Symbols and Symbolism in The Great Gatsby - Symbolism and the Truth

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Symbols and Symbolism in The Great Gatsby - Symbolism and the Truth That Lies Between

Symbolism is a very important device in Fitzgerald's 1926 masterpiece, The Great Gatsby. Different objects, words or actions symbolize different character traits for each person depicted in his novel. Through symbolism, Fitzgerald manages to describe three completely different aspects of the human life. He conveys the glittery, magnificent life of the rich, the gray, ugly and desperate life of the poor, and the mundane struggles of those in between.

Through the eyes of Nick Carraway, which in this case substitutes the narrator as well, the author depicts the majestic life of those who, by pure coincidence or happenstance, were born more advantageously than the rest of society. Their life is full of riches and placed in a fairy tale decorous. However, despite all that, their life is not a fairy tale in the least. On the contrary, it is far from that.

From the first chapter, we are introduced to the Buchanans, who apparently have it all. Contrary to appearances though, they are miserable. The first sign of unhappiness is Tom's need for another woman other than his wife. This is made known by the very indiscrete Jordan Baker, who mentions this fact to Nick Carraway: "Tom's got some woman in New York....She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time. Don't you think?"(Fitzgerald 20) This remark is made in response to Daisy's abrupt reaction, when hearing the telephone. Later on in the novel, the telephone is again used as a means of insinuating Tom's affair, when Jordan is once again, more than eager to tell everybody what the Buchanan's situation is: "The rumor is that that's Tom's gir...

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...way as to be able to decipher every single pun, joke or reference, instantly.

As for the truth and the lies present in the novel, the reader would have to carefully analyze both and associate them with the type of people the characters symbolize. In doing so, one would realize that the rich, the poor and the climbing, struggling class, are all based on a lot of lies and very little truth. Then how does one know how to look at life if one cannot distinguish the truth form the lies and vice versa? The answer is simple: One must learn how to take the truth with what lies between and make something of the life and world one lives in.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Toronto: Penguin Books Canada Ltd., 1926

www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/3844/

www.wiu.edu/users/mfwc/wiu/gatsbyone.html

www.homework-online.com/tgg/quotes.asp

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