#2 Diction

Primarily, Fitzgerald uses diction to differentiate between social class the level of personal wealth as mirrored to its owner’s morality. His most apparent example is through the contrasting level of formality in dialogue between Jay Gatsby and Meyer Wolfshem.

Fitzgerald also reveals a major theme of The Great Gatsby, that the high society is entirely unaffected by plights of the common man because of their affluence, through his diction. He enforces superiority and creates an elitist and condescending tone. He writes of Daisy’s dim-witted husband, “There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind and as we drove away Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic” (131). Fitzgerald implies that Tom was incapable of feeling more than panicky and confused. Fitzgerald later writes, “Instinct made him step on the accelerator with the double purpose of overtaking Daisy and leaving Wilson behind” (131).  As he decides symbolically to leave Myrtle Wilson behind, Tom is going back to Daisy. This is significant because a return to Daisy is a return to the safety of wealth, and it is essentially like he is leaving Myrtle to die. Neither Tom nor Daisy repent for their actions; instead, the poor are left to deal with their consequences. In these ways, Fitzgerald’s diction represented the decline of the American dream, and reflected that the affluent people in society shoved all their consequences to the poor that make up the rest of society.