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Dictionary Definition: an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.
Own Definition: In literature, often used to
connect the reader to the world/time period the story takes place in. It can also be used to help the reader further understand the character if they do understand what the author was referencing.
Visual for Allusion:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby":
The best example of allusion in 'The Great Gatsby' is during the dinner party in the fist chapter, where Tom Buchanan makes racist remarks. "This fellow has worked out the whole thing. It's up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things." (Fitzgerald, 10)
This allusion serves two purposes: to inform the reader of the degree of racism during the time when the book was written and to undermine Tom's character, making him more unlikable.

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All dictionary definitions have been taken from Dictionary.com or from literarydevices.net
All "Own Definitions" are based on my own understanding
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Hammersmith, London, HarperCollins, 2012.

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Dictionary Definition: a figure of speech which refers to the juxtaposition of opposing or contrasting ideas. It involves the bringing out of a contrast in the ideas by an obvious contrast in the words, clauses, or sentences, within a parallel grammatical structure.
Own Definition: The direct opposite. Opposite ideas expressed using opposite words.
Visual for antithesis:

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Dictionary Definition: In literature, mood is a literary element that evokes certain feelings or vibes in readers through words and descriptions. Usually, mood is referred to as the atmosphere of a literary piece, as it creates an emotional situation that surrounds the readers.
Own Definition: The feeling that the story gives off. Similar to tone. The tone will affect the mood.
Visual for mood:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby": The mood of the novel as a whole is dark and pessimistic, a mood best expressed by the description of the Valley of Ashes, the place where most of the tragic events (Myrtle's death, the end of Gatsby and Daisy's relationship) tale place. "... a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens...The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour." (Fitzgerald, 17)

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Dictionary Definition:  a literary technique in which conjunctions (e.g. and, but, or) are used repeatedly in quick succession, often with no commas, even when the conjunctions could be removed.
Own Definition: Many thoughts  rapidly without commas, and sometimes the conjunctions like 'and' are removed.
Visual for polysyndeton:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby": "The bar is in full swing and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside until the air is alive with chatter and laughter and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot and enthusiastic meetings..."
(Fitzgerald, 30) Repetition of the conjunction 'and'.

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Dictionary Definition: an idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
Own Definition: Seeing things with a deeper meaning.
Visual for connotation:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby": "...his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it...Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us." (Fitzgerald, 140)
Here we see the green light as more than what it is. It is not simply a light at the end of a dick; it is Gatsby's dream and and the receding future.

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Dictionary Definition: the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.
Own Definition: Seeing something as nothing more than what it actually is.
Visual for denotation:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby": "Involuntarily I glanced seaward- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock." (Fitzgerald, 16)
Here, Nick is seeing the green light for what it actually is. While later in the book it is seen as a magical object, a symbol of Gatsby's  longing for Daisy, here Nick sees it for what it is; a green light.

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Dictionary Definition: excessively concerned with minor details or rules.
Own Definition: Writers can use characters who are pedantic to express things in several positive and negative connotations. These characters can express knowledge or narrow-minded snobbery.
Visual for pedantic:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby": "Civilization's going to pieces,...Have you read 'The Rise of The Colored Empires' by this man Goddard?...The idea is if we don't look out the white race will be...utterly submerged. It's all scientific stuff; it's been proven." (Fitzgerald, 10). Tom has been written as a pedantic character to show how narrow-minded and full of himself he is.

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Dictionary Definition: a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.
Own Definition: A way of 'sugar-coating' unpleasant things like death or illegal matters.
Visual for euphemism

Example from "The Great Gatsby": When Wolfsheim asks Nick to enter illegal business with him by saying, "I understand you're looking for a business gonnegtion." (Fitzgerald, 52) He uses 'business gonnegtion' because it sounds better than 'illegal business dealings'.

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Dictionary Definition: the omission from speech or writing of a word or words that are superfluous or able to be understood from contextual clues.
Own Definition: Used to show pauses in speech or uneasy speaking.
Can also be used to convey skips in time.
Visual for ellipsis:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby":  “Come to lunch someday,” he suggested, as we groaned down in the elevator.
“Where?”
“Anywhere.”
“Keep your hands off the lever,” snapped the elevator boy.
“I beg your pardon,” said Mr. McKee with dignity, “I didn’t know I was touching it.”
“All right,” I agreed, “I’ll be glad to.”. . . I was standing beside his bed and he was sitting up between the sheets, clad in his underwear, with a great portfolio in his hands."
(Fitzgerald, 28)The ellipses here show a skip in time.
"tomorrow we will run faster, stretch our arms out farther...and one fine morning-
So we beat on, boats against the current, bone back ceaselessly into the past" (Fitzgerald, 140)
The ellipses here are used to show that the writer didn't complete his thought, leaving the rest of the phrase open to interpretation.

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Dictionary Definition: The choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing
Own Definition: Diction is all about word choice and how those words add meaning and depth to the passage
Visual for diction:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby": "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since." (Fitzgerald, 1)
The use of the word vulnerable and the phrase 'turning over' help add deeper meaning to this line.

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Dictionary Definition: the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language
Own Definition: Use of several techniques to emphasize specific points in writing.
Visual for syntax:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby": "The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise-she leaned slightly forward with a conscientious expression-Then she laughed, an absurd, charming little laugh, and I laughed to and came forward into the room." (Fitzgerald, 7)
The use of repetition and dashes help emphasize specific points of this line. Another good use of syntax in the form of dashes is at the end of the book, "It eluded us then, but that's no matter- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch our arms out farther...and one fine morning-
So we beat on, boats against the current, bone back ceaselessly into the past" (Fitzgerald, 140)

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Dictionary Definition: The definition of parallelism in literature is the use of identical or equivalent syntactic constructions in corresponding clauses and phrases.
Own Definition: Parallelism is used to show contrast by using opposite words next to each other.
Not to be confused with juxtaposition.
Visual for parallelism:

Example from "The Great Gatsby": “I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life” (Fitzgerald, 26)

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Dictionary Definition: Metonymy is a figure of speech in which something is called by a new name that is related in meaning to the original thing or concept.
Own Definition: Giving a nickname to a group of people o things based on one thing they have in common.
Visual for metonymy:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby":

"The party preserved a dignified homogeneity, and assumed to itself the function of representing the staid nobility of the countryside—East Egg condescending to West Egg, and carefully on guard against its spectroscopic gayety."

(Fitzgerald, 33)
The use of East and West Egg to reference the people who live there.

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Dictionary Definition: understatement, especially that in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary
Own Definition: A way of understating a subject and not out-right saying it, like saying "It's not bad" or "She's no beauty queen" are litotes, used instead of "It's good" or "She's ugly".
Visual for litotes:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby": "the honor would be entirely Gatsby’s, it said, if I would attend his “little party” that night." (Fitzgerald, 31).
Little party is an understatement

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Dictionary Definition: the general character or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, etc.
What a person/character says or how they say it to covey a message or emotion.
Own Definition: Same as with tone of voice. In what way the story has been written as to portray a certain mood.
Visual for tone:
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Examples from "The Great Gatsby": The tone of the narrator (Nick Caraway) changes throughout the novel. It begins with bewilderment at the lavishness of Gatsby's parties. This is shown by his description of Gatsby's parties and his use of quotations when he receives an invitation to Gatsby'd house. "the honor would be entirely Gatsby’s, it said, if I would attend his “little party” that night." (Fitzgerald, 31) His tone then changes to disgust and disapproval when he hears about Gatsby's life, his involvement with Daisy, and the murder of Myrtle Wilson, as shown by his quote, "I hadn’t the faintest idea what “this matter” was, but I was more annoyed than interested. I hadn’t asked Jordan to tea in order to discuss Mr. Jay Gatsby. I was sure the request would be something utterly fantastic, and for a moment I was sorry I’d ever set foot upon his overpopulated lawn." (Fitzgerald, 50). The final time his tone changes is after the death of Gatsby, where he is mournful and speaks as if he lost a loved one. He becomes reminiscent about when he said Gatsby was "worth the whole damn bunch put together" (Fitzgerald, 118). He explains in the following sentence: "I've always been glad I said that. It was the only compliment I ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end."

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Dictionary Definition: a dominant or recurring idea in an artistic work.
Own Definition: A repeating idea that aids the overall theme of the work.
Visual for motif:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby": A main theme in the novel is carelessness and immorality. A motif to help this theme is judgment. In chapter 1, Nick says, " I'm inclined to reserve all judgments,"(Fitzgerald, 1) however he supplied the reader with several judgments of different characters throughout the novel. His judgments of Gatsby, Jordan Baker, and the Buchanan's shows that they were all immoral in some way, aiding the overall theme.

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Dictionary Definition: a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
Own Definition: Not to be confused with symbolism, allegory is a story or work of art  has a moral or political meaning behind it.
Visual for allegory:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby":
"See!" he cried triumphantly. "It's a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too - didn't cut the pages. But what do you want? What do you expect?" (Fitzgerald, 34). This is an allegory for the kind of person Gatsby is. Gatsby reflects the crumbling of the American dream. People stopped pursuing happiness and started going after money, just as Gatsby had bought all these books not to read, but to show an image to others and to impress.

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Dictionary Definition: the omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence, as in I came, I saw, I conquered.
Own Definition: A sentence with nothing really connecting all the parts.
Visual for Asyndeton:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby": "that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it..." (Fitzgerald,  92).

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Dictionary Definition: the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
Own Definition: Multiple sentences, one after the other, that begin with the same word.
Visual for anaphora:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby": "...of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality..." (Fitzgerald, 116)

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Dictionary Definition: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
Own Definition: Timely jokes. Used to point out stupidity. Often in the form of irony and exaggeration (like Trump jokes).
Visual for Satire:

Example from "The Great Gatsby": "The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other's names." (Fitzgerald, 40)
This is humor written to bring attention to fake society and show how little people actually cared (a theme discussed multiple times in the book).

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Dictionary Definition: the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.
Own Definition: Two contrasting things. Often used in literature to enhance description and point out parallels and deeper meanings to the reader.
Visual for juxtaposition:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby":
The way that the East and West Egg are described in comparison to the valley of ashes. He describes the East and West Egg as being "bright rosy" and "wine-colored" (Fitzgerald, 12), while he describes the valley of ashes as "ash-grey" and "spasms of bleak dust" (Fitzgerald, 37). This juxtaposition allows the reader to further comprehend the difference between the rich and poor areas, as well as the lifestyles.

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Dictionary Definition: a technique that an author or speaker uses to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading him or her towards considering a topic from a different perspective, using sentences designed to encourage or provoke an emotional display of a given perspective or action.
Own Definition: Ways of writing that are used to show a specific meaning or try to convince the reader of something.
Visual for rhetorical devices:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby":
Allusion:"This fellow has worked out the whole thing. It's up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things." (Fitzgerald, 10)
Irony: "How much do I owe you?" Demanded Tom harshly. "I just got wised up to something funny the last two days." Remarked Wilson. (Fitzgerald, 94)
Simile: " Then the glow faded, each light deserting her with lingering regret, like children leaving a pleasant street at dusk” (Fitzgerald, 11).

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Dictionary Definition: a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous,seemingly self-contradictory effect.
To hasten slowly.
Own Definition: A sentence that goes against itself in a way by presenting two opposites.
Organized Chaos.
Visual for oxymoron:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby": "Mr.Wolfsheim, forgetting the more sentimental atmosphere of the Old Metropole, began to eat with ferocious delicacy." (Fitzgerald, 53)

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Dictionary Definition: a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.
Own Definition: Something that seems to be going against itself, but is possibly true.
Visual for paradox:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby":
"And I like large parties. They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy." (Fitzgerald, 37)

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Dictionary Definition:the commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either with the same consonant sound or sound group (consonant alliteration) as in from stem to stern, or with a vowel sound that may differ from syllable to syllable (vocalic alliteration) as in 'each to all'.
Own Definition: Words with the same beginning sounds said consequently one after the other with little to no fillers in between.
Visual for alliteration:

Example from "The Great Gatsby":
"his hand took hold of hers..." (Fitzgerald, 72)
"For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes. All night the saxophones wailed the hopeless comment of the Beagle Street Blues while a hundred pairs of golden and silver slippers shuffled the shining dust." (Fitzgerald, 116)

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Dictionary Definition: obvious and intentional exaggeration.
Own Definition: Exaggerating something on purpose to make a point.
Used frequently in everyday speech.
Visual for hyperbole:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby":
"When I came home to West Egg that night I was afraid for a moment that my house was on fire. Two o'clock [in the morning] and the whole corner of the peninsula was blazing with light...Turning a corner I saw that it was Gatsby's house, lit from tower to cellar." (Fitzgerald, 61)
Exaggeration to show how many lights were on and how bright they were.

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Dictionary Definition: a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared
Own Definition: Comparing one thing to another using 'like' or 'as'
Visual for simile:

Example from "The Great Gatsby":
Nick uses it to describe the sunlight leaving Jordan Baker's face. " Then the glow faded, each light deserting her with lingering regret, like children leaving a pleasant street at dusk” (Fitzgerald, 11).

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Dictionary Definition: mocking, contemptuous, or ironic language intended to convey scorn or insult.
Own Definition:Used to insult people or make fun of them indirectly. Usually goes hand in hand with irony.
Visual for Sarcasm:

Example from "The Great Gatsby":
"Do you mind if I eat with some people over here?" ..."Go ahead," answered Daisy genially, "and if you want to take down any addresses here's my little golden pencil."   (Fitzgerald, 81)

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Dictionary Definition: a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance.
Own DefinitionUsed to compare something to another thing indirectly, without the use of 'like' or 'as'.
Visual for metaphor:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby":
A simple an direct metaphor is when Nick describes Gatsby's house when it's completely lit up. “ At least once a fortnight a corps of caterers came down with several hundred feet of canvas and enough colored lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby’s enormous garden".

Or when Nick talks about his house, stating, “My own house was an eyesore” (Fitzgerald, 5).

Then there are the, as Nick describes them, enchanted objects, which are complex metaphors and may be considered more on the side of symbols. For example, the green light at the end of Daisy's dock is a metaphor for and symbol of Gatsby's longing for Daisy, and how she's just a rock's throw away."If it wasn't for the mist we could see you're house across the bay." Said Gatsby. "You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock." (Fitzgerald, 70)

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Dictionary Definition: the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning.
Literary definition:

1. a technique of indicating, as through character or plot  development, an intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly stated.

2. (especially in contemporary writing) a manner of organizing a work so as to give full expression to contradictory or complementary impulses, attitudes, etc., especially as a means of indicating detachment from a subject, theme, or emotion.

Own Definition: Irony is used in two ways: to indicate something that the character doesn't know but the reader does (dramatic irony), or to show an almost comical contradicting situation (Situational irony).
Example:
Dramatic Irony: In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth appears to be loyal to Duncan, but he is actually plotting his murder. Duncan doesn't know Macbeth's plans, but the audience knows what is going to happen.
Situational Irony: An ambulance driver speeds to the scene of a bicycle accident. As he whips around a corner, he runs over the victim's legs, not realizing she'd crawled to the center of the road with her bike.
Visual for irony:
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Example of irony in "The Great Gatsby":
Situational Irony: When large amounts of (mostly uninvited) people turned up to Gatsby's parties, but no one (even the invited) turned up to his funeral.
"In his blue gardens men and girls came and went [to his parties] like moths among the whispering and the champagne and the stars." (Fitzgerald, 29)
"The minister glanced several times at his watch, so I took him aside and asked him to wait for another half an hour. But it wasn't any use. Nobody came."
(Fitzgerald, 135)
Dramatic irony: When Wilson discusses his suspicions that his wife is having an affair with Tom Buchanan,  the man she's having an affair with.
"How much do I owe you?" Demanded Tom harshly. "I just got wised up to something funny the last two days." Remarked Wilson. (Fitzgerald, 94)

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Dictionary Definition: an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.
Own Definition: In literature, often used to
connect the reader to the world/time period the story takes place in. It can also be used to help the reader further understand the character if they do understand what the author was referencing.
Visual for Allusion:
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Example from "The Great Gatsby":
The best example of allusion in 'The Great Gatsby' is during the dinner party in the fist chapter, where Tom Buchanan makes racist remarks. "This fellow has worked out the whole thing. It's up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things." (Fitzgerald, 10)
This allusion serves two purposes: to inform the reader of the degree of racism during the time when the book was written and to undermine Tom's character, making him more unlikable.