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What Does The Valley Of Ashes Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, many people are living the American Dream. Dancing the night away at Gatsby’s extravagant parties and lavishing themselves in loads of money. While everything may seem pleasurable and perfect for the people of West and East Egg, it is not the same for the inhabitants of the Valley of Ashes. In The Great Gatsby, the symbols of the Valley of Ashes show how the American Dream is not always such a grand dream and the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg symbolize God in a desolate place. Beginning with one of the most recurring symbols in the text, the Valley of Ashes shows a stark contrast of poverty and dull lifestyles compared to the lavish and posh lives in East and West Egg. The Valley of Ashes is like the ghost to a failed American Dream. Instead of a beautiful landscape, the setting is made up of dark and depressing figures: “ashes take the forms of houses. . . men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. . . grey cars. . . gives out a ghastly creak” (Fitzgerald 27). Another way that shows the Valley of Ashes is the bad part of the American Dream is how instead of growing something beautiful from nature there are “. . . farm[s] where ashes grow like wheat” (27). This passage describes how nothing …show more content…

T. J. Eckleberg. The big eyes on the billboard symbolize God. In the billboard, the eyes “look out of no face but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose” (27). The fact that the eyes are not situated on a face indicate a similarity with God having no clearly described physical features. All anyone knows is that God is all seeing, knowing the deeds of all people as Wilson says “God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing. You may fool me but you can’t fool God!” (167). While Wilson says this he is looking at the billboard of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg, expressing his belief that the billboard represents

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It now represents an unattainable dream inside of everyone that is continuously sought after. Another recurring theme in The Great Gatsby are the looming eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. These eyes represent a higher power that is observing the immoral events that occur in the book. The Valley of Ashes symbolizes the poor lower class who suffers at the benefit of the wealthy. The Valley of Ashes could also represent the devastating effects of The American Dream.

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The first and most prominent set of eyes are those of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, huge and depicted on a billboard in the valley of ashes. The author writes, “ They look out of no face but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose” (26). These eyes serve as the pinnacle eyes of God, a feature within every piece of notable American literature throughout history. The eyes lack a face, accentuating the ethereal nature of the idea of God, and the size makes him larger than life. His foreboding grandness contradicts the dry purgatory of the valley of ashes, bringing up the imagery of the world being a fallen one.

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The symbolism here is that as the eyes keep a "watchful vigil" (124) over the poor and dirty people in the valley they see corruption and unfaithfulness of the characters, as does God (124). Everyone in the story is sinning yet they pay no attention to their religion. The appearance of the sign is worn down, just as the faith and spirituality of the people have over time. As the story goes on, progressively the characters become more twisted and inevitably two people die. Towards the end of the book when George finds out about the affair he takes Myrtle to the window (which the billboard is visible) and says she “can’t fool God” which again reiterates that the eyes represent the eyes of God because they both look down upon them (159).

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The valley of ashes also symbolizes the difficulties of the poor, like George Wilson, who live among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a result. THE EYES OF DOCTOR T. J. ECKLEBURG Another dominant symbol within this novel is the billboard eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg which is in the middle of the valley of ashes, right next to Wilson’s garage staring at the waste that careless capitalism has

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