Anne Sexton’s poem, “The Starry Night”, epitomizes various themes in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby. “The Starry Night,” delineates death, passion, and power. The themes of this poem epitomize multiple characters in The Great Gatsby. Anne Sexton uses nature to indicate hidden symbols.
Sexton emphasizes the theme of death in her poem, in the first stanza she writes, “ The town does not exist / except where one black-haired tree slips / up like a drowned woman into the hot sky.” Anne Sexton portrays that the town only exists where one tree connects the ground to the sky. Sexton fails to acknowledge the rest of the town. She only portrays this dark area of the town where no life exists. One might infer loneliness and isolation in that
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line. This line depicts the life of Jay Gatsby. Mr. Gatsby lives an extraordinary life, yet he lives in isolation. He is emotionally detached from everyone around him. However, “up like a drowned woman into the hot sky,” has human-like qualities. This tree could symbolize a person feeling as if they are drowning in their own misery. The first stanza is ironic as the author states that the tree is drowning yet it “slips / up like a drowning woman.” Drowning implies sinking, while the author states the tree flows up and not down. Sexton is creating the imagery of a tree, ascending to the sky. Even though the author depicts death, it is not represented negatively. People at this time wished to die blissfully. In “The Starry Night,” Anne Sexton repeatedly emphasizes the sky and how it is superior to the town. The first stanza represents the power that the stars posses. “The town is silent. The night boils with eleven stars” signifies that while the town is silent, the sky boils with life. Boiling can also indicate heat, movement or sound. This relates to The Great Gatsby, as Jay Gatsby’s life was extremely hectic. At night he would throw elaborate parties which would include a considerable amount of movement and sound coming from the people dancing. This line of the poem portrays that everyone gathers at Gatsby’s, leaving the town silent and lifeless. Anne Sexton uses personification in the second stanza when she says, “It moves. They are all alive. Even the moon bulges in its orange irons. Sexton gives movement to the moon, giving it lifelike characteristics. “…Like a god, from its eye,” also gives the moon humanlike characteristics as it compares the moon to God. From this line you can infer that the moon controls the night and watches everything below it. This represents Gatsby as he considers himself a profound man, who watches everyone around him. He believes that he has the power to control his future and rekindle the past. He believes himself to be the center of society, not unlike the moon which is at the center of the sky. Anne Sexton uses the second stanza to epitomize alluring passion.
” Even the moon bulges in its orange irons” can signify Mr. Gatsby feeling as if he is locked behind iron gates. The color orange can symbolize anger, passion, danger, and desire. Jay Gatsby has an undying love for Daisy Buchanan and can not bare to be without her. These irons can signify how he is held back from Daisy as she is married to Tom Buchanan. Nevertheless, the gates will not stand in Gatsby’s way as he yearns for Daisy. Another perception of “orange gates,” can signify how Tom Buchanan tries to shelter his wife, Daisy, from society. Tom wishes to keep Daisy to himself, even though he accumulates multiple mistresses. “The old unseen serpent swallows up the stars,” can signify Mr. Gatsby trying to steal the affection of Daisy Buchanan. Mr. Gatsby is trying to “swallow” up Daisy just as a moon does a star. Jay Gatsby can signify an “old unseen serpent” as he was one of Daisy’s past lovers. Daisy Buchanan can signify a bright star that Gatsby wishes to encounter. Another perception of an “old unseen serpent” can represent Tom Buchanan, as he is a sly presumptuous man who accumulates many mistresses. The stars he swallows up can signify women. “Oh starry starry night!” can be read as a plead from Gatsby, signifying his vulnerability without Daisy. One might construe it as saying “ Oh Daisy Daisy Daisy.” Daisy Buchanan is the star of Gatsby’s
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The Great Gatsby is a novel written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald and is based throughout the ‘roaring 20’s’. Throughout the novel there are affairs and corruption, proving life lessons that the past cannot be repeated. Fitzgerald uses many forms of symbolism throughout the text some of these include; colours, the eyes of T.J Eckleburg, clocks and the East and West Eggs. The Great Gatsby is a story of love, dreams and choices witnessed by a narrator against the ridiculous wealth of the 1920’s.
After finally reconnecting with the now married Daisy years after they were separated by the war, Jay Gatsby is determined to win her back and continue their relationship where they left off years before. Despite all the odds clearly against him, as he is of poor blood and low social status compared to Tom, Gatsby “had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart” (Fitzgerald 95-6). Ga...
Gatsby holds extravagant parties every weekend hoping that his love of his life visits. Gatsby has a blue gardens where “men and girls came and went”(Fitzgerald 39). Gatsby hopes to see Daisy walk through his gardens at one of his parties, but his fantasies do not come true. Gatsby’s blue gardens symbolize his loneliness and inner depression because he dreams about Daisy having fun at one of his parties, but his dreams never come true. Another thing that symbolizes Gatsby’s sadness is the bay that separates east and west egg. This blue body of water symbolizes Gatsby’s sadness because it separates him from Daisy, his one and only true love. Most nights, Gatsby looks across the bay at Daisy’s green light wishing that he could be with Daisy again, but they are separated by the “blue lawn” that is impossible to cross (Fitzgerald 180). The color blue symbolizes Gatsby’s inner depression and sadness because of the separation of him and
Gatsby’s distinct charisma indicates his struggle against moral corruption and sets him apart from the moral decay evident in the upper class. Owl eyes is very surprised when he finds out all the books in Gatsby’s library are real, “‘The books?...Absolutely real--have pages and everything...It’s a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella’s a regular Belasco’” (45). While most of the upper class uses outward displays of wealth to cover their inner moral corruption, Gatsby uses his extravagant opulence to mask his love for Daisy. In this way his morals and ability to conceal his love prove his willingness and drive to acquire Daisy’s love and acceptance. The majority of the upper class suffers from moral poverty, lacking internal morals to keep them grounded acting out in ways that diminishes their social status. Gatsby is so close to Daisy his whole life yet he is unable to get any closer until their relationship is destroyed forever. “I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock...his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him” (180). Gatsby continually reaches out for Daisy with hope and optimism, but the distance between his dock and the Buchanan’s does not get any closer symbolic for the
Symbolism is immensely spread through this novel, as well as an immerse amount of color. For example, the green light gatsby strives for. Gatsby states that the "single green light" on Daisy's dock that Gatsby gazes wistfully at from his own house across the water represents the "unattainable dream," the "dream [that] must
The story of Jay Gatsby is a romantic one that actually began years before. However, his romantic story turns into a troubling one when we realize that he is not the man he seems to be. The story of Jay Gatsby is not only filled with romance, but with secrecy, obsession, and tragedy. The symbol of Jay Gatsby's troubled romantic obsession is a green light at the end of the dock of Daisy Buchanan, a woman to whom he fell in love with five years earlier. The green light represents his fantasy of reuniting with Daisy and rekindling the love they once had. This light represents everything he wants, everything he has done to transform himself, and ultimately everything that he cannot attain.
Gatsby can achieve his dream once he marries Daisy Buchannan, a young woman he met in Louisville, where he falls in love with the opulence that surrounds her. Throughout the book, the motifs of the green light and fake facade are used to signify Gatsby's hope and never ending lust for status respectively. Gatsby's obsession with restructuring his past leads to his failure. Fitzgerald uses these motifs of the green light, fake facade and past to showcase Gatsby's objectification of his American Dream. The green light at the end of Daisy Buchannan's dock signifies both hope and the difficulties Gatsby encounters while pursuing his dream.
We must keep standing up when we fall, and keep trying when we fail. With failure, one seeks to overcome shortcomings by seeking a better future. As time progresses, Fitzgerald explores Jay Gatsby’s long desire for Daisy and emphasizes and his optimism for the future. Fitzgerald uses optimistic diction to express Gatsby’s view on the future when he states, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” (180). Gatsby yearns for a future with Daisy, and truly attempts to look for the “green light” in each situation. The color green represents hope and new beginnings. Fitzgerald utilized the color green to serve as a color of optimism and positivity. Gatsby desires and hopes for a love that he cannot get, and still believes he can find a way to achieve his goals. Jay Gatsby greatly anticipates for a brighter “orgastic future.” The usage of “light” symbolizes something that can be reached for, but never possessed. Jay Gatsby gets really close to Daisy, but can never truly reach her, and...
“‘One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs, or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.’” (192). In A Thousand Splendid Suns written by Khaled Hosseini, two girls living dramatically different yet similar lives form a true and lasting friendship against all odds. Their names are Mariam and Laila. All that they possess that is comforting is their relationship with each other and with Laila’s children. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Hosseini emphasizes the importance of hope through his development of setting, symbolism, and diction.
...s with all of the parties and the pursuit of wealth, power, and pleasure in an era of change. The novel shows the relationship of Gatsby and Daisy as a symbol of this pursuit of wealth, power, and pleasure. The reader sees the pursuit of wealth through Daisy wanting Gatsby and Tom, both of whom have money. The pursuit of power is shown through Daisy’s decision of Tom over Gatsby as Gatsby is seen as a lower social status with little power compared to Tom who has tremendous power. Pleasure is seen through the extramarital affairs of Tom and Myrtle as well as Daisy and Gatsby. The Great Gatsby, through Tom and Daisy, reveals the human condition of the pursuit of wealth, power, and pleasure through these examples and shows that the “American Dream” is not possible in a life where one’s surroundings are pushing him/her towards a life of wealth, power, and pleasure.
The green light at the end of the Buchanan’s dock symbolizes Gatsby’s lust for wealth and power, and also his dream of having Daisy. The interpretation that stands out the most of any is that green is the color of money, therefore Gatsby’s motivations are fueled by the wealthy status of someone on the East Egg that he would wish to have as well. However, just like his dreams, the light is very “minute and far away” (30). Gatsby throws lavish parties, lives his life in luxury, and fools himself into believing he is upper c...
Gatsby’s dream of winning Daisy has been deferred for long enough, that it seems impossible to everyone else around him. He pursues the past while he is in the future. He pines for Daisy after losing her to another man. Gatsby’s elaborate parties were all thrown in hopes that someday Daisy would wander inside. Nick finds out Gatsby’s intentions when he says, “Then it had not been merely the stars to which he has aspired on that June night. He became alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor” (Fitzgerald 83). All the extravagant spending, the house, the new identity, the illegal activities, were all for Daisy. He throws everything he has into this charade as he tries to adapt to Daisy’s world of high society. The problem is that Gatsby is so close, but yet so far away, “he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way... 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 25). Gatsby tries to embrace the light that emits from the end of Daisy’s dock. The light is something that he cannot hold, just like he cannot hold Daisy Buchanan in his arms. He attempts to pursue his dream that is nothing more than an illusion. Despite being blinded with his infatuation with her, “He hadn’t once ceased looking at
Not only are those shown but Gatsby also shows he wants Daisy to fill a spot in his dream. He has all the items he could ever possibly want in his life but he’s missing just one thing, the girl of his dreams. He goes out every night to stretch his arms towards the symbolic green light. The green light shows that the girl of his dreams is a stretch of the arm away, but still so far away. “Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her.” (pg 93) Gatsby wants Daisy to save she loves him and will come back into his life and fill that hole.
Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, first sees Gatsby standing outside of his mansion, “standing with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars” (20). He is standing with his arms outstretched towards a green light. Nick says “he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling” (20). Gatsby is staring at the light on the end of Daisy’s dock as it is later revealed. Gatsby is standing there, with his arms stretched out, to welcome the love of Daisy and to give his love to her. He is reaching toward her, trembling because of the power of his love and the pain from their years of separation. The light represents how close Daisy is to him, but still so far away, in separate worlds. It could also be thought of in the sense that his love is still burning bright for Daisy. “Green is the color of hope” (Einem), and can represent “Gatsby’s hope to meet Daisy again and a chance to win her back” (Einem). Gatsby has been separated from Daisy for many years, but he still loves her deeply. When Daisy and Gatsby later reunite, they are standing in Gatsby’s bedroom, looking out across the bay. Gatsby points out the green light and says “If it wasn’t for the mist w...
Gatsby throws huge, extravagant parties nearly everyday all because he hopes that Daisy will attend one of them. The mansion symbolizes hope that he will get Daisy back, just as the green light does. Gatsby uses the mansion to draw Daisy closer to him and he hopes that one day she will find him. “It is the emblem of a successful businessman and the symbol of what he hopes to recover in Daisy and her love.”