Masks In The Great Gatsby

The facades of masks tend to be seen through the eyes, but the interior of these masks are hidden behind the many unrealistic dreams of others and the stereotypes kept upon. While not everyone in "The Great Gatsby" were of great wealth, most and if not all kept a mask on throughout the book with the intention of covering their tracks. However, the masks began to disappear and what was behind them was a reality that no one wished to see. In the excerpt from chapter two, Fitzgerald utilizes bleak diction, dismal imagery, and contradictive syntax to convey a gloomy and lonely tone about the valley of ashes.
Fitzgerald states, " of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air."; in this Fitzgerald uses the word "dimly", which
As Fitzgerald states, " a fantastic farm where ashes grow...", this statement can be gainsaid since ashes are not something commonly grown on a farm. Even though it defines the farm as fantastic, the presence of the word ashes eliminates any beauty of that a farm might hold. This can also be wrought into the city where “ashes” grow; while the setting and dynamic of West Egg and East Egg are supposed to be beautiful, the people in them are not always that way. The idea of the masks being used by the people and the overall panoramic reality of the interior of an individual entwines with this. In the excerpt, Fitzgerald also says, " the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud which screens their obscure operations from your sight.". In this context, the men use their tools to keep others from seeing reality and keeping all things in this cloud, this statement gives the readers the juxtaposition that even though men with spades are supposed to defend and be heroes the men seem to be creating a diversion so that they may do what they desire. Overall Fitzgerald uses syntax that doesn’t go hand in hand in an overview, but in depth means much more to the underlying