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Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

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n the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, absolute chaos is unleashed, with Jay Gatsby and the green light, as well as Myrtle Wilson trying to escape her life and husband. The characters are regularly seen in pursuit of their versions of the American Dream, however, they can not fully grasp it, and it seems to slip out of their hands right as they were about to grab it. The theme of, working hard will lead to the American Dream, is not possible for everyone to reach the American Dream no matter how much they attempt at doing so. Fitzgerald shows the terrible results of pursuing a dream that is beyond the reach of many people through characters and symbols in the novel. The green light at the end of Daisy's dock is one of the novel's …show more content…

While Myrtle, similar to Gatsby, shares the desire for a better life, she has much more modest goals. She longs to leave her relationship with George Wilson and to leave her life in the Valley of Ashes, for a more luxurious and exciting life, where she can live as she pleases. However, she tragically dies as a result of pursuing her dream to leave when she runs out on the road thinking Tom Buchanan was coming for her, but instead was hit by a car. Nick arrived after the accident and said that Myrtles,“mouth was wide open and ripped at the corners” and described it, “as though she had choked a little in giving up the tremendous vitality she had stored for so long” (Fitzgerald 137). Myrtles one dream, that she had, had for so long, was to escape her current life, she was unsuccessful in her pursuit and she ended up losing her life. This shows how the American Dream is not something that anyone can achieve if they work hard enough, Myrtle reached for the stars and died trying. Myrtle's attempt to live the American Dream turns out to be fruitless and eventually

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In chapter four, Nick finds out that Gatsby bought the mansion so that he would live across the bay from Daisy. Gatsby wasn’t well known until he bought his mansion. Nick figures it all out at this moment. Gatsby 's mansion and parties are just to get Daisy’s attention. It is now known that Gatsby wants Daisy.

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Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

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“The Valve” by David R. Slavitt supports the negative results of Jay Gatsby’s attempt to chase Daisy and the past, which is an unrealistic dream. In the book F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Jay Gatsby as a symbol of a lost American Dream in the 1920s. In the book after the gatsby returns from the war with money he tries very hard to get Daisy so he buys a house right across the bay (green light represents daisy), he throws big parties hoping she would wander in, and he does illegal business with meyer wolfsheim so he can get a lot of money to attract daisy. In the book, Jay Gatsby tends to live his life in the past, So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past (Fitzgerald, p180). In this quote Fitzgerald is trying

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Allusions In The Great Gatsby

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.”

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What Does The Great Gatsby Symbolize

349 Words | 2 Pages

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924 Words | 4 Pages

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830 Words | 4 Pages

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772 Words | 4 Pages

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923 Words | 4 Pages

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