In the novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, took place in 1922 in the great city of New York’s East and West Egg Island. The Great Gatsby is about a very wealthy businessman named Jay Gatsby that tries to find his long lost love. The main symbol of the novel The Great Gatsby, is Gatsby’s hope for Daisy that they will be back together someday. Gatsby's hope for Daisy is represented by the green light at the end of Tom and Daisy’s dock. Another way hope is shown by Gatsby for Daisy is when Tom tries to put Gatsby down, but Gatsby gets right back up and tells Tom that the past can be repeated and they will get back together again some day.
Two important symbols in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby are the green light and the valley of ashes. Both symbols connect to the novel’s main theme of how the unchecked, unbridled pursuit of wealth leads to destruction. The green light appears early in the novel as a symbol of what Gatsby longs and strives for. Nick, the narrator, describes Gatsby standing alone and content, though he thinks “he was trembling,” to stare across the water at the light: “I involuntarily glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock.”
Nick Heredia English 3 12/8/17 The Great Gatsby Dream, noun, a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal. In the great gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the title character Jay Gatsby is dreaming about a reunion with the love of his life. Throughout the story the Green Light at the end of his dream girl’s dock becomes a recurring symbol for his dream of getting her back.
“Can’t repeat the past?…Why of course you can!”(Fitzgerald). In The Great Gatsby, there are many examples of symbolism, but the most prominent one is the green light. Jay Gatsby is in love with Daisy Buchanan who lives across the bay on East Egg. She has a green light on the end of her dock that Gatsby often stares at, and even reaches for. Gatsby and Daisy used to be together, but he went to war and she moved on.
Jay Gatsby is a dedicated dreamer with hopes to rekindle a relationship with Daisy, while trying to ensure that they can be together he becomes obsessed. He makes hope in ways no one else can see. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the theme of a person cannot repeat the past is shown through Jay Gatsby, the green light, and Daisy and Gatsby’s reunion at Nick’s house. Gatsby's obsession grows and his heart has control over him. His life becomes one big snowball falling from a mountain, picking up more and more until it hits rock bottom.
The light is symbolic of Gatsby’s hopes and dreams throughout his life. In the beginning, Gatsby states to Nick that he can “change the past”. In a physical example, he moved into a home directly across from Daisy, with the green light visible. The green light, however, is merely that. It is an artificial agent that stimulates sight.
In “The Great Gatsby,” Fitzgerald uses a variety of literary devices to portray the American Dream. Fitzgerald uses colors to his advantage. One example is the green light that symbolizes Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for a life with Daisy. Another is the Valley of the Ashes, which represents the ugly reality of America’s obsession with wealth, and time. He uses these symbols to convey the nature of the American Dream.
Symbolism materializes an ideas, emotions, and events in the process creating a deeper meaning. F.Scott Fitzgerald uses important symbolism in his novel The Great Gatsby to give hidden content and deep meanings to the novel. Some of the more important symbols are the green light, the car, and the billboard because they conclude that symbolism play a role in life. The green light is an important symbol which pieces together the essential theme in the novel.
Symbols are something that contribute to a greater range of meanings and associations beyond itself. Authors will put symbols into their literary works in order to express an idea, give meaning to something, or to connect a theme or literary meaning. Symbols are quite apparent in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby. In Fitzgerald’s novel, Jay Gatsby, wishes to reunite with his past lover, Daisy Buchanan (or then, Daisy Fay). With the help of his new neighbor, Nick Carraway, who is cousins with Daisy, they are able to try and get them to reunite.
Is the American dream really all about having a lot of money and being well-known? In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Jay Gatsby’s unhappiness, Daisy, and the motif of the green light that the stereotypical American dream is not a direct path to satisfaction. Although Jay Gatsby is a wealthy man who has achieved the standard American dream, he was still missing one thing: a life with Daisy. She is a woman who is in an unhappy marriage with Tom Buchanan and, for the most part, only cared about money. Even though the green light on Daisy and Tom’s dock is for guiding boats at night, Gatsby sees it as a reminder to keep moving toward his dream of being with Daisy.
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.
The Great Gatsby is a representation of the American Dream, an ideal worshipped during the 1920s. Fitzgerald places the rich and wealthy lifestyle on a high of moral and social decay amongst the characters. For each turning point and beginning like for Gatsby and the green light. Through the green light Fitzgerald embodies the idea of working toward the American dream.
In chapter nine, Nick said, “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. . . and one fine morning - so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 189). This supports Fitzgerald’s message to the reader about the American Dream because the green light stands for everyone’s hopes and dreams and desires, however, it is unattainable.
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.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick Caraway tells of his experience with his neighbor, Jay Gatsby, and the troubles that follow him. Whether it be because of lust, wrath, jealousy, or a combination of them all, Nick see’s first-hand the love, dreams, and ultimately the tragedy that succumbs of Gatsby and everyone around him. An important symbol throughout the text is the green light that shines across the water from Gatsby’s mansion. The light comes from the end of Daisy’s dock, whom Gatsby has immense feelings for. The book is primarily focused around Daisy and Gatsby's complex relationship.
