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How Does The Valley Of Ashes Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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The Blind Desire Like Holly Black once said, “Once someone’s hurt you, it’s harder to relax around them, harder to think of them as safe to love. But it doesn’t stop you from wanting them”. Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, envisions this life of endless luxuries and his beloved Daisy. Suddenly, his dreams turn into dust in front of his eyes; he ends up losing his life and everything he ever wanted. The series of events in Gatsby’s life symbolizes greater meanings than what they might seem on the surface. Automobiles, East Egg and West Egg, and the Valley of Ashes are all examples of symbols that F. Scott Fitzgerald uses in The Great Gatsby to provide a deeper meaning in the text. To begin, automobiles are more than just transportation, …show more content…

Tom was the one that introduced Nick to the Valley of Ashes, Nick’s first impression of the place was “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” (Fitzgerald, 23). In the novel, the Valley of Ashes appears to be a place that nobody wants to visit; and is abandoned by the rest of society. This filthy place in between New York and West Egg displays the harsh reality of being poor in a wealthy and developed society. At this point, Nick sees a train full of passengers waiting to pass by, “ the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour” (Fitzgerald 24). This clearly illustrates that the rich looks down upon the Valley of Ashes in disbelief; they cannot believe what they’re seeing in front of them because they are all used to all the luxuries in the world. This example also further explains the leftovers of society, the less fortunate are being discriminated against. The poor are given another place to settle down that is far away from the rest of the

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Great Gatsby Final essay “To young Gatz, resting on his oars and looking up at the railed deck, that yacht represented all the beauty and glamor in the world”(100). During and shortly after the great depression, people's focus now fell on wealth and success in the economic world. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbols, colors, and specific imagery to convey the theme of wealth, showing the correlation between class and wealth and how it differs from what most believe to be true. Fitzgerald uses symbols such as west egg vs. east egg, the green light, different sports, and their cars to show the theme of wealth in The Great Gatsby.

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Sean Martin Mr. Krueger Advanced American Literature 23 April 2015 Cars and driving in Great Gatsby The American Dream involves people and their quest to gain wealth and status. One way to display the wealth is through the stuff you buy. Cars, for example, are a great symbol used to display ones wealth.

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Fitzgerald creates clear distinctions between the upper and lower classes primarily through the use of the valley of ashes. The valley of ashes is nothing but a grey wasteland where “Ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke” but it is also the home of the poor, “The only building in sight was a small block of yellow brick sitting on the edge of the waste land”. This is very much different to East Egg, where the wealth live which is described that “Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water”. This distinct different between settings shows the differences of the classes but also the hollowness of the upper

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Fitzgerald uses the motif of cars in The Great Gatsby to highlight the theme of wealth and America's progress and how it leads to

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In the novel “ The Great Gatsby” F.Scott Fizgerald uses a green light to symbolize wealth and money but he also uses characterization to show how Gatsby’s dreams were ruined and couldn’ t accomplish the American Dream the way he wanted to . Fitzgerald uses these characters and symbols to show the true nature of the American dream. Nick Carraway, the main character and the narrator of the story, is a symbol of what America used to be. In the first chapter, Nick Carraway describes his car, a “newer model T Ford sedan,” which he finds “immaculately clean” (Chapter 1). Nick’s car symbolizes the American dream, and the reader is often reminded of this when Nick is driving it.

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Ted Bundy, born Theodore Robert Cowell, was a sinister serial killer. He is a white male who started his killing rampage around age 28, with an IQ of about 123. He showed no remorse for his crimes and committed them over and over. His case paved the way for novels and films about serial killers. Bundy had a condition known as Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) which is what made him such a successful killer.

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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.

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Elissa Moody Lemersal American Literature 7 May 2015 Bohemian Rhapsody The Novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a grand story about love, despair, and tragedy. The title character Jay Gatsby is hopelessly in love with Daisy, a girl he knew from five years prior, who happens to be married to a rich man named Tom. Throughout the novel they rekindle their love, much to Tom’s despair, even though Tom is also cheating on Daisy with a woman named Myrtle.

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In the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author uses many differnt retorical devices to add a personal flare to his work. He uses diction, symbolism, and irony to adress many different themes. These themes include Materialism, The American Dream, and includes a sharp and biting ridicule on American society in the 1920’s. The main point of Fitzgerald, arguement is one where he sharply criticizes the Society of the time.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, tells a story revolving around the life of the wealthy folk. Throughout the book, Fitzgerald describes and involves cars in the plot on several occasions. In The Great Gatsby, cars come to represent the carelessness of the wealthy. The cars’ symbolism first appeared in the novel after Gatsby’s first big party.

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In a book about a tragic love story, one would not expect to find a deeper meaning behind the dangers of jealousy or peril of lust. However, in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there is a deeper meaning beyond jealousy and love. In The Great Gatsby, the author uses an empathetic storyline as a symbol to unwittingly give a complex depiction of the nuisance that people create that not only destroy our world but our society and gives warning to what will occur if we continue the path of destruction. With this intention, the brilliant opinionated writer, expressed his opinion through symbols such as the characters he uses, the setting the story takes place in, and the objects he uses in the book.

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Next, the valley of ashes physically represents the detriment of being left on the failing side of the American dream. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, the narrator describes the valley of ashes: “This is the 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…” (Fitzgerald, PAGE #). The people living in this valley are left, figuratively and literally, in the dust by the rich. Although they put in the gruelling work the American Dream demands, they continuously fall short of these hopes.

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Love, a deep affection, is only complete when felt by two unique individuals. In this story Gatsby has become blinded by his affection for Daisy he does not stop to consider anything else but being with her. He has this illusion and fantasy he has longed for since a little boy in his dream. While he has obtained everything else, the fame, glory, and wealth he lacks one thing, a lover. He has his life all crafted out and Daisy was his missing piece.

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Wealth and greed can easily change a person’s lives. One of the major changes is that you can destroy your life in a way that can affect your decisions in the future. Just like how Tom and Daisy are, in The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, that follows Jay Gatsby, a man who orders his life around one desire: to be reunited with Daisy Buchanan, the love he lost five years earlier. Gatsby's quest leads him from poverty to wealth, into the arms of his beloved, and eventually to death.

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Throughout many brilliant works of literature, a common item is placed amongst them: symbols. Symbols are often a key to further understanding a point the author is trying to convey to their readers. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, The Great Gatsby, he utilizes the literary tool of symbols to illustrate a larger picture for his themes and characters within the novel. For example, the color green plays a prominent role in The Great Gatsby throughout the duration of the novel. However, the color has can have various interpretations.

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