To what extent do you agree that the use of symbolism is the best way to shed light
on the darker or deeper messages of a text.
F.Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’, follows the story of Jay Gatsby in a world full
of lavish mansions, big parties, and deceit as he worked hard to win over the girl he
loved by becoming something he is not. This novel is a symbolic mediation on the
decline of the American dream, which is echoed in the novel through the symbols of
the Green light, the Valley of Ashes, and Dr T.J. Eckleberg.
Our first glimpse at Jay Gatsby is at the end of chapter 1, in which we see the
silhouette of a man at the end of his dock reaching forward towards a green light, “as
he stretched out his arms towards the water in a curious way. This action seemed
odd to both the reader and Nick Carraway, the narrator. However, as we analyse the
use of this symbol throughout the text we see it as Gatsby reaching for his insatiable
hopes and dreams. It is Daisy Buchanan’s, Gatsby’s great love, dock which the
green light sits upon, helping us realise that Daisy is associated with Gatsby’s search
for the American Dream. We realise that Gatsby could never truly be enough for
Daisy, whilst he has enough money to support Daisy’s extravagant life, he will never
be apart of the old aristocracy. So the bay between their two houses is not the only
thing stopping them from being together, it is also social class. The green light will
never be close enough for Gatsby to reach out and grab it, “his dream must have
seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it”. In the end Gatsby died, never
achieving the American dream, ultimately reflecting the negative repercussions
Fitzgerald saw in those trying to achieve this dream around him. The green light is
used to shed light on the pursual of the American dream and the empty pursuit of
happiness it comes with.
Another symbol in the novel is the valley of ashes which is where the climactic event
of the novel occurs and is a symbol for the moral and social decay of the American
Dream. It is a long strip of land between West Egg and New York, in which the ash
and debris from the factories, which are funding the lavish lifestyles of people like
Tom and Daisy, is deposited. When we first meet the Wilsons, we immediately pick
out Myrtle from her surrounding as she is the only thing here not covered in ash,
displaying her “panting vitality”. Ultimately reflecting her longing to escape her
surroundings and achieve the American Dream. The climactic scene of the novel
where Daisy hits Myrtle with Gatsby’s car, occurs in the valley of ashes, which is a
fitting backdrop to the death of her dreams. Myrtle wanted to escape her life and
chase the American dream, which made her stand out among the ash heaps, and in
her death “she had choked a little in giving up the tremendous vitality she had stored
for so long”. Myrtle died chasing her American dream in the form of an expensive,
yellow car driving back to the safety of East Egg.
The climactic scene of the novel occurs under the ever watching eye of Dr T.J.
Eckleburg, another symbol throughout the novel. The giant fading eyes looking down
upon the valley of ashes are illuded to as representing the eyes of god. Judging the
moral wasteland as a result of this American dream, witnessing these horrid events
as a result of these characters obsessive greed and longing for better than what they
already have. As Wilson says when he is stricken with grief looking out the window at
the giant spectacles, “god sees everything”. Both the valley of ashes and Dr T.J.
eckleburg shed light on the moral and social decay as a result of the pursuit of the
American Dream.
In the end we are left with Myrtle being killed in the pursuit of her dream, and Gatsby
is left, floating weightlessly in his pool after being shot by the man who symbolises
the decline of the American dream. The reader is left looking back, but having to
move forward, “so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into
the past”. To the extent that symbols shed light on the deeper messages in any
effective text, The Great Gatsby is as reliant on symbolism to convey the theme of
the decline of the American dream as any other successful story, but not in itself the
soul reason for the novel’s strength. The ideas we find in it are complemented by
symbolism.