Imagery In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

In 1925 Francis Cugat created a masterpiece that would be remembered and admired; the cover art for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. When presented with this exquisite design, Fitzgerald was so intrigued that he rewrote parts of the novel to better incorporate the image. This little known fact reveals the importance of imagery and description in this novel. Throughout out this novel Fitzgerald uses the descriptions of Gatsby’s house to symbolize his emotions because Fitzgerald is trying display the amount of importance Gatsby has given to his material possessions. As Gatsby attempts to relive his past with Daisy he is convinced that material items will enable him to achieve his dreams and finally be content.

At the beginning of the

After being rejected by Daisy twice in one night, he begins to understand that the Daisy he had thought of and desired is not the real person presented in front of him. As a result of Daisy being incapable of saying that she “never loved Tom”, Gatsby is forced to face the reality that he had been blinded by love and therefore could not see what was really happening right before his eyes. At this point in the novel, Nick states that “his house never seemed so enormous to me as it did that night” (Fitzgerald 147). This signifies the emptiness and loneliness that Gatsby is consumed by. With his dwindling love for Daisy his house appears empty and lifeless, as opposed to when he loved Daisy when his house appeared lively and energetic. Nick goes on further to say “there was an inexplicable amount of dust everywhere, and the rooms were musty, as though they hadn’t been aired for days” (Fitzgerald 148). By including this description of Gatsby’s mansion, Fitzgerald shows that once the desire to be with Daisy ceased; Gatsby no longer cared about his possessions. Fitzgerald displays this lack of devotion through the state of Gatsby’s house. It is no longer clean and put together but rather is covered with a layer of dust. There is no need for Gatsby to keep his house orderly because it only mattered to him what Daisy thought or saw. Through this passage on the novel, Fitzgerald is able to

Sutton claims that Fitzgerald uses lights and cigarettes to display Gatsby’s emotions as he attempts to revive the flame he once had with Daisy. He mentions that at the beginning of the novel Gatsby gazes at a green light across the water that is later revealed to be the end of Daisy’s dock. (Fitzgerald 21) At this point in the novel, Gatsby’s infatuation with Daisy and his hope of love are very strong, much like the shine of the green light. At the end of the novel the green light has expired, as well as Gatsby’s hopes. (121-122) Sutton also goes on to explain the prominence of cigarettes that appear at multiple points in the novel. When Gatsby demands Daisy to admit to Tom that she never loved him, she attempts to light a cigarette but is trembling too much. She throws the match to the ground and as the flame of the match extinguish, Gatsby is thrown into reality and realizes that his dreams were unattainable.

While Brian Sutton thinks that Gatsby’s rise and fall can be perceived through the importance of lights and cigarettes a more applicable representation of Gatsby’s emotions is the descriptions of his mansion. Sutton displays the significance behind cigarettes and light as showing when Gatsby lost hope and was forced back into reality. The descriptions of his mansion provides the reader with a more extensive view into his thoughts and emotions. Fitzgerald