Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby: A broken American dream

An American novel that was written from 1865 to the present was The Great Gatsby. Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, The Great Gatsby illustrates Fitzgerald’s views of the roaring 1920’s and the emergence of the Jazz Age preceding World War II. The story follows Nick Carraway, cousin of Daisy Buchanan, who meets a young man named Jay Gatsby in the summer of 1922. Jay Gatsby, a poor man from the Midwest, gains enormous wealth by becoming a bootlegger. Trying to impress Daisy Buchanan, Jay Gatsby buys a mansion across the bay from Daisy and throws extravagant parties hoping Daisy will waltz in. Engaging in an illegal criminal activities to make money, Jay Gatsby will stop at nothing to capture

The green light represents the American Dream. Gatsby thought that by obtaining money, he would obtain the American Dream and ultimately Daisy. Fitzgerald writes” His dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it “(182). Fitzgerald also states, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. So we beat on, boats against the current” (182). No matter how hard Gatsby works, the dream will always elude him. Not everyone has the same chance of achieving the American Dream. One scholar writes that “Part of that dream is that all, not just the privileged few, share in this promise (Hearne 190). The privilege of having old money helps establish the American Dream. Becoming wealthy quickly comes with the disapproval from others. The second symbol in The Great Gatsby is the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg. Fitzgerald states “Said you can fool me but you can’t fool God. Standing behind him, Michaelis saw with a shock that he was looking at the eyes of doctor TJ Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving light (160). In this instance, the reader can see that the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg are the eyes of God. God sees everything that humans do. God also that Gatsby didn’t hit Myrtle, Daisy killed Myrtle. The eyes of T.J. Eckleburg show dissapproval when the eyes “frown with Tom” (Fitzgerald 24). This tells the reader that, God was not

The reader can see how Carraway, Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby are all dishonest to a degree in the story. The reader can also see how living in West Egg makes the residents inferior to residents of East Egg. The Midwest is very important because all the main characters originate in the Midwest, where morality is different is valued more. The morality is in sharp contrast with the East, where established money is the standard that everyone must live by. The reader can see that the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg are the eyes of God, who humans cannot hide from because God sees all. The Green Light is an important symbol as the American dream. The older a person gets, the more difficult it is to obtain the American dream. The American dream is a broken dream because as one scholar writes”not everyone has an equal opportunity”(Hearne 191). The reader must feel sorry for Gatsby, because he comes so close to obtaining the American dream of prosperity, but he