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Temporal Structures in The Great Gatsby

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In his novel, "The Great Gatsby," author F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a non-chronological temporal structure composed of three distinct time frames; post 1922 where Nick is writing from, present 1922 and post 1922. The use of these different frames is a structural device of the Author’s in portraying the unreliability of Nick, and revealing hidden foundations essential to the progression of the novel. Fitzgerald juxtaposes Nick’s narrative between the linear summer of 1922 and irregular analepses to important events in the characters’ lives which proceed 1922. The most significant effect of these analepses is the reader’s manipulated opinion on Gatsby, as we are not told vital past information on him in chronological order. Firstly and most frequently narrated, is the story of when Gatsby and Daisy had a brief affair 5 years previous to 1922. The story evokes pity for Gatsby, as Nick tells us ‘he felt married to her’ but was sent to war and during this time Daisy married Tom. It is essential to Fitzgerald’s intentions for the novel that we initially pity Gatsby, as this sorrow creates a like for his character and desire for him to achieve. In consequence, Gatsby’s death is truly tragic, as the reader’s desires for him to achieve are brought to a sudden end. Despite it being suggested to the reader by some “young ladies” that Gatsby is a “Bootlegger," the reader remains confident that such vital information would have been revealed to them by the retrospective narration if true. ‘Young’ implies the connotation of naivety, therefore we feel more comfortable placing our trust in Nick. The audience approve of Gatsby before Nick’s lets on that he is, in fact, a bootlegger, which Nick has known throughout from his writing place in the time of post 1922. This withholding of key character information is a structural technique Fitzgerald uses so that Nick manipulates the reader’s interpretation. Due to our previous

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