Discuss Fitzgerald’s use of symbols within The Great Gatsby. Essays

Discuss Fitzgerald’s use of symbols within The Great Gatsby. Throughout his novel ‘The Great Gatsby’, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism. Symbols are objects, characters, figures or colours used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. The first symbol we see appears at the end of Chapter one. It is a green light, situated at the end of Daisy Buchanan’s East Egg dock and is only just visible from Gatsby’s expansive West Egg back garden. In Chapter one Nick (the narrator) describes his mysterious neighbour stretching â€Å"out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way’, this is Gatsby reaching desperately out to the green light, which represents his hopes and dreams for the future (which incidentally, involved Daisy). He associates it with Daisy and sees the green light as a guiding light to his goal. Perhaps the green light represents Daisy, the unattainable. Alike to the green light, she is so close, yet so far from Gatsby and just within his grasp. Although he is reaching out to her, he cannot in reality reach her because there is a divide, in the case of the green light it is water, but in the case of Daisy it is status (and her husband, Tom). The green light also represents the generalised ideal of the American Dream, because Gatsby’s quest for Daisy is generally connected with this. Fitzgerald’s choice of using ‘green’ as the colour of the light is very significant and symbolic in itself. Green is the colour of money and therefore wealth, this is something which Gatsby has always strived for (similarly he is reaching out and striving for the ‘light’) in order to capture Daisy’s heart, as she rejected him in the past due to his lack of wealth and status. Also, green is the colour that ... ...umping of industrial ashes. - It represents the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth, as the rich indulge themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure. - It also symbolises the plight of the poor, like Wilson, who live among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a result. - Fitz uses the valley of the ashes as a dramatic contrast to the lives of the rich east and west egg dwellers, to really emphasise and show how large the difference between them is, despite them being so nearby. - He also uses it to highlight how superficial the rich are. They are the ‘beautiful people’ and this is reflected in where they live, however the valley of the ashes is dirty and unattractive. - The valley is actually used as a cut through road for the rich, however real people live there.