Mr. Beebe
American Literature
17 February, 2016
Gatsby Representation
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald follows Jay Gatsby on his quest for love. Gatsby fixates on the idea that he is destined to be with Daisy; however, this quest for love becomes much more difficult once Daisy is married. What starts as just a small crush quickly grows until it consumes Gatsby’s life. His sole purpose becomes restoring his love with Daisy. This obsession, however, comes at a great cost. Jay Gatsby causes the downfall of his own character because his lack of social class springs tension between the other characters and himself, and his fixation of Daisy causes him …show more content…
The first symbol used to show Gatsby’s newly rich social status is the pink suit. The pink suit infuriates Tom, an east-egger, to the point of yelling, “An Oxford man! Like hell he is! He wears a pink suit!” (Fitzgerald 122). This pink suit demonstrates that despite all his great wealth, Gatsby still lacks the social refinement that the east-eggers have. Likewise, the money and alcohol on Gatsby’s hands further exhibit the fact that Gatsby is of new money. This shady business the Gatsby partakes in sources dissension between the more sophisticated class and himself. Tom shows this resentment for Gatsby and other west-eggers complaining that the “newly rich people are just big bootleggers” (Fitzgerald 107). Lastly, the two fighting rams symbolize the rivalry between Tom and Gatsby. These two characters constantly butt like rams going back and forth with banter and disgraceful slurs. This rivalry is seen when Gatsby pretends to be friendly and calls Tom “the polo player” (Fitzgerald 105). Tom, however, resents this name and demands for Gatsby to stop calling him that. Despite this, Gatsby does not stop and “Tom remained the “polo player” for the rest of the evening” (Fitzgerald 105). These symbols exhibit Gatsby’s lack of social class and the conflicts that leads …show more content…
Ever since meeting Daisy back in St. Louis, Gatsby spends the rest of his life trying to earn enough wealth to impress her. Gatsby desperately wants to be with Daisy which is his deepest desire and want in his heart. This is displayed with the green light which symbolizes Daisy. No matter what happened “Gatsby believed in the green light” (Fitzgerald 180). Likewise, Gatsby dreams of being with Daisy and impressing her. This is the dominant thing that Gatsby thinks about in his head and tries to do. The big house and Gatsby and Daisy together represent the things Gatsby thinks