Symbols In F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby'

AJ Meldick

AP English 12

Mary Sites

23 January 2018

Great Symbols for The Great Gatsby

Throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, there are many prominent symbols that pass, seen or unseen, to a reader. The very noticeable symbol is the billboard that contains The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, which are compared by one character with “The eyes of God”. A lesser known, but still prominent, symbol is the color green, like the light off of Daisy’s dock across the bay. One of the least thought of symbols though is the place known as “The Valley of Ash”. These symbols are very important to Fitzgerald’s book and reflect of the time of the 1920’s.

The first and most obvious symbol are “The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg”. Located within

the Valley of Ash, the billboard is a remnant of an advertisement for an eye doctor. It contains a large image of fading, bespectacled, bright blue eyes. The eyes lack a concrete meaning within the story because it is only mentioned by George Wilson (Symbols). The major symbolic representation of the Eyes is compared with the eyes of God over his failing and fading creation. With the vigil watch over the Valley of Ash, God stares down upon them all with no remorse as they have forgotten the way from him and there for must suffer for it. The rich were going back and forth between West Egg and New York, paying no heed to the billboard and therefore God and so only the poor, hardworking were punished, such as George Wilson. These Eyes of the good Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, represent something powerful to the characters and the book itself.
Colors affect this book with a passion more fiery than Gatsby’s is for Daisy, none more so than the color green. Many of the major and minor symbols in this story are green in color, for example the green light across the bay that is upon Daisy’s dock. This light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams in his life (LitCharts) and later, the American Dream that Gatsby cannot achieve (Education). Another major item that is green and very relevant to this story is, money. Money and wealth is something Gatsby desires almost as much as Daisy, mostly because it takes money to get Daisy. Many minor symbols within this story are green and therefore make up a much larger symbol itself.
Halfway between New York City and West Egg is a long desolate stretch of land and turmoil known as The Valley of Ashes. There are many different things that the Valley represents. The Valley was created by the dumping of industrial ash by big companies and therefore represent the moral and social decay on the uninhibited pursuit to wealth (Litcharts). It also represents the dismal ruin of people caught in the crossfire of the rising wealthy. This desolate place is one where poor or less fortunate people live and where they have lost their vitality to the rich (Symbols). This place of poverty and ash shows us the consequences of the rich.
These symbols are very important to the Great Gatsby book reflect of the turmoil and time of the 1920’s and its unjust way of life. The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg showing us the lack of empathy and remorse of God is a great symbol of this “Great” story. Colors and imagery have a huge impact in any story but none so more than this being that green is given to us in many shapes, whether in money or Gatsby’s dreams. The long uncared for Valley of Ashes is also something that we can see as a consequence, being from God or ourselves. The Great Gatsby is a wonderful book that includes a number of major and important symbols.