sits in the shadows, then the couch is trapping Gatsby and Daisy because of it has value, materialistic value that both Gatsby and Daisy cannot resist. The “trembling match” implies a wavering flame, not a strong, burning flame. It’s negative connotation along with the shadows covering the room foreshadows something bad will happen to Gatsby and Daisy destroying Gatsby’s American dream. Because of his parents’ poor social status, Gatsby “never really accepted them as his parents” and thus created his own identity. The act of casting away James Gatz, the son of two poor, unsuccessful farmers is paralleled by Dan Cody’s yacht dropped anchor. That moment symbolizes the transformation of James to Jay, who is obsessed with wealth and status. A juxtaposition between a simpleton and an intelligent individual forms then. James Gatz is the boy who is “loafing along the beach” wearing plain and worn out clothes, but Jay Gatz is the boy who is able to inform Cody about wind speed. Thus, Gatsby creates his own American dream but eventually loses everything.
Mr. Sloane comes from the same stock as Tom Buchanan; they are both considered the old aristocratic social class thus both Tom and his counterpart were born into money and social status. “Haughtily” contains negative connotations, so it describes Mr. Sloane as this arrogant figure who appears to be above Gatsby and will not “enter into the conversation.” This lack of communication between Mr. Sloane and Gatsby represents the contemptuous attitude the old wealthy people felt toward the new wealthy people. Despite having wealth and social status, all important in the idea of the American dream, Gatsby is still not recognized on equal terms as the old wealthy as evidenced by Mr. Sloane imperious attitude toward Gatsby.
Gatsby has become wrapped up in this illusion that Daisy is the same girl he fell in love with before he went off to the war. He, then, creates this persona, Jay Gatsby, the wealthy man who throws extravagant parties in his large mansion in order to win back Daisy. The repetition of “understand” only serves to highlight Gatsby’s desperation of winning back Daisy, but will not succeed. This is foreshadowed by the dead nature elements that form a path for Gatsby to walk down on. The “desolate path,” “discarded favors,” and “crushed flowers” all have negative connotations to them providing evidence for the supposed foreshadow that may happen. Eventually, the more Gatsby purses Daisy in hopes of winning her back, the more his American dream will crumble.
Nature is a big indicator of events that are occurring at the moment and future events. Here, the heat and the “hot pebbles” parallel the increasingly heated atmosphere between Gatsby and Tom. The moon suggests that it is late afternoon, near dusk, but not far away from night. This shift between day and night illustrates that change is going to happen soon, specifically, Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy. The moon that “hovered already in the western sky” signifies the day is coming to a close. The day ends and night begins idea thus implies that as one thing ends another begins. In this case, as Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy begins to fall apart and thus his American dream, Daisy’s relationship with Tom undergoes a change as well.
The hyphen and the question after it discloses that Gatsby desires more than what he can have. Knowing that Gatsby is obsessed with wealth and social status, he has pushed it too far this time. The word “past” could reference to multiple instances like when he was poor and could not court her or when Daisy chose to marry Tom instead of Gatsby because of his wealth and status in society, but one thing in common between these events are that they all have something to do with wealth and status. The specific word choice of ‘I can’t help” implies that Daisy is not to blame because she could not resist Tom’s wealth and status thus married Tom instead of Gatsby, even if she did love him. This repulsion between Daisy and Gatsby beings the downward spiral of Gatsby’s American dream. Gatsby still believes in the illusion of the Daisy he fell in love with before the war and that she was still the same girl when in actuality, she’s changed. The sentence structure of these sentences parallels this illusion. As the illusion slowly fade away, the more desperate and agitated Gatsby gets, which is represented by the choppy sentences that cannot completely formulate a thought without interruptions. Then it shifts to a long sentence paralleling the faded dream since the sentence is longer than the first and Gatsby’s illusion of winning Daisy becomes more distant. Words such as “dead,” “unhappily,” “no,” and “lost” all contain negative connotations further providing more evidence of this illusion that Gatsby desperately clings to but slowly disappears because he became too greedy thus ruining the American dream. Diction “dark wall,” “ghostly piano,” “dust everywhere,” and “musty” conveys an empty feeling and a dark and broken atmosphere. “Pushed aside curtains” that felt heavy like pavilions; “felt over” dark wall that stretched incredibly far; “tumbled with” all tie together to create an image of Gatsby, looking and feeling for something, lost in the dark. This paired with the broken and dark atmosphere discloses the fact that Gatsby is lost without Daisy. The house appear to be neglected due to the musty rooms and the dust collecting on furniture, which represents Gatsby’s lack of desire since both convey emptiness, at Gatsby’s destroyed American dream because of his greed for more.
The contractions “wouldn’t” and “couldn’t” and the word “clutching” portray Gatsby kind of similar to a clinging vine, where it attaches to something and cannot be removed either it dies or is severed. Likewise, Gatsby is “clutching at some last hope” even though it is already over for me aforementioned in the passage describing his house as hollow, void of life, and neglected. His illusion of being with Daisy for the rest of his life causes him to slowly destroy himself as his house begins to deteriorate and now he is gradually developing this unhealthy obsession of Daisy that is borderline crazy. American dream dead. Tom exposed Gatsby start of downfall due to Gatsby’s character flaws: greed, corruption, and obsession for wealth and power.
Imagery “radiant and understanding smile” and “gorgeous pink rag” appeal to visual sense. Imitates the image of Gatsby when he was first introduced with the same smile and description. This bright image is juxtaposed by the empty image of people leaving his house. It’s almost as if Fitzgerald wanted to present Gatsby as the well-mannered war hero he was portrayed as before being exposed to give Gatsby a final triumphant moment before completely destroying him.
Movement Short sentence; long sentence with commas in place to represent his struggles in his journey; finally, it ends at the pool. Gatsby manhandling the mattress himself represents him doing honest work such as fighting in the war. Then, he “stopped and shifted it a little” and is approached by his chauffeur who “was one of Wolfsheim’s protégés” and is tempted by money and power. Finally, his corruption ended his journey at a pool.
Gatsby started his journey by meeting Dan Cody and grew up by sailing with him on the open ocean, free and untainted by corruption. Now, he ends his journey in a pool that is manmade, in which water only flows in circles paralleling his entrapment by his materialistic personality and his illusion of being with Daisy.
Illusion green light equals Gatsby since that green light is manmade. It shines only for a brief amount of time than is shut off. Likewise, Gatsby enjoyed his wealth and status for a short period of time before it, too, was extinguished. However, similarly, this only masked what was more important, the message that both Gatsby and the green light send: hope. The long sentence parallels the “long way to his blue lawn” referring to Gatsby reconnecting with Daisy and making her fall in love with him again. The second long sentence parallels Gatsby’s unique capacity for optimism despite having everything against him.
Action Before being corrupted, Gatsby’s actions were pure. “get ahead,” “resolves,” “improving his mind,” “always great” all point to a great person. Gatsby worked hard to improve himself since he dedicated every hour toward studying or learning something.