Significance Of The Green Light In The Great Gatsby

The impossible dream of the rich in The Great Gatsby allow Fitzgerald to express his thoughts on the futility of the American Dream and show the hopelessness of it through the setting of the green light, a light representing the desires of Jay Gatsby, Gatsby being a man who believes that his desires are kept from him by the prejudice of the new rich. In a conversation between Nick and Tom, Fitzgerald reveals the prejudice of the old rich toward the new rich. “‘Who is this Gatsby anyhow?’ demanded Tom suddenly. ‘Some big bootlegger?’ ‘Where’d you hear that?’ I inquired. ‘I didn’t hear it. I imagined it. A lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers, you know’” (107). Tom, someone of the old rich, sees Gatsby, someone of the new rich,

as a fraud because he did not inherit his money and Fitzgerald allows Gatsby to believe that this social barrier blocks him from one of his deepest wishes: Daisy, a woman of the old rich. Gatsby thinks that this social barrier prevents him from obtaining Daisy, represented by the green light that Nick sees Gatsby reach for from his backyard.
But I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone—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. Involuntarily 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 20)
Gatsby reaches for the green light, the light that represents his one desire: Daisy.

He imagines the light is close, but he is separated from it by water, a water that he cannot cross. Fitzgerald places a social barrier in the setting, the waters separating Gatsby from the green light, to blindfold Gatsby and cause him to think that a social barrier is what really blocks him from Daisy. However, this barrier is actually Daisy herself. The green light represents the fact that Gatsby wants Daisy, and while Gatsby does not necessarily wish to be part of the old rich, he wants Daisy to return his love. He believes that for Daisy to return his love, he must be “accepted” into the social class of the old rich, and also that their prejudice barricades him from this acceptance. However, Gatsby is actually holding onto an old love that is long gone. Daisy does not love him anymore, and the blindfold Gatsby wears causes him to believe that if he can only be a part of the old rich Daisy will love him. Because of this, he believes that the social barrier between the old and new rich prevents him from overcoming his social rank and obtaining his American Dream, a life with Daisy. Fitzgerald shows the futility of the American Dream through this, because Gatsby dreams of obtaining something that is impossible for him to have. Gatsby’s façade makes it seem like the old rich possess the American Dream, but there will always be something they desire but cannot have due to their circumstances, showing that the American Dream is not necessarily hollow because of the opportunity one lacks. This allows Fitzgerald to conclude that the American Dream is hollow, as the people of America constantly pursue things they cannot obtain. Fitzgerald argues for his case on the futility of the American Dream furthermore in these scenes as he shows the impossibility of Gatsby’s dream, proving the futility of the American Dream for the

rich.