Symbolic imagery is an affective literary device F. Scott Fitzgerald’s used in The Great Gatsby. Significant Recurring symbols reveal the underlying inner thoughts and emotions of characters as well as Fitzgerald’s own perception about plot events. Death and decay, light and dark, nature, and eyes are all symbols of significance that appear repeatedly. The symbol of Death and decay reveals Gatsby’s diminishing dream of hope as the novel progresses; as well it plays a part in foreshadowing the tragic events in the end of The Great Gatsby. The idea of decay is introduced early, as revealed by Nick that in the end Gatsby’s downfall can be attributed for a destructive force that slowly decays his wish to re-live the past. “Gatsby turned out alright
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“This is a valley of ashes - a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-grey men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.” (Fitzgerald 26). The introduction of the valley of ashes is a good example of how Nick recognizes that the entire location can serve as nothing else but a graveyard, “The valley serves as one huge metaphor symbolic of a land that produces only dust and death.”(Seiters 11).The image of ashes is parallel to how Nick describes the decay that affected Gatsby’s life. His dream was visibly diminished over time at each place that symbols for death and decay are present. Alongside the death of Gatsby’s dream, Fitzgerald foreshadowed his murder as well. The Great Gatsby is full of contrasting imagery. Symbols of Light and dark display sharp contrast between the light sided benefits of wealthy people, but accompanying it is the dark sided careless behaviour. …show more content…
Throughout the novel the moon is a representation of Gatsby’s dream to have Daisy in his life again “Moonlight is traditionally associated with the romantic imagination, with an intense subjective experience of solitude, with reverie and desire for the unattainable ideal.” (Parkinson 44). Daisy is the unattainable goal that Gatsby reaches for, and the notion that the moon symbolizes her as something idolized is augmented when the moon appears in descriptions of his parties “A wafer of a moon was shining over Gatsby’s house, making the night fine as before, and surviving the laughter and the sound of his still glowing garden. A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors…” (Fitzgerald 56). The moon’s appearance is romantically described, just as Gatsby’s infatuation for Daisy was very romanticised and regarded as a beautiful thing. Gatsby holds onto the dream of obtaining Daisy’s love as long as the moon is present, “He put his hands in his coat pockets and turned eagerly to his scrutiny of the house, as through my presence marred the sacredness of the vigil. So I walked away and let him standing there in the moonlight – watching over nothing.” (Fitzgerald 139).So when the possibility of losing her again encroaches into his mind, Gatsby guards the house under the light of Daisy’s idolization. The importance of nature as a symbol relates
“This is a valley of ashes - a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-grey men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.” (Fitzgerald 26). The introduction of the valley of ashes is a good example of how Nick recognizes that the entire location can serve as nothing else but a graveyard, “The valley serves as one huge metaphor symbolic of a land that produces only dust and death.”(Seiters 11).The image of ashes is parallel to how Nick describes the decay that affected Gatsby’s life. His dream was visibly diminished over time at each place that symbols for death and decay are present. Alongside the death of Gatsby’s dream, Fitzgerald foreshadowed his murder as well. The Great Gatsby is full of contrasting imagery. Symbols of Light and dark display sharp contrast between the light sided benefits of wealthy people, but accompanying it is the dark sided careless behaviour. …show more content…
Throughout the novel the moon is a representation of Gatsby’s dream to have Daisy in his life again “Moonlight is traditionally associated with the romantic imagination, with an intense subjective experience of solitude, with reverie and desire for the unattainable ideal.” (Parkinson 44). Daisy is the unattainable goal that Gatsby reaches for, and the notion that the moon symbolizes her as something idolized is augmented when the moon appears in descriptions of his parties “A wafer of a moon was shining over Gatsby’s house, making the night fine as before, and surviving the laughter and the sound of his still glowing garden. A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors…” (Fitzgerald 56). The moon’s appearance is romantically described, just as Gatsby’s infatuation for Daisy was very romanticised and regarded as a beautiful thing. Gatsby holds onto the dream of obtaining Daisy’s love as long as the moon is present, “He put his hands in his coat pockets and turned eagerly to his scrutiny of the house, as through my presence marred the sacredness of the vigil. So I walked away and let him standing there in the moonlight – watching over nothing.” (Fitzgerald 139).So when the possibility of losing her again encroaches into his mind, Gatsby guards the house under the light of Daisy’s idolization. The importance of nature as a symbol relates