What Does The Green Light Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

According to the Oxford dictionary, symbolism in literature conveys intricate ideas while providing symbols to represent qualities. In the novel The Great Gatsby, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald, uses symbolism to illustrate the life of Gatsby and the environment around him. This is evident with such things as the green light, Dr T.J Eckleburg's eyes, Gatsby’s mansion, the Valley of Ashes, etc. Moreover, the use of symbolism gives readers a deeper look within the ideas being portrayed. Lastly, the different analogies always traced back to Gatsby’s life. The green light is one allegory that depicts everything Jay Gatsby wants to accomplish. This occurs in Chapter Three when Nick Carraway says, “He seemed absorbed in what he had just said.

Time is announced in Chapter Nine when Nick mentions, “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 further” (110). The green light is a significance of time relating to how long it will take for a specific dream to come true. Time to Gatsby is the idea in which he might not have it now but in the future he will get everything he hopes for. In “Why Not Be Rich? Money in the 1920s” Samuel Crowther mentions, “Gatsby’s love of Daisy Is partly based on the glamor he Associates with her money, and he pursues her by becoming wealthy himself. His passion for Daisy blends with earlier desires for financial success going all the way back to the daily schedule he established as a boy” (149). Gatsby always had ambition in finding ways to impress Daisy no matter how long it would take to do so. Lastly, from Jay's young years all the way to him being a man, he always found a way to hustle himself into

This is evident in Chapter One when Nick says, “The valley of ashes is bounded on the one side by a small foul river, and, when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour” (19). This depicts the depressed trouble of people like George Wilson who live among the ashes without ambition. The Ashes divide between the poor and the rich class in the society of that time. It serves as a wasteland for people who have no motivation to do anything in