Reflection On The Great Gatsby

In the book, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he explains how diction used between characters show how the American dream in the 1920s started to fade away. Throughout the book many different types of characters have been introduced to the readers and the way Fitzgerald writes and the way the characters in the book speak. A reader can understand how what they are doing relates back to the 1920s.

One of the main characters in the story is an example of a person that represents the rich, in the 1920s. A main character is Gatsby, “Mr. Gatsby, it was a mansion. Inhibited by a gentleman of that name” (Fitzgerald 5). The way that it is written, using the word gentleman gives a higher ranking to someone. If it was a man of a lower status, the writer would not use such a proper title. Gatsby in the beginning of the book is shown as a very proud figure, but toward the end of the of the book is broken down. This can be shown when Tom starts

to question Gastby, “You loved me too? He repeated. Even that’s a lie, said Tom savagely...You don’t understand, said Gatsby with a touch of panic” (Fitzgerald 133). Readers can now get a sense of who Gatsby really is. How it goes back to the dream of the 1920s is that Gatsby represents the dream, but when Gatsby is exposed to who he really is that’s the American dream fading away. Also based on the strong words Fitzgerald gives readers a better understanding of where Gatsby was and where he is now.
There are also the people that represent the middle class. Tom, is the narrator of this book. The diction of this character is especially important because it is the view that the reader have. In the opening of the book Tom describes the different places where different types of people live. One of the places that tom describes is East egg, the wealthier, more elite of the two Eggs. eat Egg represents the upper class and how this is what people wanted to view America as. Tom also speaks about a places called valley of ashes.He explains it as, “a gray valley where New York’s ashes are dumped. The men who live here work at shoveling up the ashes” (Fitzgerald 23). This the part of America that people hide. The dream can only partly true because of the valley of ashes. Tom explains these two places in great detail and based on his diction readers can get a great understanding the two sides of the American dream.
There are two character that represent the downfall of the American dream.

Mr. And Mrs. Wilson. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Live in the city of ashes. “Wilson?...He’s so dumb…” (Fitzgerald 26). Even though there are no strong use of words, what is said gives the readers an understanding that this person isn’t very smart. When Tom went down to the city he described an adolescent as, “a gray scrawny Italian child” (Fitzgerald 26). The diction used of the child is to represent the City of Ashes. Diction is used in multiple ways when describing the valley of ashes and the people that live there.

In the book, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, diction is not only representative of how people brought down the American dream in the 1920s, but also the places in which the characters in the story lived. The diction in this story helps the reader get a better understanding of the book. Readers can also see how everything seemed to be nice in the 1920s, but in fact it was not. Don’t let what others view you as affect how you

live.