What Does The Green Light Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

The American Dream is viewed as the idyllic way of life in which any and all individuals are given equal chance and opportunity to obtain wealth and status. However throughout history it has been clear that The American Dream is not attainable for all through regular means. Many authors and books have attempted to show an accurate depiction of The American Dream but the most notable depiction is The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald uses the Characters and symbols to criticize The American Dream by showing that it is an unattainable ideal that will rarely come to fruition and never end well.

One of Fitzgerald's main criticisms of The American Dream is seen in the characters of Gatsby and Wilson and the difference in how they chased

The green light is a recurring symbol when describing Gatsby's Dream and while always tries to reach it is always impossible and fades much too soon “Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one”(Fitzgerald 93). The green light also showcases the flaw that one has to give up everything in order to achieve that green light Gatsby has to decide which he wants to choose and ultimately chooses Daisy. The green light also acts as a belief system for The American Dream it is something one can see but never reach it is something that gives truth to The American Dream but never allows for the realization of that dream “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——”( Fitzgerald 180). The light continues to shine but never allows you to reach showcasing the unrealistic nature of the dream. The green light constantly reoccurs as a symbol of hope and promise but never allows anyone to more than

Casie E. Hermanson who was a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto examined the major roles of characters in The Great Gatsby speaks about the end of Gatsby's dream as he dies she states “The novel ends by uniting Gatsby's dream born from his past with the American Dream from another past, a dream that is incorruptible and unreal, indicating the way in which the future of this story may be found in the past”(Hermanson 79). Hermanson shows us something similar to Gatsby's realization of his dream being in the past, showing that Gatsby truly did miss what he was looking for because he had not been able to forget himself. Another critic named Bryant Magnum focused on the fact that The Great Gatsby at its foundation is a love story that Fitzgerald used to showcases the nuances of The American Dream “The simple love story was merely the foundation for a narrative structure that would accommodate Fitzgerald's ideas about irreconcilable contradictions within the American Dream and ultimately about the ideal quest itself (Mangum 514). Mangum argues that the contradictions that Fitzgerald showcases are complete flaws in The American Dream. The Great Gatsby has been studied ever since it was released and will continue and as more and more people