Literary Analysis Worksheet

Literary Analysis: Unveiling Meaning

Read the passage below carefully and answer the questions that follow. Pay close attention to literary devices, themes, and character development.

Passage from 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald

And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves on the trees, just as the trees were green again, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer. There was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away. This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby impressionability which is dignified as the 'creative temperament.' It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again. No—Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it was what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.

1. What literary device is primarily used in the sentence: 'as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away'?

2. Explain the significance of the narrator's description of Gatsby's 'extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness.' How does this characterize Gatsby?

3. The phrase 'foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams' suggests a sense of   and   that ultimately affected Gatsby.

4. The narrator believes that Gatsby's downfall was entirely due to his own character flaws.

5. In a short paragraph, analyze how Fitzgerald uses imagery and diction in this passage to establish the narrator's complex feelings toward Gatsby and the American Dream.