diction

•  When describing Gatsby’s earlier relationship with Daisy, Fitzgerald switches to a much more lulling, soothing, and luscious tone. Using phrases like, “quiet lights” (110), “humming out of the darkness” (110), “stir among the stars” (110), and “blossomed... like a flower” (111), Fitzgerald is able to create a dream-like quality of how things were before Daisy was married to Tom. His luscious tone allows the reader to better understand the feelings Gatsby has for Daisy and the reasons as to why he wants her so badly. It forces one to step back and not think of Gatsby’s goal as something crazy but as something he’s longed for for an extremely long time.
• In contrast, Fitzgerald uses a more “finite” and less dreamy diction when talking about the confrontation of Tom and Gatsby over Daisy now five years later to create a desperate and almost hopeless tone. Repeatedly, Gatsby accuses Tom that Daisy, “...doesn’t love you. She never loved you. She loves me” (130-131) and then Tom exclaiming to Gatsby, “There’s things between me and Daisy you’ll never know” (132). He uses the words “never” and “no” repeatedly in order to convey a sense that Jay is at first anxious and almost desperate towards Daisy leaving Tom for him and later for Tom to put down Gatsby’s last hopes of being with Daisy. This change in feeling from earlier in the book which was described above allows the reader to again connect with Gatsby, this time feeling the rejection and loss that he feels. The almost opposite tone in this situation allows Fitzgerald to bring Jay Gatsby’s whimsical dreams and hopes to an end. Ultimately, he is portraying that his wishes to be with Daisy were never meant to be and that his purpose for life seems to have come to an end. The words “never” and “no” really create this hopeless tone because their is no leniency for another “chance”. Fitzgerald makes it so that Daisy and Gatsby can no longer be together, that hope has completely disappeared.