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In this extract from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the narrator’s description of his neighbour’s house parties establishes an atmosphere of luxury and glamour:

In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft, or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motor-boats slit the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam. On weekends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains.

The Great Gatsby, Chapter 3, Scott Fitzgerald

Example analysis

• Several archaic words suggest that this setting is in the past: “...omnibus… motor-boats…aquaplanes…”
• The author’s description of the setting establishes an atmosphere of wealth and indulgence: “champagne…his beach…Rolls-Royce…motor-boats.”
• The author presents the narrator as an observer of this setting: he is an outsider looking in.
• The setting is described in a cinematic way, with the narrator sweeping his eyes over several locations: the garden, the raft, the beach and the water.
• This sense of movement from one setting to another establishes a feeling of energy. This is also suggested by the use of phrases like “came and went…to and from…scampered.”
• There is also a contrast between the setting of the gardens at night (whispering…blue…stars) and the afternoon at the beach (sun…hot…slit the waters).
• The author uses personal pronouns to create a strong link between one of the characters and this setting: “…his gardens…his guests…his raft…his two motor-boats…his Rolls-Royce…his station wagon…” Although we don’t know who ‘he’ is in this extract, the reader can see that he owns this world of luxury and pleasure.