Style and Technique: Imagery

Introduction

Imagery in The Great Gatsby is a fundamental stylistic tool F. Scott Fitzgerald employs to enhance his descriptions and paint vivid mental pictures.
Imagery helps to set the mood, define characters, express themes, and build connections between the narrative and its symbolic dimensions.

Images of Wealth and Excess

Fitzgerald uses lush, colourful, and tactile imagery to detail the opulence and decadence characterising Gatsby’s extravagant parties.
This type of imagery often exaggerates the wealth and luxurious lifestyle of the characters to critique the excesses of the Roaring ’20s.

Nature Imagery

Frequent references to weather and natural elements in The Great Gatsby trigger emotional responses and mirror the characters’ moods or states of mind.
For instance, the hot weather during the confrontation between Gatsby and Tom at the Plaza Hotel intensifies the tension and conflict, while rainy weather often coincides with Gatsby’s emotional turmoil.

Gloomy Imagery

The setting of the Valley of Ashes, represented by grey, desolate, and bleak imagery, mirrors the moral decay, spiritual emptiness, and disillusionment underlying the glamorous veil of the Jazz Age.

Images of Light and Darkness

Fitzgerald employs light and dark imagery to generate contrast and resonate with key themes in the novel.
Brightness and light often symbolise hope, dreams, and wealth, as demonstrated by the vivid descriptions of Gatsby’s mansion or the elusive green light at the dock, while darkness can denote mystery, deceit, and moral corruption.

Symbolic Imagery

Imagery in The Great Gatsby often connects directly with symbolic elements, reinforcing their meanings and emotional resonance.
For example, the green light imagery intensifies its symbolic significance as Gatsby’s unattainable dream, and the white and gold colours associated with Daisy contribute to her character’s symbolic role.

Summary

The use of intricate and evocative imagery acts as a bedrock to Fitzgerald’s vivid storytelling in The Great Gatsby. Imagery provides depth to the narrative, enriches its emotional undercurrents, and helps elucidate the novel’s broader themes of social stratification, the decline of the American Dream, and the moral failure of a society consumed by materialism and superficiality.