What Does The Green Light Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

Symbols take a large role throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby. Symbolism is integrated into the heart of the novel and sometimes can be looked over. Throughout the novel, there are many symbols talked about that have many different meanings. There are three main symbols that are important in the novel including the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, and the Valley of Ashes. To begin, the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are a symbol that appear more than once in The Great Gatsby. The eyes that appear on the billboard overlooking the Valley of Ashes represent many things. First, the eyes of Doctor Eckleburg to Nick seem to symbolize the haunting waste of the past, that lingers on, similarly

The green light that shines at the end of Daisy’s East Egg dock haunts and beckons Gatsby because it represents the emotional and physical distance between him and his only love, Daisy. The gap between him and the light is like the gap between the past and the present. Gatsby has waited years to see Daisy once again and within those years he has done everything in his power to make himself become the man he thought Daisy deserved. The light for Gatsby’s holds promises of the future for him and Daisy. In the first chapter, when Nick first spots his neighbour, Gatsby, he sees Gatsby standing on his dock. Nick said, “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. Involuntarily I glanced seaward — and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock,” (Fitzgerald 32). The light to Gatsby is a beacon to where his true love is. When Gatsby goes reaching for the light he shows longing and desire for Daisy. He spent time looking out upon the light not knowing when or if he would ever rekindle with his lost love. The green light was a symbol of Gatsby’s hopes, attaining her would complete Gatsby’s American

New York City represents mystery and beauty to those in the 1920’s. It was busy and awake, unlike anywhere else. Then West Eggs represents the people that got rich off of the new economy that made the Roaring Twenties what they where. The Valley of Ashes represents the people of that era who were caught in between. The Valley of Ashes represented the social and moral decay resulting from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth. The rich only focused on indulging themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure. We see the people who inhabited the Valley of Ashes, for example Myrtle and George Wilson. The Wilsons did not have large sums of money like those surrounding them. George Wilson owned his own business that the reader learnt was not very successful. The Valley of Ashes can also be looked at as being dark, lifeless and dead. Furthermore, the death of Myrtle Wilson in the Valley of Ashes symbolizes as the pain associated with the valley. The first mention of the valley is when Nick accompanies Tom on his trip to New York City, Nick describes the means of the Valley of Ashes when passing through. “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. This is a valley of ashes — a