The great Gatsby figurative language chapter 1

Figurative language includes the use of figures of speech (metaphors, similes, allusions, etc.) to make the speech more effective and persuasive.

In Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald introduces the characters and the narrator, and establishes the setting. In doing so, he uses the following figures of speech:

Jordan, while lying on the couch, says to Tom: "I'm stiff. I've been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember. " This is, of course, an exaggeration.

"My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore." Nick refers to his house as an eyesore (an ugly sight in a public place).

"The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person." Nick, the narrator, personifies 'the mind', which detects certain qualities.

"Instead of being the warm center of the world, the Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe." Nick is not satisfied with his home after the war, and compares it to "the ragged edge of the universe."