Examples Of Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

Individuals perpetuate false personas to such an extent that they are convinced into a state of false consciousness of reaching the American dream, ultimately, this facade leads them to their downfall, exposing repressed reality from idealistic lies. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes symbols to describe the hollow nature of each character’s deceitful persona, which comes to show the ultimate theme of downfall through the individual’s perception of the American dream. The use of gold as a mask for the colour yellow represents authentic wealth versus fake wealth, further developed though Jay Gatsby’s pursuance of the American dream. The colour white known for is purity and simplicity is denoted by Daisy Buchanan, a character who represses the reality in which she lives, insinuated by her change in surroundings. Furthermore, the character of Myrtle Wilson, showcases her greed for wealth and her need of a rich-husband as an American dream, symbolized by the surrounding colour of grey, a representation of her veneer-rich persona.

In life everyone strives to get rich, but is having an abundance of money always good? Sometimes people use money for personal benefits, sometimes it's for the benefit of others, but at times people with money use it to create their social status. In The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the idea of wealth is seen throughout. Jay Gatsby, who lives next door to Nick Carraway; the Narrator of the story, wants to be with his dream girl Daisy. Gatsby is wealthy and throws parties to impress Daisy. Daisy however, is married to another man Tom Buchanan. Throughout the story the people with money use it to create their social status. In The Great Gatsby F.Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism to convey, wealth causes people to assert

The book The Great Gatsby is written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it’s a narrative told from the perspective of Nick Carraway. He tells the story of the tragic life of Jay Gatsby and talks about the society of the wealthy people with high social status. He talks about the conflict between the two huge power Tom and Gatsby, due to their similarity in their money and social status, while they compete for dominance and masculinity by fighting over Daisy. Through Nick’s narration and his close relationship with Gatsby, the readers realize that the motive behind everything that Gatsby does is to win back Daisy’s heart to repeat the past, the first time when he fell in love with Daisy.

Another symbol that Fitzgerald uses in The Great Gatsby is the bill board with T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes. “But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are blue gigantic-their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness, or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground.”(Fitzgerald 23-24). Fitzgerald uses T.J. Eckleburg's as a symbol to represent God’s

ATTENTION GETTER In Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald depicts the life of an everyday broker named Nick, and an elegant man named Gatsby. As an American writer, Fitzgerald did a great job symbolizing different things in The Great Gatsby. Throughout the story, eyes and lights are the symbol most important because the eyes symbolize that somebody is always watching and judging your every movement, also Fitzgerald uses lights to symbolize how unobtainable happiness is.

Gatsby is not misleading, and cares and hopes for the best to every one of the characters he meets. Gatsby progressed in a multitude of ways, such as how he talked and thought of certain people such as Daisy. The way F. Scott Fitzgerald described Gatsby as a character and how he progressed Gatsby couldn't be more fitting as a caring and more respectful kind of guy. How Gatsby relates to society is that he threw parties and how a lot of rich people went to his parties. He may even be able to challenge societal norms because of how he brought himself up to be a kind of character who looks like a rich guy who is just like everyone else, normal, but really he had so much inside of him that Nick Carraway(friend and Narrator) can for some reason only see. Through this journey, some may feel that Fitzgerald wanted to that there is always some sort of light around, maybe you will have to look hard for it but there will always be light, in Gatsby’s case, there was a green light, and how he looked at the light made it seem as it was his hope, but not for loss. As Gatsby says "single green light" and how it was "unattainable dream," the "dream [that] must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it”. This is one of Gatsby’s quotes that he used with a reference to the green light.

One stylistic choice that Fitzgerald makes it his use of Similes and metaphors to make the reader feel sympathetic. For example, during the part of when Nick goes

When an author writes a novel he keeps many things in mind. The author will precisely uses word choice, syntax, imagery, and many other literary devices to craft their own piece of art. From F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby a selected passage can reveal all the feature to his piece of art. From this passage things such as syntax and imagery will be discussed. Fitzgerald crafts his ideas through these literary features for the reader.

Thinking about the past almost always affect present happiness. Perhaps the wrong memories, and sometimes the right memories with someone have negative effects. Many people experience overthinking. This requires someone to sit around and think about something in their life until they begin to over exaggerate the situation. Coming up with every negative outcome that they can acquire. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby, there is almost an opposite thinking coming from the main character, the wealthy Jay Gatsby believes that he should find comfort in the past and hope for it to positively affect the present. Through the text Gatsby is taught using symbolism, that it is foolish to attempt to recover the past because it is impossible for it to lead to present happiness.

The green light is the most significant use of symbolism in The Great Gatsby. The green light represents various aspects of life which include: Hope, unattainable dreams, freedom and the American Dream. In chapter one Nick states “Involuntarily I glanced seaward — and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock" (Fitzgerald 152). The explanation of this quote is Nick seeing Gatsby reaching his arms out towards the green light at the end of the deck which represents that Gatsby is trying to grasp and gets a hold of his hopes and dreams, which is Daisy, but at that moment Gatsby is unsuccessful in doing so. The green light’s meaning is also that a person cannot live their lives in the past, but instead should look ahead towards the future. In chapter 9 Nick also states "I thought of Gatsby‘s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy‘s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could barely fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night" (Fitzgerald 149). For Gatsby, the green light represents his American dream and Daisy. He wanted to continue his life with Daisy by his side, but sadly his dreams were short-lived.

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Gatsby with a great deal of symbolism and for good reason. Symbolism in writing adds more meaning and depth to a story and helps the reader think about underlying themes. It can show what is really going on under the surface of the plot. Several issues exemplified through The Great Gatsby were that wealth and power corrupt, people aren’t what they seem, you can’t go back to the past, actions have consequences, and that the idealistic American dream has been replaced by materialism and greed.

The Great Gatsby entails of a story of a bright young man, Nick Carraway, who moved to New York City in search of a successful life in the bonds business, but becomes suffocated by the lifestyles of those in wealth and power at the time. As Nick settles himself in a new job and new city, in the only cottage among mansions on West and East Egg, he finds himself neighbor to a mysterious, wealthy man known for his extravagant parties and elusive persona. This neighbor, Jay Gatsby, emerges to be one of the main characters of the novel and the only person in all of New York that Nick can call a friend. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, encompasses the hollowness of the upper class as well as the deterioration of the “American Dream” within the plotline of the lives of Nick, Gatsby, and the Buchanan’s. Because of the themes Fitzgerald created, it prompts people, such as Bruccoli, to make the claim “The Great Gatsby does not proclaim the nobility of the human spirit; it is not politically correct; it does not reveal how to solve the problems of life; it delivers no fashionable or comforting messages. It is just a masterpiece.” While the Great Gatsby is a masterpiece, Bruccoli correctly examines the text in revealing no nobility of the human spirit, no solutions to the problems of life, and it is politically incorrect. However, despite the dismal themes, Fitzgerald does deliver fashionable/comforting messages to the audience. Bruccoli’s claim brings to light the

Fitzgerald uses simile and connotation to show that Gatsby has achieved the goals of American society through his wealth and affluent image. The luxurious connotation of Gatsby’s material possessions facilitates his attempt to achieve his

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s use of details and figurative language reinforced Nick’s concern for Gatsby’s unrealistic dream. While Gatsby continues to remain stuck in the past trying to recreate something that may have never truly been there, Nick sees all of the negative implications of what a relationship between Gatsby and Daisy could entail before Gatsby himself.

Another symbol used in The Great Gatsby is the Valley of Ashes. The Valley of Ashes is located between West Egg and New York City, and all it is, is land with the dumping of industrial ashes all over it. It represents the moral and social decay that results from wealth, as the rich enjoy nothing but their own pleasure. It also symbolizes the poor who live among the dirty ashes and lose their strength as a result. “This is a valley of ashes-a fantastic farm where ashes grown 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 powder air.”(27) Looking over the valley of ashes are the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. “The Eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic…they look out of no face, but instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles.”(27) The Eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg could represent God staring down on the American society. They’re just a pair of fading eyes painted on an old billboard over the valley of ashes. Fitzgerald uses the eyes to suggest symbols only mean something because of the characters put meaning in them. George Wilson makes the connection of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes symbolizing God. They could also represent the meaninglessness of the