The success of a novel is highly dependent on an author's skill in arranging words and storylines to create maximum interest for the reader. Structuring a novel involves organizing a chain of events in a manner which will appeal to sensitive readers. F. Scott Fitzgerald (a master of novel development) demonstrates his writing talent by using flashbacks, symbolism and foreshadowing as structural tools in developing his fiction. The temporal devices used to structure Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, serve to expose the corruption present in American society during the 1920's.
             Foreshadowing is a temporal device used to indicate the predicted path of the story. Fitzgerald uses foreshadowing both to structurally reinforce his storyline, and to emphasize important events associated with the decadent lifestyle in American society at the time. At the beginning of the novel, narrator Nick Carraway foreshadows Jay Gatsby's inevitable death after Gatsby's life of crime. Nick says, "No-Gatsby turned out all right at the end," (Fitzgerald 8) as he foreshadows Gatsby's tragic and brutal murder, implying that Gatsby would go through some troublesome times. Fitzgerald foreshadows Gatsby's tragic demise to stress that illegitimate ways of life in that era often ended in an unfortunate way. During the 1920's, Gatsby would be classified as a 'corrupt member' of society and as death falls upon him, Gatsby is relinquished from his life of crime. The death of Gatsby, caused by the armed and blood-lusting Wilson, is foreshadowed to draw attention to the number of severe crimes committed during the 20's along with a lack of faith in the justice system. After Myrtle Wilson's death, Mr. Wilson is driven to insanity and hastily leaves his home for "Port Roosevelt and then to Gad's Hill" (Fitzgerald 152) with plans of revenge. When Wilson arrives in Port Roosevelt to kill...