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What Does West Egg Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism to convey themes and to influence the plot of The Great Gatsby through the Billboard, the East and West Egg, and the green light. One of the symbols that Scott Fitzgerald uses is the green light that is at the end of Daisy's Buchanan dock in the East Egg that can be seen from Gatsby's mansion in the West Egg. The green light holds different meanings. One and the most important takeaways is the light represents his love for Daisy that he can never reach. The main reason that Gatsby bought his mansion there is his ability to see Daisy's home from across the bay. The light is a symbol of hope that he may one day be with Daisy. In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald wrote “I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock… His Dream must have felt so close that he can hardly fail to grasp it” (189). Gatsby was close to achieving his dream, but at the end he dies. This can also be linked to the theme of The Great Gatsby. Many people at the time …show more content…

The East and West Egg represent the social divide between the upper classes. East Egg houses the old, rich families. The West Egg represents the newly rich. The people from the East Egg were born with power and money. They are the snobby rich people that have not had to work for the money. Everything was given to them. The people of the West Egg have worked to get the position they are in. They are the new rich. They have achieved the American Dream by working hard and because of that they have become wealthy. In the Great Gatsby Fitzgerald writes “I lived at the West Egg the-well the less fashionable of the two” (). It is not as nice but still has homes that are very expensive. Gatsby mansion is in the West Egg. This separates Gatsby and Daisy. Daisy is part of the more civil class and lives in the East Egg. While Gatsby is part of the new rich and is more uncivilized

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The Writer painter and designer Johannes Itten said, “Color is life; for a world without color appears to us as dead. Colors are primordial ideas the children of light.” Fitzgerald decided to use many colors in the novel The Great Gatsby. He used many colors and each color had a special meaning. The special meaning is focused more as a theme that is involved threw out the novel.

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Janessa Collingwood Mrs Forker English 11-0 1 March 2023 Symbols in The Great Gatsby Throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald’s infamous novel The Great Gatsby he uses multiple symbols to symbolise the moral conflict in pursuit of the American Dream. The American Dream is a major theme in The Great Gatsby and the life of Jay Gatsby is a personification of the American Dream. Jay Gatsby lived in West Egg, in Long Island during the roaring twenties.

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In his novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald includes many themes that go beyond the surface of the text itself. The themes allude to organized crime, color symbolism, relationships, weather symbolism, and a mysterious billboard of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. Each of these themes plays an essential role in understanding the personality of Jay Gatsby, his life choices throughout the novel, and his relationships with other characters in the novel. The element of color, specifically green, white, grey, and silver stands out as an extremely important factor in shaping and explaining parts of the novel. From the very beginning of the novel, Fitzgerald incorporates color into his novel which is narrated by Nick Carraway.

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The second setting is West Egg. The people in West Egg worked for everything they have, and have obtained wealth solely based on their determination. In other words, inhabitants of West Egg have achieved the American Dream - they started from nothing and rose to the top through hard work. However, Fitzgerald shows how West Egg citizens like Gatsby and Nick have not actually achieved their American Dream, despite what it looks like on the surface. Gatsby’s dream comes in the form of Daisy - being with her is all he has ever wanted in life.

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This eventually leads to his own death. Gatsby’s hope is constantly symbolized through the green light of daisy’s dock across the water. Gatsby sees the green light every day, and it serves as a reminder of the one thing he wants most. He would literally give up everything for her, and the years that he spends watching her live her life are painful for him. When Gatsby was a young military man he met Daisy Buchanan and falls in love with her.

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The next major symbols in The Great Gatsby are the East and West Egg, and the differences between them. Nick and Gatsby live in West Egg. It is not as luxurious as East Egg, Nick describes it as, “the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not little sinister contrast between them” (14). West Egg seems as though it is for the families and people who are newly wealthy, Gatsby for example, or young, as Nick has moved into a small house, with the “consoling proximity of millionaires - all for eighty dollars a month” (14). When comparing West Egg to East Egg, the reader is able to see what each island symbolizes, which helps to create depth in the novel.

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The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, deploys color symbolism in order to further develop characters and the plot. Fitzgerald’s use of color symbolism within The Great Gatsby not only defines the characters but adds depth to them. The most recognized color within the novel is “the single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (26). In addition to the green light, there are many other colors within the novel that embody characters, objects, and ideas. The most significant and memorable colors, other than green, are white and yellow, both of which are intertwined in Fitzgerald’s fictional world of materialism and scandal.

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The green light Nick talks about symbolizes what Daisy stands for: “Daisy put her arm through his abruptly, but he seemed absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever” (Fitzgerald 93). Gatsby idolizes the wealth and the social class of Daisy, not who she actually is as a person. Gatsby wanted nothing at all from Daisy except from the prize she represented: “Gatsby himself, although innocent in his love for Daisy, lies about his education and cannot tell the truth about the shady sources of his wealth” (Werlock). By using characterization, the reader understands that is is all about the money that Gatsby cares about.

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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel set in the 1920s about the lives of wealthy New York citizens. Fitzgerald uses color symbolism to create a deeper understanding of the characters. Fitzgerald uses the color green symbolically to illustrate characters’ hope and how reality never lives up to their hopes. This hope is evident in Gatsby’s obsession with the light on Daisy’s dock at the beginning of the novel, while the unattainability of characters’ dreams is shown in the light on Daisy’s dock at the end of the novel, and the description in the final passages of the book. Throughout the novel, Gatsby sees the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, and this light represents James Gatz’s dream to become greater than a South

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At the end of Daisy’s dock there is this green light that is always on, all day, and all night, no matter what. Gatsby is with Nick as they are looking out into the bay, “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 26). The light was far away, as is Gatsby from getting to be with Daisy. The light being far away from where Gatsby lives is significant because it is signifying to chase your dreams no matter how far away they are. A dream of Gatsby’s is to have his dream girl Daisy, so he needs to keep chasing after her and never giving up no matter how far away from him she may seem.

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Gatsby, who is trying to regain his past love, Daisy, exhibits traits in the novel that are linked to hope. F. Scott Fitzgerald is able to portray Gatsby’s feelings of hope with one iconic symbol, the green light. Near the start of the book, Gatsby is seen staring off into the distance into a green light that resides on East Egg. It is later revealed that the light is actually Daisy’s dock light, meaning that Gatsby is constantly gazing towards Daisy and thinking about his love. The author outlines this idea of the light representing hope when he writes, “I could have sworn he was trembling.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, tackles social and ethical problems that are found in his own time. Fitzgerald was born in Minnesota and as he became a writer, he moved to “the racy, adventurous” (Fitzgerald 56) New York City in 1919. In the film, director Baz Luhrmann accurately portrays the differences between East and West using colors and the positioning of the camera to show Fitzgerald's position. Fitzgerald's goal was to portray the backgrounds of his characters into a never ending chain of cause and effect, from where they once lived to their present situation and how that affects their personality.

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Religion in Macbeth and Beowulf Whether it be a play or a poem religion will influence how the author writes their story. Some writings might hold more religious standing than others, for example Macbeth and Beowulf. While both Macbeth and Beowulf express Christian views, Macbeth’s Christian standing is stronger because it doesn’t use paganistic views like Beowulf, and the characters express a more biblical background. Shakespeare 's biblical imagery in Macbeth is far greater than Beowulf’s biblical standing.

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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.

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Throughout many brilliant works of literature, a common item is placed amongst them: symbols. Symbols are often a key to further understanding a point the author is trying to convey to their readers. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, The Great Gatsby, he utilizes the literary tool of symbols to illustrate a larger picture for his themes and characters within the novel. For example, the color green plays a prominent role in The Great Gatsby throughout the duration of the novel. However, the color has can have various interpretations.

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