Negative Diction In The Great Gatsby

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When a person looks at a building, that building can look attractive and stable on the outside, but on the inside it can be unbalanced and frail, the same philosophy goes with people; you can never really tell what a person has truly gone through just by looking at them. In the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald a man named Jay Gatsby has come a far way, from poverty. Gatsby works his way up to becoming a wealthy man in order to reach his dream of being with the one he loves, Daisy, even if that means being something that he is not. In chapter three, Gatsby throws a party in order to try and win over Daisy. The party starts off beautiful and enthralling but as the night goes on the party turns into destruction and turmoil. …show more content…
The guests are all over the place during the party. The “men and girls came and went like moths” (39). The simile and imagery of the moth is important because it expresses the mentality that Gatsby’s party guests show. Moths move towards light because they view it as a safe haven, but in the end it is the light that leads to their destruction. Gatsby’s guests are just like the moths, they are fascinated by the light and the vividness of the party’s luxury which though they do not know it at the moment, is their destruction. At the party many of the guests start to get drunk and it is known that alcohol distorts vision but also reality. Alcohol and a bad decision could turn a person’s life from carefree and entertaining to tragic, at the party people are “roaring drunk” (42), and to make matters worse two party members ended up in a car crash on page 54, Owl Eyes “[washed] his hands of the whole matter” (54), while the driver completely confused asks “‘wha’s matter?’”(54), and continues with “‘did we run outta gas?’” (54). Fitzgerald uses imagery and negative diction to help explain that the two characters did not know of their actions, the driver’s words were slurred, and Owl Eyes did not really care, either one could have been killed. Prior to the accident, back at the party, alcohol started to

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