“I lived at West Egg, the-well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. My house was at the very tip of the egg, only 50 yards from the Sound, and squeezed between 2 huge places that rented for 12 or 15,000 a season. The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard- it was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than 40 acres of lawn an garden. It was Gatsby’s mansion. Or, rather, as I didn’t know Mr. Gatsby, it was a mansion inhabited by a gentleman of that name. My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore, and it had been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a primal view of my neighbor’s lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires- all for 80 dollars a month.” 1) Fitzgerald’s military imagery soaked the heroic mood of the passage, painting an image of selflessness despite the melancholy tone.
2) Fitzgerald’s divine imagery conjures up the retributive mood of the text and critiques the unbridled excesses of the Roaring Twenties.
3) Here, Fitzgerald’s divine imagery relays the salvational mood of the text and places the burden of guilt squarely on the shoulders of an impressionable soul.
4) In this excerpt, ostentatious imagery contrasts with plebeian imagery, broadcasting polar moods of luxury and humility that define the class visions of the Roaring Twenties.