Student 1
Example Student
Ms. Wagner
Class Title
Date
Literary Term #3
Term:
Antithesis: “The use of contrasting concepts, words, or sentences within parallel
grammatical structures. This combination of a balanced structure with opposite
ideas serves to highlight the contrast between them.” (literarydevices.net)
Example:
“About half way between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily joins
the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a
certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes -- a fantastic farm where
ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes
take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with
transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the
powdery air.” (Fitzgerald 23)
Function:
Context - The novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the
perspective of Nick Carraway during the 1920s as he settles down in New York
City. Nick lives in the West Egg district of Long Island, a place home to newly
rich people. His old time friend Tom Buchanan, married to his cousin Daisy
Buchanan, lives in East Egg, a place home to people who’ve inherited their
wealth. In between these two regions lies the valley of ashes, a place home to the
Example from former student
Student 2
poorer people of New York City. Nick describes this place as full of labor and
desolation, opposite of East or West Egg, a place full of wealth and parties.
Concept - The novel The Great Gatsby has many concepts and themes, many on
the topic of wealth. In the novel, Tom describes the poor distribution of wealth as
seen by the disparity in livelihood between those who live in East or West egg and
those who live in the valley of ashes. Tom describes this disparity of wealth
through an antithesis between the Eggs of New York City and the valley of ashes.
Tom summarizes living in the Eggs as being full of wealth, where men and
women party every week, as he follows wealthy men including Tom Buchanan
and Jay Gatsby. He then experiences the lower quality of life within the valley of
ashes by accompanying Tom Buchanan. These opposite viewpoints of life in New
York City gives the viewers a hint on the disparity of lifestyle between the
different regions.
Example from former student