Th The Valley Of Ashes Summary

"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 and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud which screens their obscure operation from your sight." Page 27

The author uses very descriptive imagery to illustrate, in our minds, how the Valley of Ashes looks like. He also uses personification, "a line of gray cars crawls..", including a simile, "where ashes grow like wheat." Nick tells us about a stretch of land lying a quarter of a mile between West Egg and New York which are connected by a motor road and a railroad, called the Valley of Ashes. The valley of ashes is basically the midpoint, being a colorless, desolate area of land. In fact, the somber place is home to the people who the higher class of the city tend to overlook. The novel's non-wealthy people live in the valley of ashes, which men work here by shoveling the ashes. This subdued landscape is filled with missed opportunities contrary

The author uses raw descriptive words such as “iron,” “tarry,” and “tin,” to display this city as superficial. The city is just made out of these substances that the people have made these buildings out of. These substances all conduct heat and present this madness and anger of the man in the poem. These materials present a manmade structure that displays the city as shallow.

The Valley of Ashes is a wasteland that was left behind by the wealthy. It’s in the middle near both the train tracks and railroads that divide the West Egg from the East Egg. This helps shows the depressing side of the 1920s where hope seemed further and further aways from the less fortunates reality. It is a place where the lower class feels trapped between a reality that they might never be able to achieve based on their living situation and the false hope of accomplishing it. The Valley of Ashes symbolizes the downfall of the American Dream by indicating the hopelessness of the poor, the indulging of the rich and the beginning of the American Nightmare.

. . took on, over time, the nature of one more hillock in the dramatic rise and fall of the coastal landscape.” (141) Expressed in this statement is the idea that although the Larkins experienced a tragedy that held the town‘s interest for a period, adversity is a natural part of the unpredictability and ups and downs of life. In other words; tragedy and adversity are part of the landscape of life.

“If young boys began to see women in a leadership position in sports, which are so revered in this culture, they would begin to treat them with more respect”

In sports women aren't taken seriously because they are always getting criticized and it’s time for change. Men are always chastising women on how they can’t play sports or talk about them. In the essay “Sexism and Sports”, Molly Quinton persuades that women shouldn’t be blamed in sports. Quinton uses the rhetorical choice of narration in this text.

In contrast to the beginning of chapter two, chapter one concluded with the mysterious Gatsby staring at the stars in a hopeful manner. As chapter two begins with a description of the Valley of Ashes, the evident contrast allows the reader to understand the different type of people who existed at the time. The wasteland, which separates the Eggs from New York City, consists of those who are overlooked by the sophisticated and wealthy people who belong to the Eggs and the

The overall essence of the stones in this short story is filled with hostility and malicious actions, which no one expected. The fact that the village had thrown away all

As I paid my visits to Elkton, a new town revealed itself. Elkton was dying. The sign on the hardware store had fallen on one side, the movie store had bankrupted and closed, and the tiny library was a pathetic joke. I never went back to the thrift store, I had thrown away my stuffed animals long ago, and the place stank of cheap cigarettes. Worst of all, the little house I had once lived in was dead and vacant. Weeds almost swallowed the "For Sale" sign at the road, and a green film grew over the siding. To me, Elkton reeked of decay and hopelessness. I hated the

Please pause for a moment, and picture in your mind the washed away remnants of what used to be a seemingly insignificant city; it is rather difficult to recognize from all the earthquake rubble and debris that there once was a town here. Bits and pieces of what used to be homes are now scattered from one end of the view to the other. A gloomy haze of dust, smoke and ash have recently enveloped over the entire countryside. Sounds of screaming, yelling and crying are bombarding one’s hearing senses; a smell of unbelievable human decaying stench is so overwhelming, the odors stimulate the gag reflex and tear ducts to produce endless retching and a cleansing wash of foul air from one’s eyes. Hungry ownerless dogs are fighting over dead infant

The ashes are a symbols of dead, with more self-centered and arrogant people arising from them. The American dream drifting farther away with every generation. The people that visit or live in the valley of ashes are empty their lives are endless voids lying to themselves and the people around them about who they are. The hopelessness and the suffering of the environment in the town exposes the meaning and the nature of the characters who inhabit this world. Society today is often filled with many expectations and unrealistic standards causing the people in it to feel empty or hopeless not being able to fulfil these dreams.

By turning women away from playing certain sports, we are influenced to believe that they are not as qualified to play, compared to men. (Creedon, 1994). Ironically, women on the field seem to have to act tougher than the men. If an

An example of a female athlete being ridiculed for portraying society’s idea of non-femininity is Martina Navratilova. Martina was the first female tennis player who began to play tennis more as a power sport than a sport of technique. Subdued by an oppressive communist system that controlled the Czech Tennis Federation, she was seen to be playing in the style of men instead of playing women's tennis. As she did not fit into society's image of how a woman should look, behave and play tennis, she was ridiculed and branded as the proverbial ‘bad egg’ when compared to her contemporaries. Additionally, she was branded as a lesbian, which caused more hardship for her as she was forced to face a world which was much more homophobic at that time than it is now. Her sexual orientation is not a prime issue; it was something that was used against her and something that was assumed simply because she did not portray the feminine image that is expected of women.

In the film “She’s the Man,” Viola is a talented soccer player whose high school has just cut the women’s soccer team. As a result, her and her teammates immediately ask the coach of the boy’s soccer team if they can tryout for their team. When the coach laughs at her question, she says, “Coach, c’mon! You know that we’re good enough!” He then replies back with “you’re all excellent players, but girls aren’t as fast as boys, or strong, or as athletic. It’s not me talking. It’s scientific fact. Girls can’t beat boys. It’s as simple as that.” At this moment, a few boys from the team walk in to join the conversation. When the coach tells them that the girls want to join the team, the boys all break out in laughter.