The Great Gatsby Dichotomy

In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald contrasts the loving conditions and lifestyles of the wealthy and poor through the Buchanan’s and the Wilson’s. In the heart of the first chapter, Fitzgerald describes the home of the Buchanan’s, and in the beginning of the second chapter, he describes the home of the Wilson’s. The contrasting lifestyles are apparent in Fitzgerald’s descriptions due to his use of diction, details, and imagery. This dichotomy in social status holds major importance throughout the plot structure of the novel.
Fitzgerald’s use of imagery in passages from chapters one and two allow him to easily portray the difference between the upper and lower class. In chapter one, Fitzgerald describes Tom and Daisy’s house

as an elaborate work, including that the lawn “ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walls and burning gardens.” Fitzgerald also states that the yard runs up the side of the house with bright vines, saying it was continued from the “momentum of its run.” These uses of imagery with personification emphasize the vastness and grandeur of the house and property, as well as give a light and bright tone to the setting. In chapter two, Fitzgerald depicts the melancholy and dilapidated are and home in which the Wilson’s live. Fitzgerald says that the building was like a small block which contained three different shops. He describes the outside of these shops as “approached by a trail of ashes.” The mention of a trail of ashes brings a feeling of decrepitude to the setting. Inside Wilson’s garage, there is a “wreck of a Ford which crouched in a corner.” The personification of the truck crouching gives the impression that it is helpless and beyond repair. These uses of imagery in chapter two allow Fitzgerald to better depict the depressed and run-down area in which the Wilson’s live. The upper and lower classes are contrasted by imagery through personification in The Great Gatsby; this accurately portrays the social gap represented throughout the novel.