Dialectical JournalPoints to Consider

Motifs and Symbols

Fitzgerald uses motifs and symbols throughout the novel that are significant to the development of his themes. Pay close attention to :

Geography

Weather

Color

Names

Dates

Age

VERISIMILITUDE:

The sense that what one reads is "real," or at least realistic and believable. For instance, the reader possesses a sense of verisimilitude when reading a story in which a character cuts his finger, and the finger bleeds. If the character's cut finger had produced sparks of fire rather than blood, the story would not possess verisimilitude. Note that even fantasy novels and science fiction stories that discuss impossible events can have verisimilitude if the reader is able to read them with suspended disbelief.