The Valley Of Ashes In The Great Gatsby Analysis

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald emphasized the damage that industrialization brought to the society by depicting the environment. The Valley of Ashes represented the result of people’s demand of wealth. Contrast to the modern and prosperous downtown, The Valley of Ashes was full of

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

1. Diction Nick employs brutal diction in describing the Valley of Ashes as a “dumping ground” (Fitzgerald 24). This highlights the neglect and disparity of the area between Long Island and Manhattan. He implies that it is a place where unsuccessful individuals end up, hopeless and lacking the means to escape. It also represents a sense of poverty, in contrast to the conditions of East Egg and West Egg, as well as portrays a clear distinction of classes.

The Valley of Ashes is one of the most important symbols in The Great Gatsby. Literally, it is a waste dump, or industrial area. It isn’t truly made of ashes, but seems to be because of all gray smoke that clouds it. The grayness is due to the factories that are nearby, since their smokestacks leave ash everywhere. It is located next to the train tracks and the road that is in between the East and West Egg, in Queens.It is also located next to a small river, where products from factories are shipped to their designated location, as described in chapter 2. The desolation the valley radiates symbolizes the failure it represents. Figuratively, The Valley of Ashes is shown as a place of helplessness, a result of the grand desire for wealth, a pursuit that only leads to more failure and hopelessness. It reflects the overarching theme of the book: the decline of the American Dream because of the corruption associated with it. This

The scenery choices for the film matched up well to what was expected from the book, but some choices contrasted greatly. The Valley of Ashes was well portrayed in the film. The Valley is “…a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens…” (Fitzgerald 27). This shows that the Valley of Ashes is not a pleasant place to be in and is looked down upon. In the film, the interpretation on the Valley is spot on. It shows a dirty, sad little town, filled with depressed people. A second scenery choice that is well depicted in the film is the Buchannan’s home. It is described to be very elegant and grand filled with beautiful furniture. Throughout the scenes in the Buchannan’s house, the “grandness” is well represented through the furniture, landscaping and exterior chosen for the house. The exterior of Gatsby’s house does not match up to its description in the book. “The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard—it was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side…” is how Gatsby’s house is described (Fitzgerald 9). In the film, the house that is Gatsby’s doesn’t nearly stand up to what’s pictured from the book. It is large, but is not as striking as described. Nick’s house is also different from expected. In the film, Nick’s house is rather large and nice in contrast to the “…small eye-sore…” as described in

The great illusion of the 1920s was the belief that everyone was living the American dream; in reality, only the wealthy few were able to. In the city, the dream was being corrupted and unethical tactics were used to obtain obscene amounts of wealth while leaving those in the countryside behind. In the book, Gatsby was the poster boy for the American dream because of his success, but he also represented its fate with the death of his dream and himself. Moreover, the Valley of Ashes was an important symbol because it represented the destruction of the American dream and it was the place that the main characters (excluding Nick) never held to any importance because they were apart of an elite class that looked down on the downtrodden. Today,

There were many symbols in the Great Gatsby that shows how Fitzgerald was affected by the times of the 1920s as he was writing the book. One of the places, the Valley of Ashes that was in the book and was shown in the movie was that the Valley of Ashes was a poor and dusty place. The Valley of Ashes would symbolize the poverty of the poor class and the hopelessness that goes with it. “... 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.” (Fitzgerald, pg 26.) The descriptions in the book also helps support the idea that the Valley of Ashes

The valley of ashes separates New york city and the West egg. It is symbolizes absolute poverty and hopelessness. The lower class who live in this region are tied down because they have no money, hope, and neither do they have a bright future ahead of them. This shows how the American dream is impossible to achieve. On a symbolic level the ashes represent the dead. Every generation, the ashes pile up destroying and changing the American dream further. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are a pair of fading, bespectacled eyes painted on an old advertising billboard. This eyes overlook the valley of ashes. This pair of eyes could symbolize God staring down upon and judging American society as a moral wasteland. The chapter never explores this

There are many different problems and situations that affected many Americans during the time period of The Great Gatsby. The different problems affect many characters lives and relationships throughout the novel in a variety of situations. Such problems with characters personal lives would be the withering of a American dream. Also, such situations during this time period is how characters aren’t achieving their highest potential and achieving their dreams. Another problem during this time period would be the very unequal wealth distribution in America, but also among all the characters families and themselves individually in The Great Gatsby. There is new money, old money, and the poor which is represented by the valley of ashes throughout this time period. Also, among the rich and poor there is always those who want more and more and are always greedy at every point in the story. Even though characters want all the money they can get there hands on they also try there hardest to achieve enough love and romance in there lives that their heart desires. Lastly, there is a great deal of betrayal throughout the entire length of the novel The Great Gatsby. It is represented by many characters, their relationships, and their personal lives. Different characters’ personal relationships and personal lives give well-distinguished representations of the problems such as a withering American dream, unequal wealth distribution in America, and betrayal in The Great Gatsby.

The valley of ashes is described as “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” (23). The valley of ashes represents all of the dreams that died in the city and were never lived out, almost a valley of regrets. “Men move dimly” (23) because they have nothing left to live for, because all of their dreams are dead, just like the ashes. The gray cars go by and stir up a cloud of hope, and the ash-men pick up “their leaden spades” (23) and carry out their “obscure operations” (23), trying to relive their dreams to get a second chance. Gatsby lost Daisy when he was very young, and that crushed

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 settings and backdrops in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, are essential elements to the formation of the characters, symbolic imagery and the overall plot development. Fitzgerald uses East and West Egg communities to portray two separate worlds and two classes of people that are technically the same their status, but fundamentally different in their ideals. The physical geography of the settings is representative of the distance between classes of the East and West Eggers. Every setting connotes a different tone and enhances the imagery of story line. From the wealthy class of the "eggs", the desolate "valley of ashes", to the chaos of Manhattan. The imagery provided by Fitzgerald becomes an important

The Valley of Ashes is halfway between West Egg of Long Island and New York City. When one comes upon the Valley of Ashes, it is not what they see, but what they do not see: sunshine, colors, or a settling feeling. The Valley of Ashes is nothing but a dull location, filled with unsatisfied farmers, unsuccessful gardens, billowing smoke, and mounds of ashes that are prominent below the gray skies. Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby, describes the Valley of Ashes as “...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” (Fitzgerald 23). Fitzgerald describes this location as unpleasant for those who enter and it is seen as a vulnerable place due to the billboard of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg looking upon the location at all times. This descriptive quote foreshadows that something bad will occur in this area during the novel.

Many times we hear of society's affect on people; society influencing the way people think and act.  Hardly mentioned is the reverse: peoples' actions and lifestyles affecting society as a whole and how it is characterized.  Thus, society is a reflection of its inhabitants and in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is a wasteland described as the "valley of ashes."  Since the characters of this novel make up this wasteland, aren't they the waste?  Symbolically, this waste represents the lack of ethics of the 1920's society and civilization's decay.  In The Great Gatsby, morals deficiencies such as a lack of God, selfishness, and idleness are reflective of a society as doomed as

The times affect how the characters act and how they respond to certain situations because of the traditions and manners that were expected from them. The novel is set in rural England in an upper class society.The setting only shows how the upper class people live and never looks at any of the other aspects of that time. In contrast The Great Gatsby is very symbolic with its settings. The novel is set in the Jazz age of the 1920's in New York. Each of the classes within New York, live in a distinct setting to symbolise their status within society. For example Tom and Daisy live in East Egg which symbolises traditional inherited wealth. Their house is described to be a very elaborate "Georgian Colonial Mansion" with a very expensive "sunken Italian garden, half an acre of deep, pungent roses and a snub nosed motor boat that bumped the tide off shore". West Egg represents the upper / middle class people, who have a wealth that is created and not inherited. The Valley of the Ashes symbolises the lower working class people, which is where Myrtle and George live. Their surroundings are described to be a solum dumping ground" the "interior was unprosperous and bare; the only car visible was the dust covered wreck of a ford". The setting is reaved as the narrator describes it, either from a first person point of view or a third person point of view.