Green Light In The Great Gatsby Essay

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“Life takes on meaning when you become motivated, set goals and charge after them in an unstoppable manner” (Brown). Throughout life, people often pursue goals. These goals can range from job promotions to romantic partners and everything in between. Often times, people are reminded of their goals by a certain object as well. However, one cannot rewrite the past. In the novel The Great Gatsby, the character Jay Gatsby pursues his former sweetheart Daisy Buchanan. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock to symbolize Gatsby’s goal of acquiring the past, where he had Daisy and her love, and to show the determination of people for the American Dream.
We first encounter Gatsby from the viewpoint of Nick, the narrator,
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In the middle of the novel, Gatsby reunites with Daisy, telling her that “you always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock”. Gatsby has been reaching towards the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock which symbolizes his quest for Daisy. Gatsby notes that the green light is constantly burning throughout the night, revealing that he spent every night looking out his window at the green light, yearning for his goal. Gatsby’s constant longing towards the green light is his commitment and determination that he has for his goal. He constantly looks at it to reaffirm his belief that the goal is still there, and he has the chance to achieve it. The fact that the green light is on Daisy’s dock makes it known that Gatsby is longing for Daisy; the light is the only thing he can make out of her at night, his dream is a mere fantasy still. Nick notes that “Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one”. Gatsby sees the green light as his pursuit of Daisy, so when he and Daisy love each other again, the green light becomes “again a green light on a dock”, because Nick and the reader believe that Gatsby has achieved his goal. “The color green, traditionally associated with youth, vitality, and money, is an excellent one to suggest Daisy” (Savage 307). Gatsby is trying to recapture time from five years ago when he and Daisy were young and in

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