While the wealthy live the American dream, the less fortunate must struggle through the rubble left behind in order to strive to achieve it. The first passage is in Nick’s point of view towards the “valley of ashes” of when he and Tom visited Tom’s mistress. He comes to find the place filled with factory smog, contaminating the air and completely uncared for. The “valley of ashes” is where the lower class struggles to survive and reveals the misery that the working class faced in comparison to the wealthy upper class. The second passage is Nick describing his experience at one of Gastsby’s parties after being so interested in knowing who Gatsby truly was. The party included an abundance of alcohol, people, music and luxurious activities. This …show more content…
The imagery in “Where ashes grow like wheat” conveys the rampant spread of pollution from factories, much like the rapid growth of wheat. Vividly implying an unrelenting production of pollution, engulfing the valley in dark smog, leaving the inhabitants to grapple with the challenging conditions. In “grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke” creates a contrasting image of a horrific and polluted garden to the traditional beautiful garden to emphasize the negative influence industrialization has had on the environment and life itself. The visual contrast not only emphasizes the dangerous overwhelming pollution but also evokes a sense of hopelessness due to the poor people of the valley left to survive through the “grotesque garden”. The inhabitants own very little and no social status, causing their health and environmental conditions to be …show more content…
The inhabitants lack control over their own safety, suggesting a mood of despair, since they are at the mercy of the ones above them. The narrator states “The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music and the opera of voices pitches a key higher. Laughter is easier, minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word.”(Fitzgerald 43-44). The continuous brightening of the lights as the day nears closer to night reflects an image of the guest's ecstatic energy and refusal to stop partying. Many of the guests were part of the wealthy upper class and did not have to worry about being late to work the next day much like their labor workers. Allowing them to have the privilege to party for as long as they want. The imagery in, “Laughter is easier, minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word” expresses the wealthy guests' lack of stress being so reckless late at
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel that has a large focus on the ideas of the American Dream and social class in the 1920s. In the novel, the people of West Egg and East Egg are people of the upper who have earned money either through inheritance or working hard and have had many opportunities to make their American Dream a reality. The people of the Valley of Ashes are people of lower class who have little to no money and have to work all their lives to make ends meet. Even though both social classes strive for the same thing, The American Dream, neither of them will ever truly achieve it. Fitzgerald uses a vast contrast in the settings of East Egg, West Egg, and The Valley of Ashes to display the reoccurring theme of a pre-set social class and to expose the false reality that the American Dream presents upon society.
“This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys”(Fitzgerald 2). Tom and Nick a driving through a place between West Egg and New York, which is an industrial zone where the lower class lives. Here alone we can see how the poor class lives their daily lives in filth, but the rich live in shiny clean houses.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, paints vivid picture of the lives of upper and lower classes together and their interactions during the Roaring 20’s. Fitzgerald does this by showing the readers the true nature and purpose behind the upper class and the manipulation they use against anyone lower than them. An example of this manipulation would be Tom Buchanan, a wealthy man married to Daisy Buchanan, lying George Wilson, a lowly poor individual running a mechanics shop, about selling a car, just to see the man’s wife. This poor man, Wilson, lives in “The Valley of Ashes”, an almost desolate area on the way to New York from West and East Egg. This valley is a representation of the manipulation and reckless behavior of the upper class. Through The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald paints a picture of the 1920’s by portraying the upper class as immoral and careless through their actions, and their opinions.
In The Great Gatsby, the Valley of the Ashes illustrate the inequality between its inhabitants and that of West Egg and East Egg, in terms of social standing and income, as well as the hopelessness of poverty resulting from the inability of its inhabitants to rise up the socio-economic ladder. Thus, the valley represents the failure of the Dream that America promises, which is the ideal of equal opportunities for all, associated with the New World.
“The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour,” (23) In The Great Gatsby, between the East Egg and the West Egg, lay the valley of ashes. Though not literally consisting of ashes, the area gets its nickname because of the industrialization of the area as well as the smog from the smokestacks decorating nearby factories that thickens the air. The valley of ashes is an effective symbol of the uselessness of succeeding in achieving The American Dream.
While there are numerous themes throughout the text of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the most prominent is that of the American Dream. The American Dream is the idea that any person, no matter what he or she is, or from where he or she has come, can become successful in life by his or her hard work; it is the idea that a self-sufficient person, an entrepreneur, can be a success. In this novel, however, it is the quest for this ‘dream’ (along with the pursuit of a romantic dream) that causes the ultimate downfall of Jay Gatsby.
Building an opinion about it. Gatsby uses Nick to show that people are not yet treated equally, and that social discrimination still exists. Nick on the other hand is also striving for something. He is a pragmatic man who comes from the middle west and does not share the American dream. Unlike Gatsby he wants to be himself, tolerant, objective, and reliable. The money of the upper class is just a tiny bit of the American dream together with his admiration for the rich east Eggers. Mainly nick’s dream of a pursuit of honesty. In chapter 9 he explains that the American dream originally was about discovery, the pursuit of happiness, and individualism. Nick believes that the ability to create an important symbol constitutes a vital component of the dream which is the way early Americans invested their new nation with their own ideas and values. However easy money or relaxed social values have corrupted this ideal dream, mostly on the east coast. As he often says to himself “I am one of the few, honest people that I have ever known.” Throughout the novel Nick finds himself surrounded by lavish mansions, fancy cars, and an endless supply of material possessions. A drawback to the seemingly limitless excess Nick sees in the Buchanans. This for instance, is a throwaway mentality extending past material goods. Nick explains in the great Gatsby, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy— They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made. This quote shows how both Tom and Daisy is frown upon by Nick because of their social status. He began to have a mix of strong reactions to the life on the east coast, which ultimately creates a powerful internal conflict him. This does not get resolved until the end of the novel. Nick
Like many Americans still believe today, Gatsby believed that material things alone constitutes the American Dream. The story itself, and the main figure, are tragic, and it is precisely the fantastic vulgarity of the scene which adds to the excellence of Gatsby’s soul its finest qualities, and to his tragic fate its sharpest edge. Gatsby is betrayed to the reader gradually, and with such tenderness, which in the end makes his tragedy a deeply moving one. Finally, before his death, Gatsby becomes disillusioned. His inner life of dreams loses its power and he finds himself alone in the emptiness of a purely material universe.
...travagance and flaunting. This is shown when Tom Buchanan and the Sloanes drop by for a drink at Gatsby’s house. Out of courtesy, the lady invites Gatsby to her dinner party and he unwittingly accepts, unaware of the fact that the invitation is insincere (83). Gatsby’s lack of awareness of unwritten codes of conduct reveals his lack of “Old Rich” refinement. This proves that the class and posh that defines the upper classes cannot be obtained through an accumulation of wealth. Common individuals who seek social mobility are to be forever isolated from the elite, demonstrated by the lower class citizens who inhabit the Valley of Ashes.The valley represents the moral and social decay as the ash pile grows, distorting the American Dream.The condemnation of others based on social status is inevitable, therefore, the dream of social mobility is fundamentally unrealistic.
...hollow books in his library, as many of the new rich did. He was amazed that Gatsby didn’t have a false or hollow life like the others. Gatsby was different from the others, he was “worth the whole damn bunch put together” of “the rotten crowd” (154). No matter how flawed Gatsby might have been, the others were worse. They were worse than a criminal, extravagant, and unsophisticated “elegant young roughneck” (48). The Valley of Ashes openly showed the hollowness of poverty, the lack of spirit to reach up and try again for their failed American dream.
Through Fitzgerald’s symbolic description of Gatsby, he explores the extent of the American Dream’s deceptive nature that slowly destroys a person and his/her morals. During the Roaring 20s it was very common for people to project illusions to mask who they truly were; to fit in, it was almost essential to have one to survive in the highly materialistic and deceitful society. Nick is introduced as the objective narrator...
...ent efforts, or men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” (23). Here, The Valley of Ashes is regarded as complete destitution and hopelessness. The people known as the lower class do not wish to live in the valley of ashes. This is why people, like Myrtle try to do anything to get away from it but instead it becomes unachievable for them. When Myrtle tried to escape from the ashes by trying to be with a rich man like Tom, she dies. This embellishes how The American dream is unattainable. When Tom goes and sees George, you can see how the higher classes look down on the lower classes because of their different social positions. The higher-class people such as, Tom, Daisy, and Jordan represent the unstructured bodies of ashes within the valley. They are inconsiderate and conceited people arising from the dead ashes, changing the American Dream.
The American dream has an inspiring connotation, often associated with the pursuit of happiness, to compel the average citizen to prosper. In Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s infatuation for Daisy drives him towards wealth in order to respark his love. Due to Daisy’s rich background, the traditional idea of love becomes skewed because of the materialistic mindsets of people in the 1920s. In the novel the wealthy are further stratified into two social classes creating a barrier between the elite and the “dreamers”. Throughout the novel, the idea of the American dream as a fresh start fails. As Nick, the narrator, spends time in New York, he realizes the corruption pursuing goals. Characters such as Gatsby and Myrtle constantly strive toward an the American dream, which Nick realizes to be fruitless in the end.
The unhappy and careless people of both the East and West Egg represent the immorality and corruption that wealth can bring. Gatsby’s dream was ruined by his own materialistic views. His dream of success transformed into a nightmare that ultimately led to his death. Gatsby and the Buchanans are proof that wealth does not equate to happiness or success. Gatsby’s romantic idealism is so great that he does not understand how wealth cannot bring happiness or love. Fitzgerald’s novel is great reminder to those with materialistic views about the detrimental effects the “American dream” can have on society.
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