When it comes to any novel, there is always a deeper meaning or message that can bee found to reveal the author’s purpose of creating that piece. Beyond the superticial understanding of a plot and setting, the reader can dive further into the novel to discover those messages, often referred to as themes. 1hemes themselves can be found through the author’s integrated use of character development and action, background, and setting. Another way to expose themes for the reader is the use of symbolism. Symbolism is the use of objects to represent certain ideas.
In the novel The Great Gatsby author E. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism to portray the different aspects of American life during the 1920’s. Using several symbols, such the green light, the valley of ashes, and the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, E. Scot Fitzgerald implements symbolism to support the novel’s main message of the failing American Dream during the 1920’s and set the stage tor an non-romanticized perspective overall of the Glded Age. “Ihe tirst symbol to appear in the novel, E. Scott Fitzgerald uses the symbol of the green light to represent hope and the dwindling American Dream. Yearning to be with Daisy, Jay Gatsby reaches out his hand towards the green light, only for it to be always out of his grasp: “I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way..and his dream seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know it was already behind him. “(Fitzgerald 180). From the beginning of the novel, the green light acts a clear shining beacon, reflecting Gatsby’s unfettered goal to claim Daisy. He has built so much over the five years of separation between them, and hoped that in the end they can just return to the past to start from there.
However, as the novel progresses, Gatsby tries harder and harder to deny the fact that Daisy has moved on, having already the family and the money to lavish in; she had achieved the American Dream without him. Despite her attempts to convince Gatsby of her love, Daisy could no longer meet Gatsby’s expectations, and the hope for Gatsby’s long-awaited dream starts to crumble. As a result, the green light fades as well. F. Scott used the green light to show how ambition and hope can help achieve the American Dream, but at a personal cost, as shown with Gatsby: “I tried to think of Gatsby then for a moment, but he was already too far away, and I could only remember, without resentment, that Daisy hadn’t sent a message or a flower” (174). The process of sacrificing oneself solely to fulfill a dream only leaves the person to fade with his hope into oblivion. And even in a materialistic society, a person’s love cannot be bought or bribed into receiving it. In the wake of the “Gilded Age,” materialism and wealth was the definitive forces of the times, but America was blind to the true face of the American people.
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While some people enjoyed the high life of money and expensive parties, others were left in the dust, poor and hopeless. F. Scott Fitzgerald manifests this concept the two different worlds within American through one of the novel’s settings, the valley of ashes: “This is a valley of ashes… where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke..and of men who move dimly and already crumbling though the powdery air..Occasionally…the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight” (23). Living in the valley of ashes lives Tom Wilson and his wife Myrtle. Both appear as the support to the theme of hopelessness radiating from the valley, as Myrtle hopes to live the high class life with Tom, while Wilson hopes to leave with Myrtle and go West. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the valley of ashes as a dark, despair-filled place to represent the unlucky and deprived people of the 1920’s who didn’t get to enjoy the decade’s affluence, as well as to counter East Egg, the epitome of “old wealth” and the representation of the riches of the 1920’s. As people from both sides sought after the best that life was to offer, the times of the 1920’s brought forth a sense of materialism, demonstrated through Myrtle’s constant wanting to attend Gatsby’s lavish parties and get a dog.
But seeking wealth for selfish needs, America traded off its morality and conscience for riches, and the valey of ashes would appear to be America as a “moral wasteland.” Throwing away old traditions and values, people tend to lose sight of true virtue and wealth in the path of materialism. And seeking tortune often closes the eyes of one’s conscience. Silent and perpetually overseeing, E. Scott Fitzgerald imposes a somewhat “watchful guardian” over the characters of the novel, known to the characters as the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. A regarded presence within the valley of ashes, the eyes represent the true judgment and overseeing of morality during this time period. George Wilson even refers to the eyes as a relation to God: “I took her [Myrtle) to the window”…”and I said ‘God knows what you’ve been doing everything you’ve been doing.
You may fool me , but you can’t fool God!” Standing behind him, Michaelis saw..that he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enomous, from the dissolving night’ (160). Located with the symbolic representation of America without values, the eyes represent how actions are never be ran away from, and that conscience will always exist, even in the lack of presence of morals. No matter what one does, the guilt of committing an act of grief is always met with guilt, as if someone had always been watching Using symbolism within the novel, E. Scott Fizgerald was able to establish key motits and themes within The Great Gatsby. Although initially seen as regular objects to the indiscriminant reader’s mind, the use of symbols play the role of reaffirming set ideas and messages for the author to convey. With ‘The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald was able to aptly convey the true face of the one of America’s most “prosperous” eras, as well as to communicate key thoughts such as the limit of materialism, the inability to buy happiness, and the extent to which hope can propel a person with ambition, whether into success or complete failure.
