Answer:
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 <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, F. Scott Fitzgerald introduces the characters and the narrator, and establishes the setting. In doing so, he uses the following figures of speech:
- Hyperbole (an exaggerated statement or claim)
Jordan, while lying on the couch, says to Tom: <em>"I'm stiff. I've been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember.
" </em>This is, of course, an exaggeration.
- Metaphor (reference to one thing/concept by mentioning another)
<em>"My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore."</em> Nick refers to his house as an eyesore (an ugly sight in a public place).
- Personification (giving human characteristics and traits to something that is not human)
<em>"The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person." </em>Nick, the narrator, personifies 'the mind', which detects certain qualities.
- Simile (comparison of two things by mentioning the similarities between them, usually through the use of words 'like' or 'as')
<em>
"Instead of being the warm center of the world, the Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe." </em>Nick is not satisfied with his home after the war, and compares it to "the ragged edge of the universe."
