What Does The Mansion Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

A symbol is a material object through which an abstract meaning is expressed. Fitzgerald takes great consideration into the symbols he chooses to portray his overarching ideas in The Great Gatsby. One in particular that stands out amongst the rest is Gatsby’s mansion itself. Located on the West Egg, Gatsby’s mansion is host of the city’s largest and most outrageously generous parties. Though, further into the novel it is revealed that Gatsby’s mansion is used to highlight the contrast between his physical and emotional sides, develop an illusion based off of his expectations and dreams, as well as emphasize his growing isolation from those around him. Fitzgerald uses Gatsby’s mansion to represent the diversity and the opposition between Gatsby’s outside appeal and his contrasting inner dissatisfaction. The physical enormity of the mansion alongside the material treasures held within it portrays a sense of …show more content…
The parties, the food, and the amenities within Gatsby's mansion all seem too good to be true, which makes this mansion an appropriate symbol for all of Gatsby’s wildest dreams. Aside from bringing his fantasy world to life, the size of Gatsby’ mansion is able to symbolize the isolation he is surrounded by as well as the loneliness that follows him like a shadow. Loneliness lurks in Gatsby’s mansion just as much as it lurks within Gatsby himself; it is as if Gatsby’s mansion is haunted by “an indefinite procession of shadows”, each shadow representing a figment of his imagination and a reminder of his inescapable loneliness (Fitzgerald, 114). Throughout the novel, Gatsby’s mansion symbolizes a barrier to the outside world and therefore prevents him from building strong relationships with other people because “to this [fantasy] he [is] faithful to the end”