ArcaMax

F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," published 100 years ago this month, endures as a cherished novel in many of our hearts. As I note in my new book, "Gatsby's Secrets," the novel derives much of its power and charm from what Raymond Chandler called "the subdued magic" of its prose.

Fitzgerald's sentences float through the book like the breath of angels, fanning the spark of human experience into the twinkle of the sublime. At Gatsby's parties, "men and girls went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars." Twilight slowly fades "with lingering regret, like children leaving a pleasant street at dusk." Gatsby surveys "the silver pepper of the stars."

In addition to these vivid similes and metaphors, Fitzgerald uses several other literary devices to achieve eloquence.

-- Oxymorons and surprising word pairings: These creative and original juxtapositions spike the punch of his prose with the tang of irony. He devises oxymorons to reveal subtleties in characters' voices ("soothing gruffness," "husky tenderness") or to convey the complexity of their emotions, ("harsh, defiant wistfulness," "hostile levity"). Like a mischievous matchmaker, he loves to couple two words that have probably never been paired ("burning gardens," "gruffly polite."

-- Alliteration and assonance: Fitzgerald enriches his descriptions by shrewdly inserting the brightly colored beads of repeated consonant sounds onto the necklaces of his sentences, ("romantic readiness," "wild wag," "drums of destiny"). And he does the same with both initial and interior vowel sounds, ("obscure operations," "consoling and scolding," "laden table").

-- Personification: By magically breathing life into inanimate objects, Fitzgerald conveys mood and meaning, as well as whimsy and humor. Gatsby's mansion sports "a thin beard of raw ivy," suggesting not only the newness of its owner's money but also his thinly veiled efforts to conceal its illicit sources. The magic of Gatsby and Daisy's first kiss is enhanced by stars that "stir and bustle" like scolding aunts in the heavens above them.

In fact, one of the most beautiful and moving passages in the novel begins by personifying trees that once "pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment, man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent ... face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder."

========

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to WordGuy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

Copyright 2025 Creators Syndicate Inc.