Another important motif that has an interesting signification would be the Valley of Ashes. The Valley of Ashes is the depressing industrial area that is between the West Egg and New York City. This region is covered in dust and ash caused by the nearby factories. In the movie, Nick and other characters travels through and passes by the Valley of Ashes. While there is business and excitement in Manhattan, and there are ridiculous extravagancies in the West and East Egg, the Valley of Ashes would be a place that shows the darker side of the surrounding glamour.
1. It is the symbolism of the green light across the way as it pertains to Gatsbys reaching out to something better or something that he wishes to have. To him it represents a need in which he cannot obtain even with his vast wealth, friends and family. Even with all this there is still something missing. Something important.
Myrtle and Gatsby both exemplify this plummet back down to earth. Their bodies return to the ashes, truly becoming a part of the valley to help enforce what the valley represents: lost dreams of gold. The valley of ashes illustrates the hopelessness of achieving these dreams of gold, as they will eventually all end in ashes. By symbolizing the hopelessness of the Dream, the valley of ashes proves its
In the book the Great Gatsby there were many symbols about the American Dream representing Gatsby. Three symbols we used in our project was the valley of the ashes, the green light, and the eyes of T.J Eckleberg. We feel that these three symbols help to show how Gatsby feels about life and how other people may see it and what makes it whole. Some people have malice feelings about the american dream and some people think the american dream is aesthetic. Fitzgerald is saying that anybody who tries to pursue the American dream can never be satisfied, because to have the American dream you are always striving for something more than you already have.
Both the ash-covered scene and menacing billboard symbolize the disparity between the haves and have-nots, a theme echoed throughout the novel. While the Valley of Ashes shows the immense gap between the wealthy and poor, Fitzgerald also exhibits the differences between old money (people who’ve had money in their family for a long time) and new money (those who’ve recently become wealthy). Throughout the novel, Gatsby strives to be equal in the eyes of old money, although he is never able to fully achieve it. One example of Gatsby’s efforts are at his mansion, in his ornate library. Nick and Jordan enter the library to find a man looking over Gatsby’s books, astonished that they are real.
In the widely acclaimed American novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald incorporates the Valley of Ashes and the green light as symbols of destitution and unfulfilled desires, demonstrating how all members of the social stratum face the impossibility of achieving the American Dream. The morbid scenery of the Valley of Ashes symbolizes the undesirable class left behind by the benefit-reaping titans of the Industrial Age, illustrating the unfulfilled dreams of the impoverished and the moral decay of the wealthy. To Nick Carraway, a witness of the affluent expanses of East and West Egg, the valley seems horrid, crowded with “men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” (Fitzgerald 27). Deprived of motivation for ambitious
The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is filled with symbolism, clear illustration using words, and a detailed, structural story line that all come together to create tone. In the following passage, the tone is shown using these three literary devices. “About half way between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes — a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; 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.
The Great Gatsby takes place in the 19th century after World War I when capitalism promises economic opportunity. One of the main characters, Jay Gatsby, faces conflict as he tries to reclaim his former love, Daisy. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby illustrates a theme and symbolism of corruption as Jay Gatsby tries to rekindle the love between him and Daisy. Symbolism plays an important part in understanding The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald creates his own form of symbolism by using “the valley of ashes” when he first introduced it in chapter two (Audhey 110).
In the beginning of Chapter 2 of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the narrator of the book takes a train ride through the unpleasant area between East and West Egg, known as the valley of ashes. He describes the valley as a “desolate area of land” and “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens.” The imagery Nick provides the reader with serves two purposes. Firstly, it’s unsettling. The colorful world that Nick is used to, living among the wealthy in West Egg, is transformed into a wasteland of gray ash here where the poor reside.
Through the symbolic meaning of the eyes, Fitzgerald is able to highlight
In the Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald the setting tool place in the Valley of Ashes, where it is hard to breathe and people who lived in that area did not go outside that much. The Valley of Ashes is a place where it is all dusty and there is a lot of gray clouds in the sky. In the
The valley of ashes also symbolizes the difficulties of the poor, like George Wilson, who live among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a result. THE EYES OF DOCTOR T. J. ECKLEBURG Another dominant symbol within this novel is the billboard eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg which is in the middle of the valley of ashes, right next to Wilson’s garage staring at the waste that careless capitalism has
It also serves to portray the materialistic society that surrounds them (The Colors of Society - Camouflaged Discontent).” The characters portray such class and wealth along with fake happiness. The Valley of Ashes looks at how they feel on the inside which Daisy and Gatsby both ooze with discontent with how they’ve made decisions and how their lives did not turn out how they dreamed. Next, at one of Gatsby’s many house parties Nick makes a list of “grey names, and they will give you a better impression than [Nick’s] generalities (Fitzgerald 61).”
It symbolizes poverty, and the population of Manhattan that is not rich and self indulged in their personal lives. The Valley of Ashes is described as a dumping ground, Nick even explains how it’s “bounded on one side by a small foul river, and, when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour” (27). This is completely opposite to places like West Egg, where most of the novel is taken place. Everything is luxurious and fast paced, comparing these two places opens up many symbols in the reader's mind, like poverty and the fact that not every American at that time could live as Gatsby can, for instance.
The Great Gatsby – Individual Notes Plot Summary: • Nick describes the “valley of ashes” which is a place between East and West Egg and New York. It sounds like a dirty train area filled with dirt and ashes (we also learn about a billboard/sign with large eyes- on the cover of the book??- that seems to be watching over the area) • Tom asks Nick out for lunch. However, they take a detour and we meet Mr. (George) and Mrs. Wilson • We find out the Mrs. (myrtle) Wilson is Tom’s mistress (Tom only seems to hide this fact from Mr. Wilson, not Nick • Mrs. Wilson and Tom invite Nick back to their New York apartment, where they leave him in the front room and hook up (this is rude and makes nick uncomfortable) also Nick seems to not want to do some
