Valley Of Ashes Great Gatsby Analysis

These quotes describe two of maybe three important symbols in the book. The Valley of Ashes signifies the open road ahead which civilization is going for, yet the ashes symbolize the decay of society, where the pursuit for wealth leaves behind a mark. This mark could be considered a mark of poorness that the non-pursuers have to deal with. The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg signify the watchful eyes of God upon what America did in the 1920s. The American's blindness of the time resulted in industrial problems throughout the country.

Imagery also played a big part in describing the Valley of the Ashes illustrated in chapter two of the book. Nick, the narrator describes The Valley of Ashes as the land that lies in between the Eggs and New York. The name “Valley of the Ashes” was given to this specify area is given due to its horrible conditions. This area was very unpleasant and is considered the dead land or the waste land. “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.” (Fitzgerald 23) This imagery portrays lower social class at the time period. The Valley of Ashes is very symbolic to the book as it symbolizes the plight of the poor, and characters such as George Wilson, who lives in the

The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, symbolic of a higher power, loom over the Valley of Ashes, ever-present and watchful, passing judgment on not only the immorality of individual characters, but also on the East as a whole. When Nick first notices the painted eyes, he comments, “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.

The Valley of Ashes symbolizes the graveyard of American dreams and morality. In the book, it is described as “a certain desolate area of land” located “halfway between West Egg and New York” (Fitzgerald 23). In this corrupted area, “ash-gray men swarm with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight” (Fitzgerald 23).

The author uses the Valley of Ashes, a small town between the West Egg and New York City, to symbolize the moral and social decay that stems from the desire to become wealthy. The 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 symbolizes a morally stripped place where materialistic and false people can live in harmony. The unfortunate events that occur in the Valley of Ashes, including Gatsby's death, the affair between Tom and Myrtle and Myrtle's accidental death, represent the severe consequences stemming from the failed attempts at achieving the American Dream. As the characters travel through the Valley of Ashes to reach elsewhere, they are forced to belittle themselves to a lower social status, as seen when Tom engages in an affair with Myrtle, a poor-stricken woman, who solely provides another form of comfort. Serving as a symbol of social and moral destruction, the Valley of Ashes also symbolizes the condition in which the poorer American society lived during the 1920s. The description of the Valley of Ashes used through color symbolism, creates a melancholy atmosphere which allows the reader to connect the importance of the "desolate strip of land" to the negative personality changes, reflective of the 1920s, within the characters.

The plot of The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is driven by Jay Gatsby's

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.

4. The title “The Great Gatsby” directly relates to the character Jay Gatsby himself. Though Gatsby is really just a sad, lonely man trying to regain Daisy Buchanan’s love on the inside, through the eyes of others, including Nick Carraway, he is seen as this great mysterious being. Living this sort of mysterious life and throwing these lavish parties just adds to the illusion of his greatness. For example, one of Gatsby’s first parties seen in the novel is described by Nick, stating, “I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited−they went there … Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all, came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission.”

5. The Valley of Ash is described as a gray wasteland where the ashes of New York are dumped. There are men who come to shovel away at the ashes. The symbolic aspect in the Valley of Ashes is the pair of eyes that look over the city in the form of an advertisement. “But his eyes… brood on over the solemn dumping ground” (page 24).

New York City represents the mystery and beauty in the world, and West Egg represents the people that have gotten rich off the economy. The Valley of Ashes is in between New York City and West Egg, so it represents the people that are caught in the middle. In other words, it represents middle-class

Daisy, Tom, Nick, Jordan, and Gatsby all move to the east, where they move from a world of values to a moral vacuum, represented by the "valley of ashes." The valley of ashes represents a world, which is like a distorted hell created by modern industry. Factories and trains, produced in the manufacture of wealth, has polluted America with its waste. Overlooking the valley, are the sightless eyes of T.J. Ecklburg, an advertisement on a billboard, that is actually confused as

First, the valley of ashes represents the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth. This is because the rich indulge themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure, the plight of the poor, like George Wilson, who live among the dirty ashes and are abused by it. Then this Valley is left to the outside world because of its status and no one cares about what goes on there unless it direct affects the rich or if that person lives there. This place is watched by Doctor T. J. Eckleburg’s eyes which is a later symbol but both are intertwined due to how close the two are and due to meaning given to the eyes by some of the novels characters. Then in other critical essays the valley has been said as, ““This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat … and ash-gray men swarm. …” Here, instead of God observing the actions of the humans involved in the impending tragedy, an occultist’s giant advertisement looks down and ‘broods on

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

    Throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, location is a critical motif. The contrasts between East and West, East Egg and West Egg, and the two Eggs and New York serve important thematic roles and provide the backdrops for the main conflict. Yet, there needs to be a middle ground between each of these sites, a buffer zone, as it were; there is the great distance that separates East from West; there is the bay that separates East Egg from West Egg; and, there is the Valley of Ashes that separates Long Island from New York. The last of these is probably the most striking. Yet, the traditional literal interpretation does not serve Fitzgerald's theme as well as a more

“The Great Gatsby” is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in 1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922. The novel takes place following the First World War. American society enjoyed prosperity during the “roaring” as the economy soared. At the same time, prohibition, the ban on the sale and manufacture of alcohol as mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment, made millionaires out of bootleggers. After its republishing in 1945 and 1953, it quickly found a wide readership and is today widely