The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of the greatest books of the twentieth century. This book has been read all over the world and will be a staple book that students will read in school for many generations to come. Symbolism was one of the most prominent ways that author F. Scott Fitzgerald could portray Jay Gatsby’s thoughts and feelings. This use of symbolism really helps the storytelling and helps explain the different storylines that happen during this novel. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the symbolism of the eye to represent the emergence of surveillance in American Society. One example of this eye symbolism is the eyes of Dr. T.J Eckleburg. The eyes of T.J Eckleburg is a pair of eyes on a billboard located in The Valley of Ashes. The billboard is placed on a busy road that many automobiles drive on all day. The billboard looks over the poor residents of the area, but more importantly it looks of the home of George and Myrtle Wilson. They are married and live in the desolate and gloomy Valley of Ashes. Myrtle Wilson is having an affair with Tom Buchanan behind George’s back, all under the eyes of T.J Eckleburg. Most believe that the eyes of T.J Eckleburg symbolize they eyes of a judging god, who looks over all of the characters of the novel as they each live their own sinful life. However, the eyes of T.J Eckleburg could symbolize something much different. The eyes could be symbolizing the surveillance of their own government, as well as
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
People in America love to have a great deal of money. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby always wants to have money, and he finally gets it. Gatsby has parties to try to get Daisy to come to his house. Gatsby tell Nick to tell Daisy to come to Nick’s house without her husband. Gatsby finallys shows his big house off to Daisy and thinks he will win her love back again just because he has money. Gatsby’s plan do not work out. Fitzgerald uses symbols in The Great Gatsby to show how things are going wrong in America.
The Great Gatsby is a symbol itself. The Great Gatsby was written to represent the rise and fall of the American Dream. The author places the rich and wealthy lifestyle on a high pedestal while he shows the dramatic consequences of moral and social decay amongst the characters. As each turning point is revealed, the American Dream slowly crumbles in the selfish hands of those who remain ignorant to anything else in the world. The significance of the many symbolic elements in The Great Gatsby plays a role in revealing the underlying themes of the American Dream, the ongoing clash between love and wealth and social and moral destruction.
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.
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.
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.
Fitzgerald uses the image of T.K Eckelburg’s eyes to symbolize a godlike figure who happens to see everything going on within their lives. George Wilson stated, "I spoke to her, I told her she might fool me but she couldn't fool God. I took her to the window--and I said 'God knows what you've been doing, everything you've been doing. You may fool me but you can't fool God!... God sees everything"
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.
Everything has consequences. Either positive or negative every microscopic event has an effect on the one yet to come. Jay Gatsby is a man of wealth and power, he is the man that men crave to be. A man that makes women lavish over him. How he got the this status is a different story, the gritty kind of story. His story was unnatural for the time of the roaring twenties. He was beautiful, his house luxurious, his garden luscious, none of it was natural. More unreal then anything but never real. The palace has too many secrets, too mysterious, never real with anybody. Gatsby is living a dream. The American Dream, the unrealistic standard where everybody has the things they want, but not the thing they desire the most. So people live a constant lie that they are fine, and consequently its not real. To be real is to be raw and to be raw is to be vulnerable to the outside world. Nature is the most vulnerable piece of life there is, when it’s not forced to be something it’s not. The The Great Gatsby exemplifies the symbolism organic material to display the natural beauty of characters or inanimate objects which tear down the superficial walls of forced actions that Fitzgerald ultimately parades through the course of the book.
The Great Gatsby takes place in New York during the 1920’s; an era of endless parties, social standards, and individuals searching for their goals in life. The theme of, the future one sets for oneself can change drastically by making one decision, is displayed throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and shown through the characters of Gatsby and Daisy as well as through the symbol of the green light.
In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the story is told from the first person point of view through Nick Carraway, retelling the accounts of the protagonist, Jay Gatsby. Throughout this novel, Jay Gatsby strives to be with his so called "true love", Daisy, but soon finds out that she married another man, which creates conflict between many of the characters. The Great Gatsby has an abundance of symbols throughout the text, including the Valley of Ashes representing the moral and social decay of society in the 1920s, the green light which symbolizes Gatsby 's desire to have Daisy as well as the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg representing God piercing down upon and judging the American society of this era.
ideas or concepts. For example, a dove is usually used to represent peace. In the novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald uses a lot of symbolism to connect the characters with each other or to other objects. Fitzgerald’s use of symbolism helps advance his thematic interest in his novel of The Great Gatsby. In the Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses various colors, objects, and gestures as symbols to portray the lack of moral and spiritual values of people and the different aspects of society in the 1920's.
The Great Gatsby is one of the most read pieces of literature throughout the current modern Western world. High school kids all across the globe must learn and read it as part of their curriculum. One of the aspects that makes this novel so notable is that Fitzgerald, at no point in the story, needs to convey to his audience the theme of his novel directly. The main points of his novel are brought out by the powerful symbols he infuses in the book. Not only does he use them to convey his theme, but also ties them in to the rest of the story. Every aspect of this book is affected by the presence of one of his symbols. Through the use of the green light, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, and the Valley of the Ashes as symbols,
Happiness can only truly be acquired through the fantastical idea of dreams, and it is well known that money cannot. But in the 1920s, this idea changed as it became into a desire for wealth by whatever means; mistaken that money will bring happiness in one’s life. This conception leads to the end of true morality and turned a person into someone very selfish. F.Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates this notion through the use of a variety of symbols and themes.One of the dominant ideas within this novel is wealth which is supported through the symbol: eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg.The eyes symbolize the loss of spiritual values and growing commercialism in America. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, the theme wealth creates a pathway to the corruption of morals is evident through the decisions and thoughts of the Buchanans and Gatsby who are indirectly influenced by the symbol Eye of T.J Eckleburg.