How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #4
John saw that the upholstery consisted of a thousand minute and exquisite tapestries of silk, woven with jewels and embroideries, and set upon a background of cloth of gold. The two armchair seats in which the boys luxuriated were covered with stuff that resembled duvetyn, but seemed woven in numberless colors of the ends of ostrich feathers. (2.7)
Fitzgerald spares no prose expense going into the details of the Washingtons' luxurious possessions. The story's descriptions are glutted with showy imagery and expensive adjectives.
Quote #5
Full in the light of the stars, an exquisite château rose from the borders of the lake, climbed in marble radiance half the height of an adjoining mountain, then melted in grace, in perfect symmetry, in translucent feminine languor, into the massed darkness of a forest of pine. The many towers, the slender tracery of the sloping parapets, the chiseled wonder of a thousand yellow windows with their oblongs and hectagons and triangles of golden light, the shattered softness of the intersecting planes of star-shine and blue shade, all trembled on John's spirit like a chord of music. On one of the towers, the tallest, the blackest at its base, an arrangement of exterior lights at the top made a sort of floating fairyland—and as John gazed up in warm enchantment the faint acciaccare sound of violins drifted down in a rococo harmony that was like nothing he had ever heard before. Then in a moment the car stopped before wide, high marble steps around which the night air was fragrant with a host of flowers. At the top of the steps two great doors swung silently open and amber light flooded out upon the darkness, silhouetting the figure of an exquisite lady with black, high-piled hair, who held out her arms toward them. (2.28)
Notice how many senses Fitzgerald hits here in this passage. There are descriptions of sights, sounds, and smells, as well as the emotional impact of the scene. It's a sensory overload for the reader, as well as for John.
Quote #6
[Fitz-Norman] told them he had discovered a rhinestone mine, and, as only one or two of them had ever seen even a small diamond before, they believed him, without question. (4.4)
Of course, it is ironic that later in the story, Kismine – who grew up around diamonds her whole life – will mix them up with rhinestones herself. Does it start to seem arbitrary that one rock is so valuable and the other so worthless? Good – keep thinking along these lines.