To get a particular tone across in a situation, Fitzgerald utilizes diction in his writing to make this possible in The Great Gatsby.
When Nick is talking about his great uncle he explains “I never saw this great-uncle, but I’m supposed to look like him—with special reference to the rather hard-boiled painting that hangs in father’s office” (3). Fitzgerald use of the word “hard-boiled” gives off a negative connotation towards the painting of his great-uncle. It also contributes to a distant and unenthusiastic tone towards his great-uncle that he is supposed to resemble to so much due to him not knowing him a great deal.
As Nick is looking out the window at the outside scenery he states that “the late afternoon sky bloomed in the window for a moment like the blue honey of the Mediterranean—then the shrill voice of Mrs. McKee called me back into the room” (34). Through the words “bloomed” and “blue honey”, which have positive connotations, a calm and content tone is put forth from Fitzgerald of what he is seeing through the window. Then through the word “shrill”, which has a negative connotation, an annoyed and disliked tone is shown towards Mrs. McKee’s voice causing a shift in the tone of the author to occur.
Fitzgerald does utilize his diction throughout his novel in many cases and the two examples you found were very good in the fact that they had many different kinds of diction that he uses. I liked how you brought up the different kinds of connotation that each of his specific examples of diction entailed. Your last example was very good in that it showed that his diction created a volta from relaxing to annoyance.
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