Great Gatsby Analysis

Fitzgerald’s hopeless and reflective tone sets the stage for his discussion about the past and the future along with his literary devices that help imply his tone. The overall idea of the passage is time. Our present time slips away, and before we can realize importance, events, places, and feelings are gone for good- mostly without proper appreciation or realization. How can we let this happen? How can we let our present time pass us by?

The author imagines the island as it appeared to the “Dutch sailors’ eyes.” “Inessential houses” begin to melt away. Houses are not what are beautiful or special about the island; they don’t matter. The natural island “flowered” and was “green.” Full of opportunity, the trees represent the dreams of those seeing the island for the first time. As they were chopped down, dreams and opportunity also “vanished.” Could the builders have not been happy with the island just the way it was? Must we always desire something more or different? The author longs for the original state of the island, as it was in the past. This has disappeared, however, and he can only be left yearning.

Through the last paragraphs, the author’s syntax is broken and lingering. Using commas, dashes, and ellipses he drags out the ideas. This technique implies a sense of hope. As each idea builds upon the other, the idea begins to complete itself. As he clearly completes the thought as he writes, the thought is new and original. The quote “stretch out our arms farther. . . .” lets the reader know Fitzgerald isn’t done with the idea, he is just drifting to another thought.

Fitzgerald uses metaphor when he describes the island as a “fresh, green breast of the new world.” The greenery of the natural island leads him to make this comparison. The newness and untouched trees were “fresh” and the whole island appeared “green” with life. He also uses personification when he describes that the trees “had once pandered in whispers.” Representing the dreams of humans, they remained until they were chopped down, still left whispering of the dreams until their last moment alive.

Time can vanish so easily and we fail to realize it is already behind us. Fitzgerald’s tone and devices make this point clear and provide detail as to what we are losing.