Symbolism in the Great Gatsby

The Canadian musician Rick Danko once said” As time goes on we get closer to that American Dream of there being a pie cut up and shared. Usually greed and selfishness prevent that and there is always one bad apple in every barrel”. This is true in the Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzergerald. This is story mainly about a self-made man named Jay Gatsby and the decay of his American dream, which is to get Daisy Buchannan back after five years of being apart from her. But because of how Daisy is too selfish and infatuated with Tom’s social status and “old money” that she doesn’t realize how hard Gatsby has fought to get her back. The valley of ashes, the green light, and Gatsby’s death are all important symbols in the novel that have a deeper meaning.

One of the most important symbols in the novel is the valley of ashes. The valley of ashes is the town in between East and West Egg, its, “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.” The valley of ashes represents hopelessness, and lower class. The people that live there all want to leave but they can’t, because of how society is made up. Only the rich people have the money and power to achieve what they want in life. When Tom and Nick stopped for gas on their way to NY, Wilson says that the man working on the car works slow, Tom says, “No, he doesn’t,” said Tom coldly. “And if you feel that way about it, maybe I’d better sell it somewhere else after all” .This shows how Tom looks down on Wilson just because of the difference in their social status, Tom’s a part of t...

... middle of paper ...

...uly enjoy his fortunes. Due to his sudden death, Gatsby was never able to fully enjoy his own money; he was always too busy trying to achieve his dream. When Nick finds Gatsby shot in the pool, he says, “The touch of a cluster of leaves revolved it slowly, tracing, like the leg of compass, a thin red circle in the water”. Gatsby’s death in a pool symbolizes him being cleansed of all his sins before going off to heaven. All of his sins had to do with him trying to obtain his dream, which in the end was unreachable.

The Great Gatsby was merely a story about a man trying to reach his American Dream. The novel says that we are all symbol making creatures. Believing in the American Dream which is symbolic for a certain type of lifestyle. The various social climbers and ambitious speculators who attend Gatsby's parties are evidence of the greedy scramble for wealth.