Along with ashes and dust, the color gray in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby also denotes despair and lifelessness when applied to the emotions of different individuals or depicts the filthy conditions of the Valley of Ashes. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of a man who, in an attempt to win over his first love, uses shady business to obtain great wealth. However, this dream comes tumbling when the truth about him is revealed. With the setting in the 1920s, Jay Gatsby, coming from an impoverished childhood, had dreams of being a successful man yet his motivation changes when Mr. Gatsby encounters a beautiful young lady named Daisy Faye. Once he meets Daisy, all of his goals in life are based around being able to impress Daisy with his incredible wealth by throwing colossal …show more content…
In this novel, one of the industrial sectors that is included in the vicinity of East and West Egg is described with the symbols of ashes and dust to emphasize the filthy condition that the town is in. This town is first introduced when Nick and Tom go visit Tom’s adulterer, Myrtle Wilson, in “The Valley of Ashes”(Fitzgerald 23). This symbolizes the depression in the town as extreme poverty plagues the Valley of Ashes and how most of the inhabitants are depressed as they are less fortunate than the people of East and West Egg. Another example of a place that is being indirectly characterized by the symbol of grey, ashes, and dust is during Nick’s first party at Gatsby’s house. They were both reminiscing about World War 1 as both Nick and Gatsby served, talking about various “wet, grey little villages in France” (Fitzgerald 47). They describe the villages as grey because of the vast destruction that occurred in most of Europe. This symbolizes the lifelessness of the villages because all of the inhabitants had to abandon their homes in attempt to escape the devastating effects of the