Theme Of Corruption In The Great Gatsby

Throughout the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the city of ashes, which is a desolate, plain gray valley where New York’s ashes are dumped, is used as one of the many common settings where the plot of the story develops. Unlike the glamorous settings of West Egg and East Egg, the valley of ashes is a picture of absolute bleakness and poverty and is the home to the only poor characters in the novel. Concurrently, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, which are a pair of fading eyes painted on an old advertising billboard over the valley, stare down upon the city. Specifically, the city of ashes symbolizes the moral decay hidden within the beautiful facades of the Eggs and the East. It furnishes a sense of imperfection within a seemingly perfect society, which parallels the fallibility of Gatsby’s ultimate dream. In light of this, the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg represent God staring down upon …show more content…
To begin with, the city of ashes represents the moral decay that results from the unbridled pursuit of wealth in the East, as the rich indulge themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure. While Nick is describing the city of ashes, he says, “[…] 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). Using words like “dimly” and “crumbling,” which have negative connotations attached to them, Nick illustrates the city of ashes as a setting that greatly contrasts the alternative settings of the novel which depict a great deal of wealth and luxury, especially in East Egg and West Egg. Even though externally the East appears to be an