The Great Gatsby Group

Question:

trailone
trailone
Student
High School - 11th Grade

What literary technique is Fitzgerald using in "The Great Gatsby" when Nick refers to the "Silver pepper of the stars"?

This quote is in the beginning of the novel----at the end of chapter one.

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Posted by trailone on Friday April 10, 2009 at 10:59 AM and tagged with literary technique, nick, silver pepper, the great gatsby.

Answers:

  1. arwallace
    arwallace Teacher
    High School - 9th Grade

    eNotes Editor

     

    F. Scott Fitzgerald is using both imagery and metaphor when his character Nick in The Great Gatsby refers to the “silver pepper of the stars”.

    This reference is a metaphor because it is a comparison of two unalike things, stars and pepper, without using the words like or as. If you use like or as when making a comparison, it is a simile instead of a metaphor.

    This reference is also imagery because it brings an image of the stars and a description of how the sky looks to the reader’s mind. You may also want to ask yourself, why does this description work? The word peppered can also be used as an adjective that is a synonym for sprinkled. Therefore, the dark night sky is sprinkled with the light of the stars.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/great-gatsby

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    Posted by arwallace on Friday April 10, 2009 at 11:49 AM