Pink Elephants

Once upon a time, there was a place where life was perfect, simply because diamonds lined the walls.  They say money can't buy happiness, which is evident in the lives of Percy and Gatsby. The wealth that Gatsby and Percy have cannot buy them the love and companionship that they wish for. Everyone today would love to live the extravagant life of the Washington's, however, would you give up your happiness to become "the richest man in the world"? Kismine is, for example, a pink elephant: glorious on the outside, a symbol of "physical perfection", but in reality is fake as she pretends to be girly and unintelligent so John would like her. Fitzgerald uses rhetoric to illustrate the false lives of the Washington's and how they wish to portray themselves to the other "best friends" who they wish to show off to. Fitzgerald also uses analogies to exemplify the distance between the Washington's lives and the real world. The mention of slaves in the story is used to portray the gap between the Washington's world and the real world as if Moses himself had parted the two. In The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, Fitzgerald conveys the unimportance of wealth to the well being of someone.