Discuss Fitzgerald’s use of symbols within The Great Gatsby.

Discuss Fitzgerald’s use of symbols within The Great Gatsby.

Throughout his novel ‘The Great Gatsby’, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses

symbolism.

Symbols are objects, characters, figures or colours used to represent

abstract ideas or concepts.

The first symbol we see appears at the end of Chapter one. It is a

green light, situated at the end of Daisy Buchanan’s East Egg dock and

is only just visible from Gatsby’s expansive West Egg back garden. In

Chapter one Nick (the narrator) describes his mysterious neighbour

stretching “out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way’, this

is Gatsby reaching desperately out to the green light, which

represents his hopes and dreams for the future (which incidentally,

involved Daisy). He associates it with Daisy and sees the green light

as a guiding light to his goal.

Perhaps the green light represents Daisy, the unattainable. Alike to

the green light, she is so close, yet so far from Gatsby and just

within his grasp. Although he is reaching out to her, he cannot in

reality reach her because there is a divide, in the case of the green

light it is water, but in the case of Daisy it is status (and her

husband, Tom).

The green light also represents the generalised ideal of the American

Dream, because Gatsby’s quest for Daisy is generally connected with

this.

Fitzgerald’s choice of using ‘green’ as the colour of the light is

very significant and symbolic in itself. Green is the colour of money

and therefore wealth, this is something which Gatsby has always

strived for (similarly he is reaching out and striving for the

‘light’) in order to capture Daisy’s heart, as she rejected him in the

past due to his lack of wealth and status. Also, green is the colour

that ...

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of industrial ashes.

- It represents the moral and social decay that results from the

uninhibited pursuit of wealth, as the rich indulge themselves with

regard for nothing but their own pleasure.

- It also symbolises the plight of the poor, like Wilson, who live

among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a result.

- Fitz uses the valley of the ashes as a dramatic contrast to the

lives of the rich east and west egg dwellers, to really emphasise and

show how large the difference between them is, despite them being so

nearby.

- He also uses it to highlight how superficial the rich are. They are

the ‘beautiful people’ and this is reflected in where they live,

however the valley of the ashes is dirty and unattractive.

- The valley is actually used as a cut through road for the rich,

however real people live there.