What Did The Green Light Symbolize

Ever wonder how The Great Gatsby came to be? Was the characters based on the people Fitzgerald knew? Was his relationship with Zelda similar to any in the novel? Did the setting of the novel represent his time period? Why was alcohol so popular in the novel? What did the green light symbolize? Overall what inspired Fitzgerald to write The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby was written based on him and Zelda, their relationship, the time he was living in, prohibition, and through symbols, the American Dream. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays himself through the characters Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby is the main character in The Great Gatsby. The novel is based on Gatsby dreams and desires of Daisy Buchanan. The first similarity Fitzgerald portrays through Gatsby was the fact that he was in the military. As stated in an article, “In June 1918 Fitzgerald was assigned to Camp Sheridan, near Montgomery, …show more content…
The American Dream is the discovery of happiness, but by the 1920s people interpreted the Dream as wealth will bring happiness. Fitzgerald included the green light because he shows the impossibility of achieving happiness through the American Dream. In the novel the green light is placed at the end of Daisy’s dock, which is across from Gatsby’s. “...he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, ... Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away…” (Fitzgerald 20-21). To Gatsby, the green light represents his American Dream because Daisy is at the other side. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther” (Fitzgerald 180). The green light represents the