How Does Fitzgerald Tell the Story in Chapter 1 of the Great Gatsby?
One of the ways in which Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 1 is through the characterisation aspect of narrative, using symbolism in order to better exenterate character features. One of the ways Fitzgerald uses characterisation is through description of character appearance, as seen with the description of Daisy whom wears a white dress.
Fitzgerald has perhaps selected the colour white due to the connotations during this era, with the colour white indicating wealth and so immediately we are lead to believe that Daisy is a perhaps wealthy character if she is to posses white clothing. We are lead to believe that those who wear white and can maintain their clothes in pristine white condition aren’t those who bore on doing hard labour activities and so one assumes that others are completing the tasks for this character and this is where the connotations of white symbolising wealth arise from.
However the author may have also selected the colour of Daisy’s dress to be white in order to indicate that she is an innocent and pure character as we also have connotations of the colour white as being the colour or moral correctness, and ethereal-angelic type innocence. Furthermore Fitzgerald may have used this to be ironic: later events in the novel could contrast to the first face value impression we are given off Daisy giving a false appearance to the character. This in turn will make later events in the novels more surprising due to the contrast behaviour we would expect from an angelically presented character. This is an effective technique, as its simple yet has profound meaning in terms of the characters personality and may “blind” the reader into believing false first appearances of Daisy.
Another way in which Fitzgerald tells the story in chapter 1 is through use of setting, and the function of setting used in order to be symbolic and create imagery.
Fitzgerald uses concrete description in order to describe the house of Gatsby creating a clear image to the
Fitzgerald has perhaps selected the colour white due to the connotations during this era, with the colour white indicating wealth and so immediately we are lead to believe that Daisy is a perhaps wealthy character if she is to posses white clothing. We are lead to believe that those who wear white and can maintain their clothes in pristine white condition aren’t those who bore on doing hard labour activities and so one assumes that others are completing the tasks for this character and this is where the connotations of white symbolising wealth arise from.
However the author may have also selected the colour of Daisy’s dress to be white in order to indicate that she is an innocent and pure character as we also have connotations of the colour white as being the colour or moral correctness, and ethereal-angelic type innocence. Furthermore Fitzgerald may have used this to be ironic: later events in the novel could contrast to the first face value impression we are given off Daisy giving a false appearance to the character. This in turn will make later events in the novels more surprising due to the contrast behaviour we would expect from an angelically presented character. This is an effective technique, as its simple yet has profound meaning in terms of the characters personality and may “blind” the reader into believing false first appearances of Daisy.
Another way in which Fitzgerald tells the story in chapter 1 is through use of setting, and the function of setting used in order to be symbolic and create imagery.
Fitzgerald uses concrete description in order to describe the house of Gatsby creating a clear image to the