Heat In The Great Gatsby Analysis

In The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald uses the leitmotif of temperature to symbolize moods and tensions that foreshadow what is going to happen between the characters. Fitzgerald uses the cold to show the characters feelings. He uses heat to show how tension rises between characters’ true feeling and emotions that are hidden by their outside appearances. In the quote, "In this heat every extra gesture was an affront to the common store of life” (Fitzgerald 145) Fitzgerald uses temperature to bring the characters back to their realities and connect them to their true feelings. Heat draws the characters more and more into a false reality because they are too hot to think and do not want to accept the fact that there is tension between Gatsby …show more content…
Nick moved from the West to the East in search for the passion and excitement that heat provides, “I lived in West egg- the least fashionable of the two… Squeezed between two huge places that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season… All for eighty dollars a month” (Fitzgerald). This is when nick first moved back to the East egg and moved right next door to Gatsby. He was not a rich man and did not have all the luxuries that his neighbors did, but he did have a nice view of the water. He also met is a new friend and got to see all the exciting parties that happened in the East egg. “Her voice struggled on through the heat, beating against it, molding in senselessness into forms” (Fitzgerald 154), at this point Nick is confused why Daisy calls him an “absolute rose”. Fitzgerald makes Nick understand that he is never in full control of the story, Daisy is over powering him and everyone else in the novel. In chapter seven when Daisy says this, her emotion is confused and matches the heat of the day. She does not understand her passion that is forming for Gatsby. Nick soon comes to realization that Daisy has a lot of heat forming between her, Tom, and Gatsby. He feels slightly uncomfortable because he does not fit in with the situation. Nick takes a toll following Gatsby’s death and he comes to the conclusion that the East coast is not the place for him. Nick decides to move back to the West coast simply because “he could not take the heat”. Nick came from the West egg and moved to the East, but soon moved back when because he could not take the heat. Everything happened too fast for him and he felt wrong staying there with only memories of