Topic #2: Diction

            While discussing Gatsby’s lavish parties, Fitzgerald uses connotative language to display the decadence and debauchery of the parties and the people attending them. In discussing transportation to the parties, the author states that “[Gatsby’s] Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city” (Page 39). When one considers having to “bear” something, he or she often imagines having to carry an object for a long amount of time, an arduous, and potentially dangerous, task. In saying that the car was “bearing” people, Fitzgerald denotes a feeling of labor and pain, causing an undertone of recklessness and depravity. Describing the catering measures required for such a party, Fitzgerald explains that “Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York–every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his backdoor in a pyramid of pulpless halves” (Page 39). Perhaps some of the greatest symbols of decadence and self-indulgence ever created are the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Requiring years of backbreaking work, innumerable funds, and many lost lives, these were built solely for the purpose of one man’s post-humous comfort. By describing some of the party’s materials as resembling such monuments, the author makes a blatant connection to excess and depravity. As the narrator describes some of the partygoers, he remarks upon two as “deplorably sober” (Page 52). When one envisions something “deplorable,” he or she may consider a woman who drowns puppies for their pelts, or a man who mugs and kills people for money. By calling these two men “deplorably drunk,” Fitzgerald mocks the partiers as being bizarre and peculiar, as only excepting those who have thrown their inhibitions to the wind. Only by being inebriated and containing alcohol-damped morals can someone be accepted by this crowd. Through the use of diction and connotative language, F. Scott Fitzgerald weaves an aura of moral decay into his novel.