Discuss Fitzgerald’s use of symbols within The Great Gatsby. Essays

Discuss Fitzgeralds use of symbols within The Great Gatsby.Through give away his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald usessymbolism.Symbols are objects, characters, figures or colours used to represent snare ideas or concepts.The first symbol we see appears at the end of Chapter one. It is a viridity light, situated at the end of Daisy Buchanans East Egg cork andis only in effect(p) visible from Gatsbys expansive West Egg back garden. InChapter one Nick (the narrator) describes his mysterious neighbourstretching out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, thisis Gatsby reaching desperately out to the green light, whichrepresents his hopes and dreams for the future (which incidentally,involved Daisy). He associates it with Daisy and sees the green lightas a guiding light to his goal.Perhaps the green light represents Daisy, the unattainable. Alike tothe green light, she is so close, yet so far from Gatsby and justwithin his grasp. Although he is reaching out to her, he cannot inreality reach her because there is a divide, in the case of the greenlight it is water, scarcely in the case of Daisy it is status (and herhusband, Tom).The green light also represents the generalised ideal of the AmericanDream, because Gatsbys quest for Daisy is generally connected withthis.Fitzgeralds election of using green as the colour of the light isvery significant and symbolic in itself. Green is the colour of moneyand therefore wealthiness, this is something which Gatsby has alwaysstrived for (similarly he is reaching out and striving for thelight) in order to capture Daisys heart, as she rejected him in thepast due to his lack of wealth and status. Also, green is the colourthat ... ...umping of industrial ashes. - It represents the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth, as the copious indulge themselves with regard for nothing but their sustain pleasure.- It also symbolises the plight of the poor, like Wilson, who l ive among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a result.- Fitz uses the valley of the ashes as a dramatic contrast to the lives of the rich east and west egg dwellers, to really emphasise and show how large the difference between them is, despite them being so nearby.- He also uses it to suck up how superficial the rich are. They are the beautiful people and this is reflected in where they live, however the valley of the ashes is dirty and unattractive. - The valley is actually used as a runway through road for the rich, however real people live there.