Examples Of Dust In The Great Gatsby

Dust is often found in abandoned, abused buildings which used to be used but have now been put aside. In The Great Gatsby, dust is found in the valley of ashes and other places where all ambitions have been lost. Fitzgerald uses the valley of ashes and dust to represent the ongoing theme that the American Dream of a money filled, carefree lifestyle can only be achieved on the backs of others. The valley of ashes represents the industry workers’ exploitation in the making of rich corporation leaders who have left their employees hopeless. In the valley, formally known as Queens, New York, “ashes take the forms of… men who move dimly and already crumbing through the powdery air” (23). The word dimly shows that these men have lost their light, and feel like they are worth almost nothing since they are crumbling. Queens is the industrial district of the 1920s, so many would think it to be the center of prosperity, but instead the men are lifeless. For example, Myrtle’s husband, George Wilson, is “a blond, spiritless man, anemic, and faintly handsome” (25). It

In contrast to her husband and the rest of the people in the valley of ashes, Myrtle has worth and dreams. Her husband has “white ashen dust veil[ing] his dark suit and his pale hair [veils] everything in the vicinity--except his wife, who [moves] closer to Tom” (26). George has lost all hope of a better life, but Myrtle is not a part of this dust leaven place because she still hopes to achieve this American Dream of being rich which is shown as she moves closer to Tom who has achieved it. But having a carefree life like Tom can only come by hurting others. Myrtle finds this when with one last chance to go after Tom, she and her dream are killed by Tom’s wife. As her dream dies with her, “her thick dark blood with the dust,” (137), and she becomes one of the thousands of others who have been leftovers in the pursuit of the American