ipl-logo

How Does Fitzgerald Use The Green Light In The Great Gatsby

971 Words4 Pages

It can be very challenging to achieve the American Dream without attracting the jealousy of others. This is apparent in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, where the main character, Gatsby, comes from humble beginnings to make a substantial amount of money during Prohibition. While he is doing this, he is meeting new friends and enemies and reuniting with an old girlfriend, who becomes very important in the life of the Great Gatsby. As the book progresses, Fitzgerald seems to blend his own life into the story by showing his interpretation of the American Dream and how other people think of a person who has achieved it. Fitzgerald indicates Gatsby’s relationships with the other characters in the story through the use of symbolism, with …show more content…

It is apparent that Gatsby uses the green light to encourage him to achieve his dream, as he comes out of his mansion“to determine what share was his of our local heavens….and (Nick) distinguished nothing except a single green light” (20-21). Since Gatsby’s dream is to be with Daisy, he sees the green light as his way to be with Daisy. Additionally, he also sees the light as his way to prosperity and acceptance by the other rich people people in the area. Finally, Fitzgerald used the light to create the idea that a combination of optimism and hard work will always end with near-perfect results, as shown by Fitzgerald commented on how “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter-tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther” (180). Fitzgerald connects his ideas of the green light to the ideas that working hard and having the right amount of optimism will accomplish anything, including allowing Gatsby to risk his life, in order to obtain his money, to be with Daisy, who Gatsby reaches out to every night. This attracts jealousy from Tom, who doesn’t want his wife to be enthralled by Gatsby. This shows how Fitzgerald uses the green light, and the optimism and hard work that it symbolizes, to show how wealth and friendship can often attract

Show More
Related
677 Words | 3 Pages

The green light which symbolizes hope and ambition also serves as a reminder of how far away Daisy is from Gatsby's grasp. Gatsby develops a sense of loneliness in knowing that not even his riches can shorten the gap between them. Through Daisy and the green light, Fitzgerald displays how the American Dream is simultaneously desirable and

Read More
937 Words | 4 Pages

Despite the promising opportunities that the green light symbolizes, it eventually transforms from a beacon of hope into a symbol of disillusionment and disappointment for those who fail to achieve their dreams. Once the green light loses its meaning to Gatsby, he realizes that “he [pays] a high price for living too long with a single dream… [and looks] up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves,” showing the false prospect of America’s promise and the disappointment of reality (Fitzgerald 161). Despite the false promise of achievement and progress, the green light also represents the endless toil that Americans still invest in

Read More
941 Words | 4 Pages

For instance, on the last page of the novel after Gatsby’s untimely death, Nick looks back on the past and mentions how Gatsby admired the green light that would shine during nighttime. During this, Nick states, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” (Fitzgerald 180). The green light represented Daisy and the future he was eager for. As already mentioned, Gatsby was able to win Daisy’s heart again, making him closer to achieving a portion of his American Dream. He already attained the other portion through gaining money as he became older and more knowledgeable.

Read More
1274 Words | 6 Pages

‘The great Gatsby’ composed by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel in which the author effectively explores several themes including the shallowness of money, and the divide between new money and old money. The story spans across one summer during the ‘roaring twenties’ and follows the enigmatic Jay Gatsby as he tries to re-kindle his love with daisy Buchanon. At the beginning of the novel Fitzgerald uses green light to symbolise Gatsby’s hope of getting back together with Daisy. The narrator Nick makes this observation, the light is something Gatsby physically reaches for as though touching it will lead to a reunion with Daisy.

Read More
695 Words | 3 Pages

Gatsby had felt so close to the one thing he wanted the green light at the end of the dock. “Gatsby Believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.” (Fitzgerald 180). The green light was Daisy, and the future he wanted with her. He worked to become rich shady or not he worked day and night for it.

Read More
599 Words | 3 Pages

The green light starts out as a symbol of hope for the future, and then it turns to a symbol of an unreachable dream that Gatsby cannot accept. The green light presents itself numerous times throughout the novel. At the very beginning, the green light appears extremely mysterious. Nick, the narrator, is not quite sure

Read More
1084 Words | 5 Pages

The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald takes after Jay Gatsby, a man who rotates his life around one wish: to be taken together with Daisy Buchanan, the adoration he lost five years prior. Gatsby's dominant goal drives him from poverty to success, into the arms of his loved lady, and in the end to death. This story shows what occurred to the American Dream, which is considered being rich, happy and famous, in the 1920s-1930s, a time period in which the dreams of being rich became tainted anyways. The American dream not only causes destruction but it also caused corruption. Gatsby, Myrtle, Daisy and so many other people were ruined and corrupted because of the American Dream.

Read More
402 Words | 2 Pages

Persistent hope and the idea of the American dream is a prevalent theme in The Great Gatsby. The American dream is often perceived as the ability to have opportunities and gain economic stability, but in the novel it is represented as extreme wealth and materialism. This is expressed by the extravagant parties and materials Gatsby surrounds himself with in order to receive recognition from people as a successful person, “according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes “ (Fitzgerald 91). Gatsby’s hard work still does not get him “accepted” into the same status as the inherited rich and affects his aspiration to get Daisy back. This represents that hard work will not always result as planned with extensive opportunities and rewards,

Read More
1352 Words | 6 Pages

The American Dream suggests that every American citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work. One of the major ways that Fitzgerald portrays this is by alluding to outside events or works of literature specifically from that time period. Another major relationship that develops in The Great Gatsby is between Tom and Daisy. F. Scott Fitzgerald alludes to things such as the World’s Fair and “The Love Nest” to display the eventual dismantling of Tom and Daisy’s relationship. Both of these separate plots consolidate under the idea of Gatsby trying to become the epitome of the American Dream, as seen through his strive for a “perfect life.”

Read More
725 Words | 3 Pages

The green light is used to represent multiple things. The first thing it represents is Gatsby’s desire, his dream which is Daisy. To win Daisy would help Gatsby accomplish his American dream. The first time the green light is seen in the novel is when Nick sees Gatsby for the first time, Fitzgerald describes it as, "he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling.

Read More
903 Words | 4 Pages

The American Dream is the ideal that if one works hard, he or she will gain success and prosper in life. Based on many outcomes of the American Dream, one 's dream is often very personal and subjective. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 American novel, The Great Gatsby, he utilizes the green light, the Valley of Ashes, and the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg to portray the central theme of the hope and hopelessness of the American Dream. In his novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows how the American Dream can be achievable and personal through utilizing the green light.

Read More
764 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald continuously references a green light that Gatsby keeps on reaching for. The green light was significant by representing the theme of greed, being a symbol of Gatsby’s desire for Daisy, and serves as a motif for the American Dream. The color green in itself already illustrates the idea of greed and money. Gatsby already has everything anyone could dream for counting a house in West Egg, fame, and fortune, but still he is chasing after this light or in other words, chasing after the love of his life, Daisy. The light is a literary metaphor for Daisy since during the novel, once Gatsby reunites with Daisy the light begins to fade and reframes from reaching out for it.

Read More
1034 Words | 5 Pages

John A. Pidgeon says that, “The theme of Gatsby is the withering of the American Dream”(Pidgeon 179). The prime example of this is Gatsby, who “believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther” (Fitzgerald 180). The green light symbolizes Gatsby’s dream to be upper class with Daisy, but he can never reach it. Furthermore, it is frustrating for him that when he does attain wealth, Daisy is still out of his reach.

Read More
923 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby discusses and portrays various themes and ideas that tie into the American Dream. Fitzgerald develops several life-like characters that convey the reality of achieving the ideal every American dreams of. F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of the novel The Great Gatsby, illustrates the corruption behind aiming to achieve the American Dream through Gatsby’s

Read More
723 Words | 3 Pages

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald shows how Jay Gatsby tries to fulfill the ideals of the American Dream. When Gatsby was young, he set goals and worked hard to improve. He pursued the typical American dream of gaining wealth, finding a companion, and being admired by others. Gatsby thought it was best to try and change everything about himself. He wears a thick mask of lies throughout the story, hiding his past, changing his name, suppressing his emotions, and even adapting his word choice.

Read More

More about How Does Fitzgerald Use The Green Light In The Great Gatsby

Related Topics

Open Document