In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the prominent female role is Daisy Buchanan. Daisy is characterized as a woman of beauty, innocence, and charm. The main attribute of Daisy is not her beauty or charm, but her voice. Her voice is enticing and causes what she is speaking of to be more intriguing than it truly is. Jay Gatsby, Daisy’s lover, describes her voice to be “full of money” (120). The diction of money is not only its physical characteristics, but the lifestyle behind it. To describe Daisy’s voice as “full of money” demonstrates the jingling song it produces, like a handful of coins. This diction of money creates a confident tone for the jingling sound of coins makes one feel as if they can handle the world, for they have change in their pocket to buy the necessities of life. In addition, the diction of money is also seen as Daisy’s lifestyle. When Daisy converses, her speech does not sound poorly educated, but like one who has had proper schooling. Furthermore, she does not discuss land or farming, but parties and sporting events. The life of the rich is portrayed in Daisy’s voice and portrays a confident tone. This lifestyle does not provide a farm or an annual income to worry about, but allows one to walk with confidence and assurance of the days ahead.
F. Scott Fitzgerald presents a puzzling question, in The Great Gatsby, as to what Jay Gatsby’s job is. Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, attempts to inquire the source of Gatsby’s massive income through a friend, who had once worked with Gatsby. However, this friend refused to say anything for he had previously been in jail for involvement with Gatsby’s projects. When Tom confronts Gatsby on this issue, Gatsby responds by explaining that the friend simply needed money and ended his explanation with “old sport.” The diction of “old sport” takes Gatsby’s reason from being precarious to satisfactory. Through the diction of “old sport” an amiable tone is presented, for “old sport” is an affectionate name typically used for close friends and acquaintances. However, Gatsby does not only use it to address his friends, but he utilizes “old sport” to craft a level of intimacy in a conversation that is far from affable.
These are quite effective employments of diction in character analysis. Fitzgerald does seem to typify Daisy in that one sentence. "Full of money" is the prominent characterization that runs throughout the book and is probably the source of her uneasiness and of Gatsby's desire to impress her with his own money.
ReplyDeleteGatsby's amiable "old sport" is also a running trend and is probably employed to establish familiarity and, like you said, to avoid deeper connections with the other characters by beginning on a familiar footing.