The Great Gatsby is an influential novel that has touched millions of people since it was published, and this success is often attributed to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s exemplary integration of symbolism throughout the story. In order to advance the plot and enhance the quality of his novel, Fitzgerald implies a deeper meaning to the Valley of Ashes, the green light, and T.J Eckleburg's eyes to represent different concepts and themes for the reader to discover.
On an old worn down billboard high above the Valley of Ashes, an ominous pair of eyes looks down on the less-fortunate people of Long Island. “The eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleburg are blue and gigantic, their irises are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous …show more content…
Throughout the novel Gatsby is seen reaching towards the light from his dock standing alone in the middle of the night. “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 our arms out farther” (193). For Gatsby, the light represented hope and a brighter future. For most of his adult life Gatsby had been chasing Daisy’s love, which is also symbolized through the light and its positioning. The light’s location at Tom Buchanan and Daisy’s mansion across the bay is no coincidence, and it further proves that the hope Gatsby was reaching for (both literally and figuratively) was Daisy. Surprisingly, the light’s meaning completely vanished for Gatsby once he had reached his goal and was finally close to Daisy. “You always have a green light that burns all night… he seemed absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance had now vanished forever… Now it was again a green light on a dock” (99-100). The immediate loss of a symbolic meaning behind the green light as soon as he was close to Daisy proves how desperately he wanted her, and that he had finally gotten what he had
On an old worn down billboard high above the Valley of Ashes, an ominous pair of eyes looks down on the less-fortunate people of Long Island. “The eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleburg are blue and gigantic, their irises are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous …show more content…
Throughout the novel Gatsby is seen reaching towards the light from his dock standing alone in the middle of the night. “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 our arms out farther” (193). For Gatsby, the light represented hope and a brighter future. For most of his adult life Gatsby had been chasing Daisy’s love, which is also symbolized through the light and its positioning. The light’s location at Tom Buchanan and Daisy’s mansion across the bay is no coincidence, and it further proves that the hope Gatsby was reaching for (both literally and figuratively) was Daisy. Surprisingly, the light’s meaning completely vanished for Gatsby once he had reached his goal and was finally close to Daisy. “You always have a green light that burns all night… he seemed absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance had now vanished forever… Now it was again a green light on a dock” (99-100). The immediate loss of a symbolic meaning behind the green light as soon as he was close to Daisy proves how desperately he wanted her, and that he had finally gotten what he had