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Foreshadowing Quotes In The Great Gatsby's Death

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Authors often integrate symbols and motifs to their writing to foreshadow later events. In one of the most famous pieces of American literature, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald drops hints to forecast terrible outcomes. The novel occurs during the roaring twenties and accentuates the wild and extravagant lifestyle of Long Island’s enclaves. In between East and West Egg’s opulence, there is the Valley of Ashes, a dark, grey wasteland. Even though their opulent lifestyle seems magnificent, one couple, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, faces marriage troubles because of their loss of love. While Tom has a love interest in Myrtle from the Valley of Ashes, Daisy Buchanan rekindles her relationship with an old lover, Jay Gatsby, after she recognizes …show more content…

The relevance of foreshadowing elements appears consistently throughout The Great Gatsby. One of the first times Fitzgerald uses foreshadowing is when Nick goes into the taxi for the first time and keeps thinking to himself “you can’t live forever, you can’t live forever” (Fitzgerald 40). This line seems out-of-place when the reader sees it for the first time, but the writer uses it ingeniously. Fitzgerald adds this quote to foreshadow Myrtle and Gatsby’s death. Later on in the novel, the author uses another example of foreshadowing when Daisy goes to Nick’s house for tea. The reason behind inviting Daisy over was for Gatsby to finally confront Daisy after five years. After Gatsby recaptures Daisy’s heart again when she visits his extravagant mansion, Daisy refers to how they are getting old; Daisy tells Gatsby “we're getting old, if we were young we'd rise and dance” (112). Since Gatsby and Daisy are still too young to die of old age, the author utilizes the idea of old age to suggest that their time together is limited and they cannot mirror the past. As Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship rekindles, Fitzgerald utilizes more hints to build the plot, and he illustrates that their lack of time together will lead to Gatsby’s demise. The use of time and age demonstrate Fitzgerald’s symbolic use of small elements to foreshadow later …show more content…

Scott Fitzgerald implements hints to indicate Gatsby’s impending death through the character’s thoughts. At the night of the car accident, George Wilson is furious and determined to find out who killed his wife. Despite Gatsby’s innocence, he allows the blame to be on himself; as a result, Wilson asks someone the directions to Gatsby’s home. Wilson’s desire to get to Gatsby’s home signals that Wilson wants to unleash his anger. Wilson’s fury could reveal that he desires to hurt Gatsby to get back at him for supposedly killing Myrtle. As a result of Gatsby “killing” Myrtle, it is clear that Gatsby will face some consequences. Another incident of foreshadowing is the night of Myrtle’s death. When Nick was having trouble sleeping that night, he felt a sudden urge to tell Gatsby something. He believes that if he waits until the morning, it would be too late (154). Nick’s urgency to tell Gatsby something foreshadows Gatsby’s abrupt death. Even though Nick does not know that Wilson was going to kill Gatsby, Fitzgerald includes Nick’s apprehension to heighten the intensity and allow the reader to predict the resolution. Both situations create foreshadowing because they suggest that Gatsby is in serious

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