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Use Of Personification In The Great Gatsby

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Fitzgerald uses personification and imagery to convey that the Valley of Ashes is a polluted area filled with ashes and dusts. It is also where many of the less fortunate, lower-class citizens live and work in the society. A literary device Fitzgerald uses is personification as he describes the motion of the cars driving through the place. He mentions, “Occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest…” (Fitzgerald, 23). The cars crawling indicates that they were moving very slowly through all the dusts covering the paths and air. Another example of this is when he says, “...when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour” (Fitzgerald, 23). …show more content…

A second literary device that the author uses is imagery. He mentions, “...of men who dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” (Fitzgerald, 23). The author uses this to visually explain how dim and gray the setting is, and how the powdery air makes it difficult for the people to move around and work. The Valley of Ashes isn’t actually a place made out of ashes, but seems that way due to its polluted surroundings filled with dusts, representing the struggles and hopelessness of many. By using personification and imagery, Fitzgerald explains what the setting is like and why it is significant to the story. The Valley of Ashes is being depicted as a dismal and gloomy area, that makes up a lot of the poor and lower-class

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From the quote, “This is a Valley of Ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight” (23), it can be seen how the Valley of Ashes is a depressing place. It represents the moral and social decay that results from the continued search of wealth and acceptance in society. Seen by how the rich provide themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure. The valley of ashes also symbolizes the forcefulness of the poor, like George Wilson, who live among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a result.

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