16th June 2017

Language features

1) “She held my hand imperonally”, this is connotative as it makes us think that she was distant. That she didn’t really care that she was there. She was there, but wasn’t. Her body was there, living her life yet her mind was absent. 2) “Two girls in twin yellow dresses”, throughout the novel the colour yellow was often associated with Gatsby. The colour yellow was symbolic as it was a color of which represents fake wealth. Fake significance, fake importance. It is often used to describe when people are trying to be higher class than they really are. 3) “With Jordan’s slender golden arm”, opposite to the yellow colour associtiation. The color gold represents old money and status. It is often used as reference to Daisy, Jordan or Gatsby’s party. Connotative language was used. 4) “floated at us through the twilight”, Personification. Personification was used to show the magic and allure of Gatsby’s parties. That the tray of cocktails just arrived in his presence, effortlessly the magic became existent.

“And I sat there brooding(1) on the old, unknown world, i thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light(2) at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn(3) and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity(4) beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night. Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future(5) that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… and one fine morning – So we beat on, boats against the current, Borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

  1. Emotive language – brooding signifies that Nick is thinking about a thing in a way that makes him sad and angry.
  2. Analogy? – a reference to topic/subject which is commonly known.
  3. Metaphor – the blue lawn wasn’t actually a blue lawn. It was a metaphor for the lake which stands between Gatsby and Daisy. The time of which surrounds them.
  4. Connotative language? – referring to how everything in some way is one unknown to Nick and everything is different now.
  5. Connotative language –

Quote 2

“Under the dripping bare lilac trees(1) a large open car was coming up the drive. It stopped. Daisy’s face, tipped sideways beneath a three-cornered lavender hat, looked out at me with a bright ecstatic smile.

‘Is this absolutely where you live, my dearest one?’(2)

The exhilarating(3) ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain(4). I had to follow the sound of it for a moment, up and down, with my ear alone before any words came through. A damp streak of hair lay like a dash of blue paint(5) across her cheek and her hand was wet with glistening drops as i took it to help her from the car.

 

  1. Personification – The trees cannot be dripping in the sense of wilting. Correction, i forgot it was raining this point is not necessary.
  2. Connotative language – The phrasing of this statements makes i the reader understand the time period of the time. The statement is said in a ‘fancy’ well educated way,  unlike the current colloquialism we use.
  3. Emotive language – showing us that her voice was exciting for Nick to listen to.
  4. Simile – Her voice wasn’t literally a wild tonic in the rain.
  5. Simile – Her hair wasn’t actually blue paint. Blue being a choice which could be a suggestion towards connotative language as we relate the colour blue with being sad or upset. Daisy could’ve been upset or in a state of dire confusion.

During the novel of The Great Gatsby one of the characters named Owl Eyes referenced David Belasco by saying “This fella’s a regular Belasco.” When speaking of Gatsby to Nick. David Belasco was a well known theatrical producer and playwright. He was renowned for his natural and realistic stage sets. Owl Eyes said this whilst sitting in Gatsby’s library. Gatsby’s home was a set and Gatsby was merely an actor playing to a script. The script being the illusion that Gatsby played out for the summer. All plays come to an end, and so did his.

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Writing